Is it time to extend Coach Wilson's contract? (Long post)

[newIUfan]

If IU is serious about building a football program, now might be the time for an extension of coach Wilson's contract. While some fans may thing he belongs on the hot seat, he has moved the program in the right direction and has created a good base for a solid program. Here is why...

IU football legacy- The Hoosiers have been playing football since 1887, over this period of 127 years they have won 2 B10 titles (the most recent a 4 way tie in 1967). They have lost the most games of any BCS school, 651. They have the 9th worst winning percentage of the 128 BCS schools- .419. Their all time record ranks dead last in the B10 at 15th (behind Rutgers, Maryland and the University of Chicago). No coach since WWII has a winning percentage during his tenure at IU. Bill Mallory set the high water mark at .473. Thank goodness most youth don't know or care about history.

IU's recent football history- I will be using 2002 as the basis for this analysis. The Hoosiers have won 19 B10 games over the last 13 seasons (Thank God for Illinois which provided 6 of those 19 wins) . That is an average of 1.46 B10 wins a season. The best total B10 wins in a season were 3 (2006, 2007, and 2013). Here are the coaches and their seasons (I have listed total record, B10 record and B10 teams they defeated).

DiNardo-
2002- 3-9 (1-7) Win over Wisconsin.
2003- 2-10 (1-7) Win over Illinois.
2004- 3-8 (1-7) Win over Minn. (and a nice win over Oregon).

Hoeppner-
2005- 4-7 (1-7) Win over Illinois.
2006- 5-7 (3-5) Wins over Iowa, Mich St. and Illinois

Lynch-
2007- 7-6 (3-5) Wins over Purdue, Iowa, and Minn.
2008- 3-9 (1-7) Win over Northwestern
2009- 4-8 (1-7) Win over Illinois
2010- 5-7 (1-7) Win over Purdue.

Wilson-
2011- 1-11 (0-8)
2012- 4-8 (2-6) Wins over Illinois and Iowa.
2013- 5-7 (3-5) Wins over Penn St., Illinois and Purdue.
2014- 4-8 (1-7) Win over Purdue (and a nice win over Mizzou)

Here are the coaches and their recruiting. All rankings and information are from Rivals.

DiNardo-
Year 3 star
2002- B10 rank 14, National rank 82, Star average 2.1, 4 star 0, 3 star 3
2003- B10 rank 11, National rank 59, Star average 2.3, 4 star 0, 3 star 8
2004- B10 rank 13, National rank 87, Star average 2.1, 4 star 0, 3 star 5

Hoeppner-
Year
2005- B10 rank 14, National rank 73, Star average 2.1, 4 star 0, 3 star 3
2006- B10 rank 14, National rank 85, Star average 2.24, 4 star 0, 3 star 5

Lynch-
Year
2007- B10 rank 14, National rank 98, Star average 2.15, 4 star 0 , 3 star 5
2008- B10 rank 14, National rank 78, Star average 2.15, 4 star 0, 3 star 5
2009- B10 rank 12 , National rank 59, Star average 2.68, 4 star 0, 3 star 13
2010- B10 rank 14, National rank 93, Star average 2.4, 4 star 0, 3 star 11

Wilson-
Year
2011- B10 rank 12, National rank 60, Star average 2.67 , 4 star 1, 3 star 12
2012- B10 rank 13, National rank 67, Star average 2.7, 4 star 0, 3 star 18
2013- B10 rank 5, National rank 38, Star average 3.0, 4 star 5, 3 star 13
2014- B10 rank 7, National rank 38, Star average 2.77, 4 star 2, 3 star 16
2015- B10 rank 7, National rank 49, Star average 2.8 , 4 star 0, 3 star 18

Wilson and his staff have clearly improved the talent level at Indiana, and recruiting is greatly helped by relationships with high school coaches which his staff has developed over the last five years, especially outside of the state of Indiana and Midwest. To lose him will ruin many of the contacts he has made in the southeast (such as here in Florida where I live).

The Wilson era-
Coach Wilson came to IU as a top offensive coordinator from a winning program (Oklahoma). He had a record of developing talent and winning. He stated that IU needed a winning culture and he has moved it in the right direction. He stated as one of his short term goals to improve the talent level so that there was competition on the team for playing time and starts. He has clearly done this, this will be evident this year on the offensive line, receivers and linebackers. It has also improved the depth at almost every position. That competition has produced better players and play on the field. His tenures high points are:
Great recruiting.
Quality assistant coaches.
Back-to-back wins over Purdue (first time in 20 years).
First ever win over Penn State.
Road win over SEC east champ Mizzou.
Tevin Coleman- 3rd round NFL pick (he recruited and developed him)
Cody Latimer- 2nd round NFL pick (he recruited and developed him).

