Coach Todd Lickliter leading Butler to new heights

Outside Todd Lickliter’s office at Hinkle Fieldhouse is a diagram of a pyramid comprised of goals that he has set for the Butler Bulldogs’ men’s basketball team. The base of the pyramid is “Team First — Improve Daily.” In succession, the blocks read, “Win the Next Game — One Possession at a Time,” “Top 20/Horizon League Regular Season and Conference Champions” and the apex of the pyramid is “Compete for an NCAA Championship.”

As coach Todd Lickliter and his Bulldogs head into 2007, they don’t concern themselves with what’s at the top of that pyramid. The Butler coaches and players know that they must achieve the other goals before that final one can become a possibility. And to do so, it takes consistency; and to achieve that requires practice.

“What we are trying to do now is practice with great purpose,” Lickliter pointed out during a recent conversation, “and asking ourselves if we can develop our strengths to where we can be more consistent. To see if we can do what we do well more often. And then we get a test, and then another test to see how we’re doing.”
As of Jan. 15, the team was 15-2, and ranked 18th in the Associated Press (AP) poll and 15th in the ESPN/USA Today poll. It’s the highest ranking a Butler team has achieved since the 1948-’49 season, when they were ranked 11th for three consecutive weeks.

The Bulldogs have been in the Top 25 of both major polls for six consecutive weeks, the team’s longest streak since that same season 58 years ago, when they spent eight straight weeks in the AP’s Top 25.

Butler’s accomplishments so far this season include victories over in-state rivals Notre Dame, Indiana, Valparaiso, Ball State, Purdue and Evansville, as well as wins over Tennessee and Gonzaga in this year’s pre-season National Invitational Tournament (NIT). The Bulldogs are 3-0 at Conseco Fieldhouse this season, and two of those victories (Notre Dame and IU) took place during the opening rounds of the NIT.

“In a two-week span, we played at Hinkle, Conseco and Madison Square Garden, and won every game!” Lickliter said with a smile. “If you’re a basketball guy, what more could you ask for?”

The team’s four games in the NIT are prime examples of how the Bulldogs have played this year: making the key plays when they were needed and working as a team to win the games.

“The Gonzaga-North Carolina game was billed as the game of the NIT,” Butler’s associate athletic director and sports information director Jim McGrath pointed out. “Nobody in their right mind would have figured Butler to be as tough of an opponent as either of those two schools.”

“The greatest part about [the NIT] was that you had to earn that trip,” Lickliter said. “In-season tournaments are mostly at one location where you can go and win a championship. But with the NIT, you had to win two games to go to New York and play at Madison Square Garden.

“To do that was such a thrill and a great reward for the way these young men approached the competition. Not just the hard work, but their unselfish way of playing the game.”

Building a “beautiful house”

While they may have been overlooked by the big-name colleges, the players on this year’s Bulldogs squad are making the most of their chance to show the other schools, and the nation, what they can do in a “mid-major” program.

A.J. Graves, the team’s leading scorer (17.9 points-per-game average through the first 14 games of this season) called their pre-conference season schedule “a great opportunity to become a better team by playing teams of such calibre.”

The team’s leading rebounder (averaging 5.0 boards a game), junior guard Mike Green, added that the team has worked hard to make the most of the “opportunities we have had to show that we’re a good basketball team.”

When it comes to scheduling the non-conference portion of the team’s schedule, Lickliter mentioned that he and his assistants look for opponents that will, among other things, “help this team develop.”

“We ask, ‘What will it offer us beyond the experience of playing the game? Are there opportunities for our players and program to experience things beyond the basketball court? For example, a few years ago we played in the Rainbow Classic in Honolulu. While we were there, we visited Pearl Harbor.

“But most importantly is, what will it do to help this team develop and grow into a championship calibre team?”

Even with the season they have had to this point, and all the attention they have received because of it, Lickliter and his players know there is still a lot of work to be done.

“Your best teams can separate the business and the other stuff,” Lickliter said. “They have the maturity to know when to do the things that need to be done. It’s still a pretty young season, and we have plenty of obstacles ahead of us, but these young men have taken advantage of the opportunities they’ve been given right now.”

Graves, who came to Butler from Switz City, Ind., (where he was an Indiana High School All-Star his senior year at White River Valley High School) admitted that this season has been “awesome, although I don’t want it [all the media attention]. It’s a team game, and that’s what I enjoy.”

