I hope he stays but the fact that we can’t control the scheduling of games is a problem. I think we can upgrade the money and improve the facilities, but we can’t get the P5 teams to play us. The whole Illinois, Northwestern, DePaul boycott is real. It takes years to reach the loss to Gonzaga level of acceptance. I’m not sure if he can achieve it. Majerus did stay at Utah for awhile, but 10 years is a long time for any coach.

I could see Archie Miller rebounding here, but not for the long term.

Marquette will go after him. Zero question about it.

Oddly, the Marquette fans in my life don't see it as good enough of a job to attract PM.

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I am relatively unfamiliar with Porter's contract situation. I know he was recently given a raise and is currently one of the highest paid employees at the university, but is there any chance we can revise his contract and bump his salary any more as an incentive to stay? Obviously some of these larger schools can bring out the money cannons for him, but I am really trying to hold on to the possibility that he decides to stay and build a true juggernaut here.

PORTER stays He is not through building He I believe wants a NCAA championship here at LOYOLA.
-HE IS A CHICAGOAN
-His roots are CHGO
-His Daughter IS a RAMBLER
-His SONS, perhaps
-LUC most surely will increase and lengthen his contract
-MONEY?? How much is enough ?
-The MEDIA is NOW behind him and LOYOLA It knows and loves winners

Forty people joining the Basketball Excellence Fund would help.

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LOL yes I'm sure that would help. And I love the positivity brot...I'm just trying to focus on enjoying this INCREDIBLE run.

I'm mentally able to accept that Porter will leave Loyola, well almost, whether it's after the tournament or years in the future. I can see an argument for staying and for going and he's earned whatever step he takes next. I'll always be thankful for what he has done. So, if he were to leave, we have one thing going for us-- Loyola is now a pretty good job. Could we get an excellent coach at the price point we can pay who is capable of sustaining the program at a high level? I'd like to believe we could. That being said, if you're listening Porter, please stay.

The elephant in the room of Porter leaving and who the next HC should be is: the transfer rule.

My preference for the next HC is whoever the kids want, because we could see the whole program leave with the way transfers work now. I firmly believe we've built this success on culture and the players themselves carry that culture. If they leave we're in really big trouble, so I prefer Valentine or someone who the kids would be excited about. I dont want a 2021-2022 season where any combination of Kennedy and Norris and Ty Johnson and Hutty and Welch and Baylor arnt on the team because Porter left and they thought it was a good time to leave too.

I would be very interested to know what advice Todd Lickliter would give Porter right now.

In six years at Butler, Lickliter had four 20+ win seasons, won 3 conference championships, went to 2 NCAA tournaments, 2 sweet sixteens, and 2 NITs.

At 52 years old, he had Butler as the “it” team in mid major college basketball coming off his second sweet 16, when he was offered a power 5 conference head coaching job and was in high demand.

Sound familiar? It should. At 52, over the past 6 years, Moser has 4 20+ win seasons, 3 conference championships, 2 NCAA appearances, a final four, a sweet 16, an NIT appearance (and a 2020 resume that would have given him another one). He’s now getting power 5 interest. Loyola is the “it” team in mid major college basketball.

But what happened to Lickliter? Todd took the money and went to Iowa and the Big 10. He then proceeded to go 15-39 in conference play over 3 years, didn’t make the tournament once, and was fired after season #3 in 2010.

That seems bad, right? It gets worse.

It would be almost 10 years before he ever got another D1 head coaching job, and even that was the result of being in the right place and the right time in Evansville. Hardly anyone knows he’s even there....

Meanwhile, we know what happened to Butler after Todd left.

I would genuinely like to know if Lickliter looks back at his choice to leave Butler and if he has regret about what might have been, or if he still feels he had to take that Power 5 job or he’d have regretted not taking his shot for the rest of his career.

The money upgrade probably seemed huge at the time, but long term... with two sweet 16s and the program on the rise, Todd could have ridden that gig out for another 10 years without getting fired even with mediocre success (which would have been up to 2017, only one year before OUR run). Lickliter signed a 7-year $1.2 million salary at Iowa in 2007. To put that in perspective though, his successor at Butler, Brad Stevens, made 1.2 mil in 2011 as head coach of the bulldogs. What probably seemed like a huge salary upgrade.... ended up not being the case, had he just stayed and continued to dominate at Butler for another 10 years.

Todd Lickliter knows what it’s like to be at the top of college basketball at 52, to not being able to even get his old job back at a mid major program he helped build at 56, and coaching the Marian Knights in the NAIA at 57.

1. I’m sure Todd was “happy” at Butler in 2007. How could he not be?
2. I’m sure he felt he’d gone about as far as he could go with a horizon league school (which we now know was off-the-charts wrong).
3. I bet the money seemed infinitely better (which short term was right, but long term was wrong).
4. I bet he thought he would be forever loved by Butler fans for the rest of his life for bringing them 2 sweet 16s (but apparently couldn’t get his old job back with Butler in 2012).

Porter seems incredibly smart and close with a ton of other coaches. I bet he thinks of things like what happened to Todd.

Short term, Indiana and Marquette probably look like they have infinitely more potential than Loyola, but there is DEFINITELY a major risk that comes with leaving. That decision seems way harder than the sports pundits make it sound....

It’ll be 15 years, next year, since Lickliter touched an NCAA tournament and it doesn’t look like he’s going to see another one in his career with the trajectory of the other Valley programs. That being said... I still think he’s a great coach.

Some might read ESPN.com and think leaving seems like a no-brainer. I would suggest reading the tale of Icarus...

Swella's short version of the tale:

Ike "Icky" Icarus was the star player on his intramural B team basketball squad, The Mertz Hall Maulers. But he wasn't satisfied with his success there and wanted to test his wings and play with the Big Boys, the A Team MERTZ 'TILL IT HURTS
So he quit the Maulers and tried out for MTIH. While going up for a layup during tryouts poor Icky was posterized by the defender who blocked his shot and sent the ball hurtling back into Icky's face.
Icky crumpled to the ground screaming "I now know my place! "

Icky is now a successful accountant with a home in Schaumburg, and works the clock at his son's peewee soccer games.