The program has clearly shown progress, so why not more wins to date? Three reasons
1. Wilson has stated the Hoosiers will need exceptional QB play to be a winner. In his second year (2012) he lost his starting quarterback for the season during the second game. In his fourth year (2014) he lost his starter in the 6th game with no real replacement. Outside of OSU, no program can take hits like that and win.
2. Defense. He kept a Mallory which was the right thing to do but it did not work out.
3. Last season in addition to the quarterback injuries he was breaking in both a new offensive coordinator (Seth Lettrell was greater of co-equals with Kevin Johns the previous seasons)and defensive coordinator.

Wilson's contract should be extended. He will be able to go to recruits and say "I will be here for your career, I will play you even as a freshman if you compete (look at my track record), all your games will be on TV, you will play in a big time league, and I develop NFL players".

Hoosiers fans will be rewarded in the long run.

 

[HermanB]

I like what CKW has done. He's learning to be a HC on the fly. Made some mistakes along the way-but who hasn't? Lock him up! Wish he got along better with Double D though. That's a problem in the Indy radio market.

 

[boiler1987]

If IU is serious about building a football program, now might be the time for an extension of coach Wilson's contract. While some fans may thing he belongs on the hot seat, he has moved the program in the right direction and has created a good base for a solid program. Here is why...

IU football legacy- The Hoosiers have been playing football since 1887, over this period of 127 years they have won 2 B10 titles (the most recent a 4 way tie in 1967). They have lost the most games of any BCS school, 651. They have the 9th worst winning percentage of the 128 BCS schools- .419. Their all time record ranks dead last in the B10 at 15th (behind Rutgers, Maryland and the University of Chicago). No coach since WWII has a winning percentage during his tenure at IU. Bill Mallory set the high water mark at .473. Thank goodness most youth don't know or care about history.

IU's recent football history- I will be using 2002 as the basis for this analysis. The Hoosiers have won 19 B10 games over the last 13 seasons (Thank God for Illinois which provided 6 of those 19 wins) . That is an average of 1.46 B10 wins a season. The best total B10 wins in a season were 3 (2006, 2007, and 2013). Here are the coaches and their seasons (I have listed total record, B10 record and B10 teams they defeated).

DiNardo-
2002- 3-9 (1-7) Win over Wisconsin.
2003- 2-10 (1-7) Win over Illinois.
2004- 3-8 (1-7) Win over Minn. (and a nice win over Oregon).

Hoeppner-
2005- 4-7 (1-7) Win over Illinois.
2006- 5-7 (3-5) Wins over Iowa, Mich St. and Illinois

Lynch-
2007- 7-6 (3-5) Wins over Purdue, Iowa, and Minn.
2008- 3-9 (1-7) Win over Northwestern
2009- 4-8 (1-7) Win over Illinois
2010- 5-7 (1-7) Win over Purdue.

Wilson-
2011- 1-11 (0-8)
2012- 4-8 (2-6) Wins over Illinois and Iowa.
2013- 5-7 (3-5) Wins over Penn St., Illinois and Purdue.
2014- 4-8 (1-7) Win over Purdue (and a nice win over Mizzou)

Here are the coaches and their recruiting. All rankings and information are from Rivals.

DiNardo-
Year 3 star
2002- B10 rank 14, National rank 82, Star average 2.1, 4 star 0, 3 star 3
2003- B10 rank 11, National rank 59, Star average 2.3, 4 star 0, 3 star 8
2004- B10 rank 13, National rank 87, Star average 2.1, 4 star 0, 3 star 5

Hoeppner-
Year
2005- B10 rank 14, National rank 73, Star average 2.1, 4 star 0, 3 star 3
2006- B10 rank 14, National rank 85, Star average 2.24, 4 star 0, 3 star 5

Lynch-
Year
2007- B10 rank 14, National rank 98, Star average 2.15, 4 star 0 , 3 star 5
2008- B10 rank 14, National rank 78, Star average 2.15, 4 star 0, 3 star 5
2009- B10 rank 12 , National rank 59, Star average 2.68, 4 star 0, 3 star 13
2010- B10 rank 14, National rank 93, Star average 2.4, 4 star 0, 3 star 11

Wilson-
Year
2011- B10 rank 12, National rank 60, Star average 2.67 , 4 star 1, 3 star 12
2012- B10 rank 13, National rank 67, Star average 2.7, 4 star 0, 3 star 18
2013- B10 rank 5, National rank 38, Star average 3.0, 4 star 5, 3 star 13
2014- B10 rank 7, National rank 38, Star average 2.77, 4 star 2, 3 star 16
2015- B10 rank 7, National rank 49, Star average 2.8 , 4 star 0, 3 star 18

Wilson and his staff have clearly improved the talent level at Indiana, and recruiting is greatly helped by relationships with high school coaches which his staff has developed over the last five years, especially outside of the state of Indiana and Midwest. To lose him will ruin many of the contacts he has made in the southeast (such as here in Florida where I live).