“[Before the season] when we looked at the schedule we were all excited,” senior center-forward Brian Ligon recalled. “Our coaches have done a good job of getting us prepared for the task at hand, taking it one game at a time. And I think that approach has helped us out a lot.”

“[The team’s practice sessions] are a continuation of what we’ve done up to now,” senior Julian Betko said. “There’s going to be more pressure on us during the conference season, because we have to really prove ourselves as we compete for the [league] championship. We prepare and focus for every game the same way — to play as hard as we can for the whole game.”

Betko, a 6-foot-5 forward-guard from Ruzomberok, Slovakia, gave an excellent analogy of where he and his team are at this point in the season.

“We are workers trying to build a beautiful house. We have the most beautiful basement set that we could possibly come up with. But what are you going to do with a basement if you don’t finish the house and put on the roof? Our roof is the March Madness, and that’s what we will shoot for when the time comes.”

Lessons learned from father

Lickliter, 51, is in his sixth season as the head coach at Butler. Through the first five seasons, his teams have averaged 20 wins a season (with three 20-plus campaigns), made two appearances in the post-season NIT and one trip to the “Sweet 16” of the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament (2002-’03 season).

The son of a high school basketball coach, Lickliter developed a love for the game, and saw firsthand how a coach could build a bond with his players, both on and off the court.

“I watched my father prepare and he had such a terrific passion for his job. My father set an example of what could be achieved, and what satisfaction could be derived from being a coach.

“I saw how committed he was to his players on the court and beyond. He worked diligently to secure them college scholarships so they could advance themselves. I watched those players come back to our house and visit, and how my father maintained the friendships he developed with them.”

As a head coach, the younger Lickliter has endeavoured to share his passion for the game, and to instil the work ethic needed to achieve success in his assistant coaches and players. And they have been very receptive to Lickliter’s efforts.

“We’re cut from the same cloth as our coach,” Mike Green said, “[and that’s why] we’re just clicking so well. It’s coming from coach Lickliter and making its way down to the team.”

Brian Ligon, who hails from St. Petersburg, Fla., said that while other teams work on their offense during practices at the beginning of a season, Butler’s coaches have their players spending a lot of time working on defense.

“The beginning of every season it’s ALL defense! It’s our main focus during preseason and even individual and group workouts, because it will keep us in every game.

“The coaches have us do different drills for basic situations on the defensive end that help you throughout the year. It makes it a lot easier, especially for the freshmen to start adjusting to this level of play. It’s a constant process that I think gives us an edge.”

Philosophy and influences

Lickliter’s coaching philosophy is one that he has developed over the years, and it is based on the example that his father had set, and what Lickliter has learned from other coaches.

“I don’t think that you really have a philosophy when you first get into coaching,” Lickliter said. “You develop a philosophy as you get a little older and you’re able to do some evaluation and make some mistakes. My father was a teacher and a coach, and I saw the impact he had on people, mostly good.

“You meet other coaches, and watch other coaches that you admire. What you end up doing is that you have a belief system that is bigger than basketball, and you try to tailor what you’re doing in the program to that. I’ve been fortunate in that I’ve been able to draw on a lot of different coaches.”

Among the coaches that the North Central High School graduate has admired over the years are two of the biggest names in the sport: Tony Hinkle and John Wooden (“Everybody respects what coach Wooden has done for the game.”). Lickliter also included Joe Sexson, who was his college basketball coach, and his predecessors as head coach at Butler, Barry Collier and Thad Matta.

“I actually coached Thad when he was a junior in college, and we became good friends from that point on,” Lickliter said. “When I played here at Butler I got to meet Barry Collier, and we became good friends.

“So when they needed an assistant [coach] here, Barry hired me. It was a wonderful opportunity to work for someone you respected and liked, and could learn from. And that [situation] developed into my being in this position [head coach at Butler].”

Collier, now the Butler University athletic director, said that his friend Lickliter “has a great grasp of how to build a strong team by playing to the strength of his players. He knows what they can do, and gets them to do it to the best of their abilities.”

A coaching peer that Lickliter considers “one of my best friends in the coaching business” is Paul Patterson, the head coach at Taylor University in Upland, Ind.

“[Paul] has helped me develop a philosophy. He’s been very successful, and a quality individual who I’ve called upon a lot. He’s a great friend.”

“Happy for our fans”

An outside source of motivation for the Butler Bulldogs this season has been the support they’ve received from the school’s administrators, faculty, students and fans.

