[2] In 1981, in preparation for the "Neptune International Basketball Tournament" to be held in March in Cork, Strickland recruited a number of his American friends to form a “Maryland All-Stars" team for the tournament, in exchange for round-trip airline tickets to Ireland.

In April 1998, he became head coach at Coastal Carolina University,[3] a role he held until March 2005.

[4] Strickland was next an assistant coach at North Carolina State University,[5] from 2005 until he was not retained by Mark Gottfried when Sidney Lowe resigned at the end of the Wolfpack's 2010–11 season.

Strickland was named head coach of the Ireland national team in November 2016.

[6] In the 2018 FIBA European Championship for Small Countries, Ireland finished in third place, with an overall record of 2–2 during the tournament.