The Wilson era-
Coach Wilson came to IU as a top offensive coordinator from a winning program (Oklahoma). He had a record of developing talent and winning. He stated that IU needed a winning culture and he has moved it in the right direction. He stated as one of his short term goals to improve the talent level so that there was competition on the team for playing time and starts. He has clearly done this, this will be evident this year on the offensive line, receivers and linebackers. It has also improved the depth at almost every position. That competition has produced better players and play on the field. His tenures high points are:
Great recruiting.
Quality assistant coaches.
Back-to-back wins over Purdue (first time in 20 years).
First ever win over Penn State.
Road win over SEC east champ Mizzou.
Tevin Coleman- 3rd round NFL pick (he recruited and developed him)
Cody Latimer- 2nd round NFL pick (he recruited and developed him).

The program has clearly shown progress, so why not more wins to date? Three reasons
1. Wilson has stated the Hoosiers will need exceptional QB play to be a winner. In his second year (2012) he lost his starting quarterback for the season during the second game. In his fourth year (2014) he lost his starter in the 6th game with no real replacement. Outside of OSU, no program can take hits like that and win.
2. Defense. He kept a Mallory which was the right thing to do but it did not work out.
3. Last season in addition to the quarterback injuries he was breaking in both a new offensive coordinator (Seth Lettrell was greater of co-equals with Kevin Johns the previous seasons)and defensive coordinator.

Wilson's contract should be extended. He will be able to go to recruits and say "I will be here for your career, I will play you even as a freshman if you compete (look at my track record), all your games will be on TV, you will play in a big time league, and I develop NFL players".

Hoosiers fans will be rewarded in the long run.

What happens if you give him a long-term contract and he fails to make a bowl game this year? That would be 5 years with no bowl game.

 

[MJE]

What happens if you give him a long-term contract and he fails to make a bowl game this year? That would be 5 years with no bowl game.

Great question, and one that many here have probably asked themselves. Conventional wisdom says you have to fire a coach after that period of time without a bowl game.

But we are not the average (or merely mediocre) program, and we've tried the fire-your-coach-after-4-years approach, a method that's appropriate at high profile schools like USC. We've tried it several times over the last two decades (1996, 2001, 2004, 2010) without much luck.

If the fundamentals are there -- better recruiting, good relationships with high school coaches, an Athletic Department making investments in football, a head coach staying out of trouble, players staying (ahem, mostly) out of trouble, no wheels falling off the program, no large drops in attendance -- then maybe we should try something less conventional. Let's stop shooting ourselves in the foot.

If we feel the need to give our basketball coach a ten-year contract, it's almost like we should give the football coach a 15-year contract, given the relative success IU has had historically in those two sports.

I kinda wish he'd been given the contract extension after whipping Purdue in 2013.

 

[bdhman]

Totally agree. Appreciate your research and thinking on this. As you said, IU is not your typical program. Better to roll the dice with Wilson.

 

[WisslerIII]

There is plenty of time to give him an extension at the end of the year or even before if he wraps up a bowl bid early in the season.

It won't help recruiting one whit for 2016 by giving him an extension now if he bombs in year 5.

 

[kmathum]

There is plenty of time to give him an extension at the end of the year or even before if he wraps up a bowl bid early in the season.

It won't help recruiting one whit for 2016 by giving him an extension now if he bombs in year 5.

we need to extend him now. this is a long term building project.

 

[WisslerIII]

we must extend him now. this is a long term building project.

What's the rush, Mrs. Wilson?

 

[Townsend]

If IU is serious about building a football program, now might be the time for an extension of coach Wilson's contract. While some fans may thing he belongs on the hot seat, he has moved the program in the right direction and has created a good base for a solid program. Here is why...

IU football legacy- The Hoosiers have been playing football since 1887, over this period of 127 years they have won 2 B10 titles (the most recent a 4 way tie in 1967). They have lost the most games of any BCS school, 651. They have the 9th worst winning percentage of the 128 BCS schools- .419. Their all time record ranks dead last in the B10 at 15th (behind Rutgers, Maryland and the University of Chicago). No coach since WWII has a winning percentage during his tenure at IU. Bill Mallory set the high water mark at .473. Thank goodness most youth don't know or care about history.