“The people have been so kind,” Lickliter said. “I’ve told the team that in Indianapolis it’s not just about the winning, it’s also about the way we play and the effort we give. No one will get tired hearing about that.”

“We really appreciate the support,” Ligon admitted. “Everybody is excited for us, the faculty and the other students. They want to see us do well. It’s fun being able to do something you love and succeed at it. And to also have people you know be excited about it.”

“The fans have been great,” Betko added. “They’ve supported us all along, but they’ve really been great while we’ve made this run. It’s a big boost for us, like when we have a weak moment during a game, they are right there behind us.”

Green, a 6-foot-1 guard from Philadelphia, Penn., added that “people are pretty hyped up and they can’t get enough of Butler basketball. But we are staying pretty level-headed about it. We’re happy for our fans and for ourselves, but we have to stay focused about things.”

Lickliter admitted that being the head coach of a college basketball team is “competitive and challenging. There are so many things about being a coach that make you feel alive! I’m thankful that I’m the Butler head coach, but what I’ve really wanted was to be really good at what I’m doing.”

And whether you look at the rankings, the statistics or the effort put forth by his assistants and his players, it’s safe to say that Todd Lickliter is really good at what he does.

And the top goal on that pyramid is once again well within reach.

WHO: Butler vs. Youngstown State
WHEN: Tonight, tip-off at 7 p.m.
WHERE: Hinkle Fieldhouse

WHO: Butler vs. UW-Green Bay
WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 20, tip-off at 2 p.m.
WHERE: Hinkle Fieldhouse

TICKETS: Hinkle Fieldhouse box office, Clowes Memorial Hall box office or TicketMaster, 317-239-5151 or www.ticketmaster.com

Hinkle Fieldhouse

When it opened in 1928, Butler Fieldhouse was the largest basketball arena in the country, with seating for 15,000. Although it has been surpassed in size and amenities by other sports venues, the home of the Butler University men’s and women’s basketball and volleyball teams is still one of the nation’s great facilities. And it doesn’t take long for someone to get a feel for the mystique that surrounds the building that was renamed Hinkle Fieldhouse in 1966, to honor the school’s longtime basketball coach and athletic director, Paul D. “Tony” Hinkle.

“I came here from South Carolina, and didn’t know anything about Hoosier Hysteria or Hinkle [Fieldhouse],” recalled Julian Betko, a member of the Bulldogs men’s basketball team. “I thought it was a pretty old-looking building. But now that I’ve been here awhile and hear people talking, and see people walking around in here taking pictures, I’ve come to realize what it is all about. It’s really fun to play here when the place gets loud.”

Butler played its first basketball game in the Fieldhouse on March 7, 1928, defeating Notre Dame 21-13 in overtime. At that time, the basketball court ran east and west, which put more than half the seats at the ends of the court. The court was turned to its current configuration in the early 1930s.

For 43 years (with the exception of the war years 1941-’45), the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) held its annual basketball championship games at Hinkle Fieldhouse, where Hoosier prep stars like Bobby Plump, Oscar Robertson, the Van Arsdale twins, George McGinnis and Judi Warren earned their places in the history of “Hoosier Hysteria.”

The climatic championship game in the movie Hoosiers was filmed at Hinkle Fieldhouse, where the game that was its inspiration — the 1954 championship game between Milan and Muncie Central High School — was played 32 years before.

According to the Butler University athletic department Web site, www.butlersports.cstv.com, Hinkle Fieldhouse has also served as host to four U.S. presidents (Herbert Hoover, Dwight Eisenhower, Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford), the Billy Graham Crusade, the Sonja Henie Ice Show, four professional basketball teams, the U.S. Olympic basketball trials, the first USSR-USA basketball game, all-star basketball games for the NBA, ABA and the East-West College All-Stars, a three-ring circus, several equestrian events, roller derby and a six-day bicycle race. The building also housed the United States Air Force and Navy as a barracks during World War II.

During the summer of 1987, Hinkle Fieldhouse again received national attention, this time as the site for the volleyball competition at the 10th Pan American Games. The largest crowd ever to see a volleyball match in the United States (14,500) gathered to see the United States defeat Cuba in the men’s gold medal match.

The Fieldhouse underwent a major renovation in 1989, which included new chairback seats in the lower arena, new offices for basketball, volleyball and sports information and marketing, a training room and locker rooms off the main arena, a VIP lounge, outside landscaping, extensive interior painting and a new public address system. Several subsequent changes to Hinkle Fieldhouse have decreased the seating capacity to around 10,500.

