Hlas: Candidates must know hoops a big deal

IOWA CITY - Here's something people within the University of Iowa Athletics Department may need to understand:

You have to take care of the programs that take care of the other programs.

That means you give preferential treatment to the programs people actually care about in mass quantities. That's big daddy football. Wrestling is pretty self-sustaining.

Then there's men's basketball, and Iowa ...?

Iowa Athletics Director Gary Barta needs to convince candidates for his men's basketball coaching vacancy that the program is a big deal at Iowa, not just another scholarship sport. He needs to assure candidates the next coach will get what he wants and needs from the $43 million renovation/expansion of Carver-Hawkeye Arena.

If that means the coach would like 20 player lockers in the new facility instead of 13 so walk-ons can be accommodated, give him the 20. If it means the coach wants first dibs on practice times in Carver before the facility is completed in late 2011, give it to him.

Barta also should try to see to it that the game-night atmosphere in the arena will be upgraded along with the arena. The non-basketball portion of the fans' experience in Carver has become as tired as the basketball itself.

The athletics department needs to accept that no other sport at Iowa other than football could attract the kind of attention men's basketball did Monday when Barta announced his firing of Todd Lickliter. If Barta had canned his fencing or handball coach, television trucks wouldn't have jockeyed for space in the arena parking lot.

You want the whole department to keep functioning and all those coaches and administrators to continue to enjoy their paychecks, then make sure your true revenue sports aren't treated as equals with everyone else. If men's basketball gets healthier, the trickle-down is good for everybody.

Steve Alford and Lickliter told us about the importance of upgrading Iowa's basketball facilities years ago, but you have a bully pulpit only when you're winning. Otherwise, you're just an excuse-maker.

However, Iowa did fall behind in basketball facilities and is now trying to catch up. There is good news, though. The university has one heck of a nice, new boathouse for its rowing team.

But even with the basketball facility in progress, the word on the coaching street surely questions Iowa's commitment to men's hoops.

See, the nation doesn't look upon the exits of Alford and Lickliter the way Iowa does. People see Alford as a coach who won at Iowa and fled to New Mexico, a move they scratched their heads at three years ago but now look at as logical. New Mexico really is a basketball school.

The basketball world sees Lickliter as someone with a pedigree who was cut off at the kneecaps before given ample time to dig the program out of the hole in which he found it.

Whether we in Iowa see it differently doesn't matter. Perception is reality. Good coaches who get inquiries from Barta will want explanations about the kind of culture they'd really be walking into, and whether they would get the tools and support to succeed.

From now until Barta announces his hire, names will be thrown around with gusto. Many will be absurd, either out of Iowa's reach or completely unsuited for the job.

Hawkeye fans have every reason to expect an excellent, proven coach to be hired. But I've heard a lot of “We don't need any more guys from mid-majors.” That's funny.

Lute Olson coached at a junior college, then was at Long Beach State for one year before going to Iowa. Hayden Fry was at North Texas State when Iowa hired him. Kirk Ferentz's only head coaching job was at Maine.

Bruce Pearl, a coach many Hawkeye fans are craving these days, went to Tennessee from Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

The chances of stealing Pearl seem to be slim at best, unless he has an itch to rebuild another program. But Iowa's chances of getting a capable coach ought to be pretty good. If, that is, Iowa convinces him his squad will be treated like the No. 1 winter sports team in Carver-Hawkeye.

And the money's nice, too.