IU's recent football history- I will be using 2002 as the basis for this analysis. The Hoosiers have won 19 B10 games over the last 13 seasons (Thank God for Illinois which provided 6 of those 19 wins) . That is an average of 1.46 B10 wins a season. The best total B10 wins in a season were 3 (2006, 2007, and 2013). Here are the coaches and their seasons (I have listed total record, B10 record and B10 teams they defeated).

DiNardo-
2002- 3-9 (1-7) Win over Wisconsin.
2003- 2-10 (1-7) Win over Illinois.
2004- 3-8 (1-7) Win over Minn. (and a nice win over Oregon).

Hoeppner-
2005- 4-7 (1-7) Win over Illinois.
2006- 5-7 (3-5) Wins over Iowa, Mich St. and Illinois

Lynch-
2007- 7-6 (3-5) Wins over Purdue, Iowa, and Minn.
2008- 3-9 (1-7) Win over Northwestern
2009- 4-8 (1-7) Win over Illinois
2010- 5-7 (1-7) Win over Purdue.

Wilson-
2011- 1-11 (0-8)
2012- 4-8 (2-6) Wins over Illinois and Iowa.
2013- 5-7 (3-5) Wins over Penn St., Illinois and Purdue.
2014- 4-8 (1-7) Win over Purdue (and a nice win over Mizzou)

Here are the coaches and their recruiting. All rankings and information are from Rivals.

DiNardo-
Year 3 star
2002- B10 rank 14, National rank 82, Star average 2.1, 4 star 0, 3 star 3
2003- B10 rank 11, National rank 59, Star average 2.3, 4 star 0, 3 star 8
2004- B10 rank 13, National rank 87, Star average 2.1, 4 star 0, 3 star 5

Hoeppner-
Year
2005- B10 rank 14, National rank 73, Star average 2.1, 4 star 0, 3 star 3
2006- B10 rank 14, National rank 85, Star average 2.24, 4 star 0, 3 star 5

Lynch-
Year
2007- B10 rank 14, National rank 98, Star average 2.15, 4 star 0 , 3 star 5
2008- B10 rank 14, National rank 78, Star average 2.15, 4 star 0, 3 star 5
2009- B10 rank 12 , National rank 59, Star average 2.68, 4 star 0, 3 star 13
2010- B10 rank 14, National rank 93, Star average 2.4, 4 star 0, 3 star 11

Wilson-
Year
2011- B10 rank 12, National rank 60, Star average 2.67 , 4 star 1, 3 star 12
2012- B10 rank 13, National rank 67, Star average 2.7, 4 star 0, 3 star 18
2013- B10 rank 5, National rank 38, Star average 3.0, 4 star 5, 3 star 13
2014- B10 rank 7, National rank 38, Star average 2.77, 4 star 2, 3 star 16
2015- B10 rank 7, National rank 49, Star average 2.8 , 4 star 0, 3 star 18

Wilson and his staff have clearly improved the talent level at Indiana, and recruiting is greatly helped by relationships with high school coaches which his staff has developed over the last five years, especially outside of the state of Indiana and Midwest. To lose him will ruin many of the contacts he has made in the southeast (such as here in Florida where I live).

The Wilson era-
Coach Wilson came to IU as a top offensive coordinator from a winning program (Oklahoma). He had a record of developing talent and winning. He stated that IU needed a winning culture and he has moved it in the right direction. He stated as one of his short term goals to improve the talent level so that there was competition on the team for playing time and starts. He has clearly done this, this will be evident this year on the offensive line, receivers and linebackers. It has also improved the depth at almost every position. That competition has produced better players and play on the field. His tenures high points are:
Great recruiting.
Quality assistant coaches.
Back-to-back wins over Purdue (first time in 20 years).
First ever win over Penn State.
Road win over SEC east champ Mizzou.
Tevin Coleman- 3rd round NFL pick (he recruited and developed him)
Cody Latimer- 2nd round NFL pick (he recruited and developed him).

The program has clearly shown progress, so why not more wins to date? Three reasons
1. Wilson has stated the Hoosiers will need exceptional QB play to be a winner. In his second year (2012) he lost his starting quarterback for the season during the second game. In his fourth year (2014) he lost his starter in the 6th game with no real replacement. Outside of OSU, no program can take hits like that and win.
2. Defense. He kept a Mallory which was the right thing to do but it did not work out.
3. Last season in addition to the quarterback injuries he was breaking in both a new offensive coordinator (Seth Lettrell was greater of co-equals with Kevin Johns the previous seasons)and defensive coordinator.

Wilson's contract should be extended. He will be able to go to recruits and say "I will be here for your career, I will play you even as a freshman if you compete (look at my track record), all your games will be on TV, you will play in a big time league, and I develop NFL players".

