Weekend Mailbox

This is a small sampling of e-mails sent to me at mike.hlas@gazcomm.com in the last 24 hours. I encourage you to offer your comments here at the Hlog directly, but I may pluck occasional other e-mails (with your full names and hometowns excluded unless you wish to have them included) and use them here.

Mike, like football you have no common sense about much.  Like football, once the basketball program is back to prosperity, guess who will be back on the bandwagon?  It's sportswriters like you who most likey (sic) once tried to succeed as a jock but failed, so now you try and emphasize try to become an expert through your writings, but once again you fail.  Actually, it is sportswriters like you that make me continue to read because I need a solid laugh every now and then.

Come on Mike, are you for real??

(No name provided)

Reply: To provide a solid laugh to someone in these trying times, well, I'm feeling just a little proud of myself right now. It was kind of you to return the favor.

Mike:

When did you become the spokesman for the Hawkeye fan base? I have yet to speak to a Hawkeye fan that is down on Lickliter.  Your articles this week are very negative.  Did you ever play basketball

at the competitive level? A hawkeye fan called me today and said

why would you buy that paper?  Hawkeye basketball fans deserve

better writing then what we are getting in the Gazette.  Maybe the

paper needs a change instead of implying we need a new coach.  We will not be a Kentucky stupid fan base.  Your problem is you have no Black and Gold in your blood. We need Zabel and Gonder for writers to give us hope instead of despair.  If I were the coach

certain writers would not be allowed to attend my news conferences. That is what Coach Fry did.  I would say if you can't be positive go cover the Cyclones.

A TRUE HAWKEYE FAN!!!!! Ron

Ron: You're right. Every Hawkeye fan I've heard from this week seems quite happy with the direction of Iowa men's basketball. Let's review. You're a 10th-place team in your conference and your roster is getting a sudden extreme makeover. Yeah, that leads to nothing but contentment.

But I don't recall Hayden Fry ever banning anyone from one of his press conferences, and I suspect he'd take offense at anyone who suggests he did.

Dear Mr. Hlas:

Like many other Iowa fans who follow the Hawks from afar (in this case Minneapolis) I was surprised and dismayed to learn yesterday that three more members of the basketball squad are leaving.

I am sure that the first reaction many fans, including myself, had when they heard the news was to conclude that something is wrong with the head coach and his staff and that the A.D. needs to find a new head coach.  However, the underlying reasons for why things like this happen are not always simple or self-evident and the head coach is not always responsible for the fact they happen.  While I am an Iowa fan, I hope I have reached the point in my life where I do not automatically blame the coach when things like this happen. In all fairness to coach Lickliter, he may be the victim of circumstances over which he had little or no control or these events may have occurred because he is in the process of learning how to coach at this level.

I would appreciate knowing whether or to what extent you believe that coach Lickliter and his staff were responsible for the players (with the exception of Kelly) leaving the team, whether you believe he has the ability to be a Big Ten coach or can grow into the job and what, if anything, he and his staff can do to re-start the process of rebuilding the Iowa basketball program.

Joseph

Joseph: Your points are totally valid.

College basketball players transfer either for personal happiness  or because it's been made clear they are no longer wanted. Jake Kelly and Jeff Peterson are leaving because they want to leave for their own reasons. Jermain Davis and David Palmer didn't have much likelihood of being key players for Iowa next year as seniors, so they are leaving to play Division II ball. I doubt their departures were discouraged by the Iowa staff.

Kelly's a tough player to lose, and Peterson's defection hurts point-guard depth. But it;s quite possible one day the losses won't be viewed as harshly by Iowa fans as they are now. Of course, that will hinge on whether Lickliter's future parts and current pieces somehow make for a better fit. I don't think that's a certainty, but I also don't think it's out of the question.

Lickliter's no slouch, and I actually enjoyed watching his teams play at home this season (for the most part) knowing the obstacles they kept fighting hard to overcome because of injuries and one player who became academically ineligible.

Whether he can restore the program to the point where it's making NCAA tournament appearances a regular feature, I have no idea. I don't rule it out, but it's clearly not going to happen easily.