Hawkeye Basketball: Recruits taking 'wait and see' approach

Devyn Marble said he could hear the strain in Todd Lickliter's voice when they talked Sunday.

“He just sounded real frustrated,” Marble said. “He didn't know what was going on.”

Lickliter was fired Monday as men's basketball coach at the University of Iowa. One of four signed recruits for the 2010-11 season, Marble found out about the firing when a reporter informed him just as his final class of the day was dismissed at Southfield-Lathrup High School in Michigan.

“I don't even know what to say,” Marble said, amid the considerable chatter of schoolmates.

Marble was asked if he planned to remain a Hawkeye. His father, Roy, was a star for the Hawkeyes in the late 1980s.

“I don't know yet,” he said. “We'll have to see.”

Another recruit, Zach McCabe, said Monday he expected to stick to his Iowa commitment. The Sioux City Heelan senior said he had not talked to Lickliter recently but had discussed a potential coaching change with fellow signee Cody Larson of nearby Sioux Falls, S.D.

“He's on the same page as me,” McCabe said. “Right now, I'm a Hawkeye. I still want to be a Hawkeye and I plan on being a Hawkeye.”

Area prep basketball coaches seemed surprised by Monday's news.

Cedar Rapids Washington's Brad Metzger said he had direct contact with the Iowa coaching staff because of junior Josh Oglesby. Metzger said he received a letter from Lickliter upon returning to his native Iowa last year after coaching in Indiana, Lickliter's home state.

“He just welcomed me back to the state,” Metzger said. “It was pretty cordial. I saw him a couple of times after that, and he was very nice ... I hope he lands on his feet.”

Linn-Mar's Chris Robertson had positive things to say about Lickliter, who recruited former Lion Grant Gibbs before he signed three years ago with Gonzaga and was recruiting Linn-Mar sophomore Marcus Paige.

“A terrific guy, probably one of the nicest guys I've ever met,” Robertson said. “I'm not so sure I would agree with this firing. It's really unfortunate. He was in the hole from the beginning.

This could set the program back another four or five years.”

Prominent AAU coach Hank Huddleson, however, didn't seem surprised by Lickliter's dismissal. Huddleson, who coaches in the successful Martin Brothers program, said he had talked to Lickliter just three times in his tenure at Iowa.

“When (Gary) Barta lays out all the facts, how can he not do what he did?” Huddleson said of Iowa's athletics director.