Hoosiers fans will be rewarded in the long run.

Very nicely done post. It is appreciated.

 

[Pelkowski]

Let's see how this season evolves. As I have said before, this could potentially be a breakout year for us. It has been building for some time. There is lots of talent in the roster. If we exceed expectations, CKW will be much sought after. Then we have a real problem.

If the opposite happens, it is easy to fire a coach and find another. It will set us back again, but Hep showed us what could happen after only a few years.

 

[82IUGraduate]

Great question, and one that many here have probably asked themselves. Conventional wisdom says you have to fire a coach after that period of time without a bowl game.

But we are not the average (or merely mediocre) program, and we've tried the fire-your-coach-after-4-years approach, a method that's appropriate at high profile schools like USC. We've tried it several times over the last two decades (1996, 2001, 2004, 2010) without much luck.

If the fundamentals are there -- better recruiting, good relationships with high school coaches, an Athletic Department making investments in football, a head coach staying out of trouble, players staying (ahem, mostly) out of trouble, no wheels falling off the program, no large drops in attendance -- then maybe we should try something less conventional. Let's stop shooting ourselves in the foot.

If we feel the need to give our basketball coach a ten-year contract, it's almost like we should give the football coach a 15-year contract, given the relative success IU has had historically in those two sports.

I kinda wish he'd been given the contract extension after whipping Purdue in 2013.

I agree with what MJE and newIUfan has stated and I feel that we need to give Coach Wilson more time to see what he can do. Look at Bailiff at Rice, he only had one winning season in his first five years but Rice had faith in him and it is paying off now. Rice has had three winning seasons in a row with three bowl appearances and two bowl wins. Rice admin. was smart enough to know what they had and they kept him. IU is in the same boat as NW, Duke, Kansas, Rice, Vandy, WF etc...It is a tough Coaching gig. Not a lot of Big Names knocking down the doors for these coaching jobs. It would be a miracle if we could land anyone better than Coach Wilson IMHO, no matter how much BIG money we could throw at them (especially if they know that they are only going to get 3-5 years to pull off another miracle before we pull the plug again). Not saying that it couldn't happen, just thinking I would have better odds winning the Power Ball jackpot. VBG
Coach has had a couple of good offensive teams, so we know what he can do there, plus he has lost his starting QB two out of four years (tough to overcome for about 95% of Div I teams). The defense is slowly being figured out and I believe we have the personnel there to get the job done in the near future. Unless Coach does something drastic to get himself fired, he has to be given more time. Just like MJE says, we have tried the four or five year plan and it is not working. Yes, I wish that we could have gotten to a bowl game by now, but I feel that we are edging so close to it that I don't want to turn back now. Heck, it took Lee Corso seven years to get to a winning season and we kept him around for ten years. Corso did not get the benefit of playing a soft schedule like most of the programs do today. Kind of like Corso, Wilson is faced with a ridiculously tough schedule (Big Ten East) which I feel must be taken in to consideration. Most years would be a major challenge for any IU coach to get to .500 especially when we draw Wisconsin or Nebraska in from the West.
Most people say that IU football is stuck in mediocrity. That is not true. We have just down right stunk up Div I for the better part of the last 65 years. We would have to go quite a ways upward to get to mediocrity. IU football actually had a winning record going into the 1950 season. Since then we have had only 15 seasons of playing .500 or better in that time span. Rice has pretty much mirrored IU's success (or lack thereof) in football for the past 50 years. We are more like Rice than most people want to admit. I believe that IU is heading in the right direction and we must be patient. I believe it will pay off.
P. S. No I am not Mrs. Wilson or related to Coach or his staff . LOL I am just a long time fan and alum that wants to see some winning football before I head off for the Pearly Gates!!

 

[welshman#]

depends on how you define "no coach since WWII" since the coach at IU when WWII ended, who by far had the best W-L record of any IU FB coach, was Bo McMillin. He was able to manage an overall winning record and even a .500 conference record at a time when IU still had to cope with the effect of playing most conference games on the road.

I'll say it again: if CKW finishes with a losing record in year 5, he clearly does not deserve an extension (and it's not like there will be any need to prevent other schools from hiring him away from IU in that scenario)

but as little faith as I would have in Wilson, after 5 straight losing seasons, to be "the guy" to head up the FB program, I'd have maybe even less faith in Glass to find a replacement. Afraid IU's kinda stuck, at least for the time being--unless it hires an AD with a track record of hiring winning FB coaches. They had that chance last time and chose a well-connected politician/IU grad instead.

And I agree with those who contend that, unless the Ath Dept's balance sheet drops back "into the red" again, Glass is in no real trouble unless Crean & the BB program totally implode this winter.