Bulldogs basketball: rich in tradition

Barry Collier remembers the first time he visited the Butler University campus when he was being recruited by the school’s basketball coach George Theofanis.

“I was floored,” Collier recalled. “I came from Florida, and didn’t know about Butler University or its basketball program until coach Theofanis started recruiting me.

“I am very grateful for the opportunity to play at Butler and for coach Theofanis. Even though I only played two years, I treasure every minute of it.”

The Butler University men’s basketball program has been around since 1896-’97, when the team played one game (which they won). Since then, there have been thousands of college athletes who have played basketball at Butler, and 20 head coaches, including several former players, including Theofanis, Joe Sexson, Collier, Thad Matta and current coach Todd Lickliter.

The “dean” of Butler basketball (and its entire athletic department) was Paul D. “Tony” Hinkle, who was a teacher, coach and athletic administrator at the school for nearly 50 years (1921-1970), and continued his involvement with Butler until his death in 1992.

During his time at Butler, Hinkle coached the school’s football, basketball and baseball teams to more than 1,000 victories. His 560 career basketball wins rank him among the NCAA’s “Top 40” all-time winningest basketball coaches, and his 41 years of coaching rank fifth on the NCAA’s all-time list behind Phog Allen of Kansas, Jim Phelan of Mount St. Mary’s, Ed Diddle of Western Kentucky and Ray Meyer of DePaul.

The program’s overall record 1896-2005 is 1,289-1,014, a winning percentage just under 55 percent. During that period, the Bulldogs have won 18 conference championships (as members of the Missouri Valley Conference, the Mid-American Conference, the Indiana Collegiate Conference, the Midwestern Collegiate Conference and the Horizon League).

Six Butler basketball teams have made it to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament: 1961-’62, 1996-’97, 1997-’98, 1999-2000, 2000-’01 and 2002-’03. Nine times the Bulldogs have taken part in the post-season NIT: 1957-’58, 1958-’59, 1984-’85, 1990-’91, 1991-’92, 1993-’94, 1998-’99, 2001-’02 and 2005-’06.

In the years preceding the NCAA and NIT post-season tournaments, the 1923-’24 Butler team won the AAU National Tournament at Kansas City, Mo., and the 1928-’29 squad was awarded the John J. McDevitt Trophy as the collegiate national champion by the Veteran Athletes of Philadelphia.

As the 2006-’07 Butler men’s basketball team continues its quest for a conference title and post season play, it will probably be considered one of the best in the school’s storied basketball tradition.

Butler president

In light of the success of the Butler men’s basketball team, NUVO decided to talk with the school’s president, Dr. Bobby Fong, about the affect this situation has had on the academic side of the school

NUVO: Has the success of the men’s basketball team affected the recruiting efforts of the academic side? If so, how?

Dr. Fong: We get more than 60 percent of our applicants before Dec. 1, so most of our applicants who applied here had been in the process prior to our basketball team’s success. [Their success] may give us greater prominence and weight in the decisions of whether students will come here after they applied. We hope that’s the case, but it’s still too early to tell. But even prior to the basketball success, we had higher levels of interest in Butler University as judged by campus visits and the number of applications compared with last year, which was the first time we went above 5,000 applications.

NUVO: Has the team’s success had any other affects on the academic side of Butler University? If so, how?

Dr. Fong: What’s important to us is that our players are good students as well. We have begun to talk increasingly of the Butler Way, which is an emblem of doing it right, not only on the basketball court but also in the classroom. A.J. Graves is an actuarial sciences major, Brian Ligon is pre-dental and Drew Streicher is pre-med. Julian Betko has already finished his undergraduate studies and is working toward a master’s in finance.

A.J. was just designated the first academic athlete of the month for the Horizon League, which is a new thing they started. These are all instances of our students being serious students.

We obviously are very proud of what they do on the basketball court, but we want students to truly be students so there will be an academic pathway created for them toward a career after graduation if they don’t go on in their sport.

NUVO: What kind of message does the team’s success (on the court and in the classroom) send to high school student/athletes that are considering Butler?

Dr. Fong: I believe it’s a way of saying you can do it all. You can be a serious student and a serious athlete at the same time. Unfortunately, in the collegiate world, sometimes we seem to intimate that athletes are there for their sport rather than for their academic work, and that if you’re a truly serious student, you can’t be an athlete. I don’t believe that.