Todd Lickliter is fired as Iowa’s basketball coach

Iowa fired Coach Todd Lickliter on Monday, ending a brief and disappointing tenure that included three losing seasons in a row and a parade of players leaving the once-proud program.

Athletic Director Gary Barta announced the firing at a news conference in Iowa City, citing Iowa’s slumping record, lagging attendance and dwindling revenue from ticket sales and contributions.

The 54-year-old Lickliter had four years left on a seven-year contract that paid him $1.2 million a year. Barta said the Hawkeyes will pay Lickliter roughly $2.4 million for the remainder of the contract.

Lickliter was not at the news conference and not immediately available for comment.

“If you take a look at our competitive record the past three years, it has not been improving. It still continues to be below where we would expect,” Barta said. “Our attendance and season-ticket sales have continued to go down. This is not something that started three years ago, but in the past three years it has continued to go down dramatically.”

The Hawkeyes, who had just two upperclassmen play significant minutes, finished the season 10-22. In all, Lickliter was 38-58 with Iowa.

Rumors about Lickliter’s shaky job status picked up steam late last week after a 59-52 loss to Michigan in the Big Ten tournament. But his stint at Iowa was also marred by a series of player departures. The big exodus came last spring when four players transferred, and sophomore guard Anthony Tucker left last month after a pair of alcohol-related suspensions and a third for academic problems.

Charlotte fires Lutz

Charlotte fired Coach Bobby Lutz after his 12th year at his alma mater was marred by a late-season collapse and a costly blunder in a first-round loss in the Atlantic 10 tournament.

Chancellor Philip Dubois said in a statement that the move was in the “long-term interest of 49ers basketball and the university as a whole.” Lutz leaves as the school’s all-time winningest coach with a 218-158 mark and with four years left on his contract.

Lutz was promoted to coach in 1998 after three years as an assistant and led the 49ers to the NCAA tournament in five of his first seven seasons. But the 49ers haven’t been back since 2005.

The move would have seemed improbable barely a month ago, when the 49ers knocked off Temple and moved into sole possession of first place in the Atlantic 10. But Charlotte lost seven of its last eight games to miss out on the NCAA tournament for the fifth straight year. The 49ers (19-12) also failed to get a bid to the NIT.

And Lutz’s last game will be memorable for an embarrassing gaffe.

Trailing Massachusetts by three with under a minute left in the first round of the Atlantic 10 tournament at home, the 49ers had the ball and called a timeout. But they came out of the huddle with six players and when play began they were called for a technical foul.

Etc.

Kirk Speraw is out after 17 years as Central Florida’s coach. The school announced that Speraw would not be retained after a 15-17 season, ending one of the longest active tenures in the nation. Speraw finished as the school’s winningest coach with a 279-233 record and four NCAA tournament berths, the last coming in 2005. …

The mother of Murray State reserve guard Picasso Simmons was killed in a car crash Monday, on the eve of the team’s departure for the NCAA tournament. Freeda Simmons died in Nashville, Murray State spokesman Dave Winder said. Picasso Simmons is planning to go to the Racers’ first-round game Thursday against Vanderbilt in San Jose.