Oh, one other thing: IIRC, Lynch's staff was already recruiting Latimer before Wilson was hired. So both guys deserve some credit for his IU career.

 

[td75]

I'm starting to believe that the AD is the key to building a football program at the division 1 level. IU continues to hire lawyers in this position and it hasn't panned out. Get a real AD and the results will improve.

 

[crossfire74]

If IU is serious about building a football program, now might be the time for an extension of coach Wilson's contract. While some fans may thing he belongs on the hot seat, he has moved the program in the right direction and has created a good base for a solid program. Here is why...

IU football legacy- The Hoosiers have been playing football since 1887, over this period of 127 years they have won 2 B10 titles (the most recent a 4 way tie in 1967). They have lost the most games of any BCS school, 651. They have the 9th worst winning percentage of the 128 BCS schools- .419. Their all time record ranks dead last in the B10 at 15th (behind Rutgers, Maryland and the University of Chicago). No coach since WWII has a winning percentage during his tenure at IU. Bill Mallory set the high water mark at .473. Thank goodness most youth don't know or care about history.

IU's recent football history- I will be using 2002 as the basis for this analysis. The Hoosiers have won 19 B10 games over the last 13 seasons (Thank God for Illinois which provided 6 of those 19 wins) . That is an average of 1.46 B10 wins a season. The best total B10 wins in a season were 3 (2006, 2007, and 2013). Here are the coaches and their seasons (I have listed total record, B10 record and B10 teams they defeated).

DiNardo-
2002- 3-9 (1-7) Win over Wisconsin.
2003- 2-10 (1-7) Win over Illinois.
2004- 3-8 (1-7) Win over Minn. (and a nice win over Oregon).

Hoeppner-
2005- 4-7 (1-7) Win over Illinois.
2006- 5-7 (3-5) Wins over Iowa, Mich St. and Illinois

Lynch-
2007- 7-6 (3-5) Wins over Purdue, Iowa, and Minn.
2008- 3-9 (1-7) Win over Northwestern
2009- 4-8 (1-7) Win over Illinois
2010- 5-7 (1-7) Win over Purdue.

Wilson-
2011- 1-11 (0-8)
2012- 4-8 (2-6) Wins over Illinois and Iowa.
2013- 5-7 (3-5) Wins over Penn St., Illinois and Purdue.
2014- 4-8 (1-7) Win over Purdue (and a nice win over Mizzou)

Here are the coaches and their recruiting. All rankings and information are from Rivals.

DiNardo-
Year 3 star
2002- B10 rank 14, National rank 82, Star average 2.1, 4 star 0, 3 star 3
2003- B10 rank 11, National rank 59, Star average 2.3, 4 star 0, 3 star 8
2004- B10 rank 13, National rank 87, Star average 2.1, 4 star 0, 3 star 5

Hoeppner-
Year
2005- B10 rank 14, National rank 73, Star average 2.1, 4 star 0, 3 star 3
2006- B10 rank 14, National rank 85, Star average 2.24, 4 star 0, 3 star 5

Lynch-
Year
2007- B10 rank 14, National rank 98, Star average 2.15, 4 star 0 , 3 star 5
2008- B10 rank 14, National rank 78, Star average 2.15, 4 star 0, 3 star 5
2009- B10 rank 12 , National rank 59, Star average 2.68, 4 star 0, 3 star 13
2010- B10 rank 14, National rank 93, Star average 2.4, 4 star 0, 3 star 11

Wilson-
Year
2011- B10 rank 12, National rank 60, Star average 2.67 , 4 star 1, 3 star 12
2012- B10 rank 13, National rank 67, Star average 2.7, 4 star 0, 3 star 18
2013- B10 rank 5, National rank 38, Star average 3.0, 4 star 5, 3 star 13
2014- B10 rank 7, National rank 38, Star average 2.77, 4 star 2, 3 star 16
2015- B10 rank 7, National rank 49, Star average 2.8 , 4 star 0, 3 star 18

Wilson and his staff have clearly improved the talent level at Indiana, and recruiting is greatly helped by relationships with high school coaches which his staff has developed over the last five years, especially outside of the state of Indiana and Midwest. To lose him will ruin many of the contacts he has made in the southeast (such as here in Florida where I live).

The Wilson era-
Coach Wilson came to IU as a top offensive coordinator from a winning program (Oklahoma). He had a record of developing talent and winning. He stated that IU needed a winning culture and he has moved it in the right direction. He stated as one of his short term goals to improve the talent level so that there was competition on the team for playing time and starts. He has clearly done this, this will be evident this year on the offensive line, receivers and linebackers. It has also improved the depth at almost every position. That competition has produced better players and play on the field. His tenures high points are:
Great recruiting.
Quality assistant coaches.
Back-to-back wins over Purdue (first time in 20 years).
First ever win over Penn State.
Road win over SEC east champ Mizzou.
Tevin Coleman- 3rd round NFL pick (he recruited and developed him)
Cody Latimer- 2nd round NFL pick (he recruited and developed him).

The program has clearly shown progress, so why not more wins to date? Three reasons
1. Wilson has stated the Hoosiers will need exceptional QB play to be a winner. In his second year (2012) he lost his starting quarterback for the season during the second game. In his fourth year (2014) he lost his starter in the 6th game with no real replacement. Outside of OSU, no program can take hits like that and win.
2. Defense. He kept a Mallory which was the right thing to do but it did not work out.
3. Last season in addition to the quarterback injuries he was breaking in both a new offensive coordinator (Seth Lettrell was greater of co-equals with Kevin Johns the previous seasons)and defensive coordinator.

Wilson's contract should be extended. He will be able to go to recruits and say "I will be here for your career, I will play you even as a freshman if you compete (look at my track record), all your games will be on TV, you will play in a big time league, and I develop NFL players".

Hoosiers fans will be rewarded in the long run.

It would be a HORRIBLE error to extend him this season. The jury is still out on whether he can actually coach enough to win games. He certainly can recruit, and we've been bitten hard by the injury bug, but now is simply not the time to extend him. IMHO, if we fail to win enough to bowl this season, barring major injuries, he will be unemployed not long after the season ends.

I like what CKW has done so far, but 5 years of no bowls, injuries or not, is unacceptable in any gig.....even at Indiana. Many like CKW for what he's done in terms of recruiting, and there's a lot of love there, but somewhere along the line, you have to win, and he's not done that. Add to that a very bad off season for his program, and multiple speaking faux pas and tirades with media and staff, I just don't think it would be wise for us. Many on here "HOPE" or "BELIEVE" he will turn this thing around and everything will fall into place, but winning is the ultimate proof. If we bowl this season, then I think we should probably extend him. I don't see any programs beating down our door to hire him away as a Head Coach, so we still have time to evaluate and see how this goes.

Bottom-line.....let's slow our roll and see where we end up in November.

 

[crossfire74]

I'm starting to believe that the AD is the key to building a football program at the division 1 level. IU continues to hire lawyers in this position and it hasn't panned out. Get a real AD and the results will improve.

Glass has hit the nail on fundraising, but he's one of the worst ADs in terms of managing the program that this University has EVER had. I don't get why so many love the guy. He's terrible, his hires and extensions have been terrible. The win/loss records under his watch from the major programs have been bad. Yeah, he can fundraise, and like most lawyers, talk out of both sides of his mouth well, but he's handicapped our growth as a sports program by retaining several coaches that shouldn't have been retained. As one poster said it best, "he's simply a clown that is a glorified cheerleader and nothing else."

 

[MJE]

...Add to that a very bad off season for his program, and multiple speaking faux pas and tirades with media and staff...

Wait, did I miss something? I know about the Allen deal, but what else happened?

 

[rcaulfie]

No way should we extend his contract right now. He hasn't done anything to warrant it. We need to give him time to see if he can get this going, but to extend it now before he has actually gotten it going is just giving up on IU football, imo.

 

[kmathum]

What's the rush, Mrs. Wilson?

not related. just a long suffering iu fan who believes we're finally beginning to turn the corner. don't wimp out now.

 

[IUHDog]

Yup...extend his contract now so he can re-recruit some of the Indiana guys who have committed elsewhere. It is time to roll the dice in a big way. And come up with some more money for the key assistants as well. Lock em down.

 

[crossfire74]

Yup...extend his contract now so he can re-recruit some of the Indiana guys who have committed elsewhere. It is time to roll the dice in a big way. And some up with some more money for the key assistants as well. Lock em down.

What do we do if he fails to bowl for a couple more seasons? We fire a guy we just extended? Kills any positive PR we have going for us. Sorry, no thanks. You wait. This year will tell the tail. The only real excuse that's out there is we are young in the secondary. That's a big issue, but it shouldn't kill us. He's had time to fix the issues with depth, lack of pass rush, getting competent coaches, etc. It's put up or shut up.

 

[JohnsyRick]

What do we do if he fails to bowl for a couple more seasons? We fire a guy we just extended? Kills any positive PR we have going for us. Sorry, no thanks. You wait. This year will tell the tail. The only real excuse that's out there is we are young in the secondary. That's a big issue, but it shouldn't kill us. He's had time to fix the issues with depth, lack of pass rush, getting competent coaches, etc. It's put up or shut up.

You don't need to extend him for ten years, but 2-3 would be good to allow him to recruit. I know you are aware of the negative recruiting going on now, an extension would certainly help alleviate some recruits fears. If he doesn't make a bowl in a couple more ,there should be no problem firing him at that point. Positive PR, really ? No one gets positive PR for firing a coach unless they make a home run hire, which we wouldn't as no "home runs" would come here.
We have tried the hire, fire and rehire approach over and over, why not try something new for a change ? No doubt CKW has made some mistakes as a first time HC, but he seems much more comfortable now and we , at least, look like (physically) a BTT team. I , for one, would like to see us stay the course for once rather than starting over again and again. The problem with waiting for this year to "tell the TALE" is you make it very difficult to recruit.

 

[crossfire74]

You don't need to extend him for ten years, but 2-3 would be good to allow him to recruit. I know you are aware of the negative recruiting going on now, an extension would certainly help alleviate some recruits fears. If he doesn't make a bowl in a couple more ,there should be no problem firing him at that point. Positive PR, really ? No one gets positive PR for firing a coach unless they make a home run hire, which we wouldn't as no "home runs" would come here.
We have tried the hire, fire and rehire approach over and over, why not try something new for a change ? No doubt CKW has made some mistakes as a first time HC, but he seems much more comfortable now and we , at least, look like (physically) a BTT team. I , for one, would like to see us stay the course for once rather than starting over again and again. The problem with waiting for this year to "tell the TALE" is you make it very difficult to recruit.

Not really. Recruiting is doing pretty well I'd say. We aren't doing as well instate, but we are doing well outside of it. But I don't think you have to worry about an extension from Glass. It's not going to happen. He handcuffed himself with the Crean extension and he's not going to do it again. Now Crean may wiggle his way out, but it was still a nightmare situation that caused all kinds of drama. Wilson is entering a make or break year, much like Crean was last season. Let's see what he can do. The thing that people fail to realize is that if you win, you recruit well. Wilson and staff are great sellers of the program, but winning will bring these kids from instate and beyond that are going elsewhere.

 

[RBB89]

I'm starting to believe that the AD is the key to building a football program at the division 1 level. IU continues to hire lawyers in this position and it hasn't panned out. Get a real AD and the results will improve.

If you don't think Glass is a good AD, fine, but you realize that it's not uncommon for someone with his background to be an AD, right? A lot of ADs aren't former football players from the glory years or whatever. There's more to it than that.

 

[crossfire74]

If you don't think Glass is a good AD, fine, but you realize that it's not uncommon for someone with his background to be an AD, right? A lot of ADs aren't former football players from the glory years or whatever. There's more to it than that.

Actually a lot of good ADs have a lawyer background and are alums of the schools.

 

[RBB89]

Wait, did I miss something? I know about the Allen deal, but what else happened?

I assume he's referring to his first few months here, like 5 years ago. Hasn't had any issues since.

 

[scribe56]

Not until he gets us to a bowl game.

 

[crossfire74]

I assume he's referring to his first few months here, like 5 years ago. Hasn't had any issues since.

This offseason produced Allen, as you referenced, but also problems with Green and Griffith. And there have been blow ups undocumented as well as the more public ones that we do know about from years past. So to say he's had a rough off season is quite accurate. Just because Green and Griffith didn't get dismissed, doesn't mean their issues with the law didn't cause problems.

 

[Big Red Crimson Buffalo]

I will say this: although the jury is still out on Wilson, it appears that the guy is trying to address the defensive concerns more so than any IU coach in recent memory.

Now is the time to see if some of the better guys on paper can carry through on the field: Latham, Gooch, Scales, Sykes, all of these guys weren't chopped liver coming in.

Given what we have on defensive pedigree, there is no way we should be that bad. Sure, it's not OSU type guys but the 90th ranked defense in the country?

 

[YOTHN]

Glass has hit the nail on fundraising, but he's one of the worst ADs in terms of managing the program that this University has EVER had. I don't get why so many love the guy. He's terrible, his hires and extensions have been terrible. The win/loss records under his watch from the major programs have been bad. Yeah, he can fundraise, and like most lawyers, talk out of both sides of his mouth well, but he's handicapped our growth as a sports program by retaining several coaches that shouldn't have been retained. As one poster said it best, "he's simply a clown that is a glorified cheerleader and nothing else."

Glass has hired one of the top 5 bball coaches in the nation and a fball coach who has recruited better than any coach prior to him. What has Glass done so wrong?

 

[YOTHN]

Not until he gets us to a bowl game.

Right, because IU has always been one that demands a bowl game and no less.......except for one year in the past 23 YEARS! I think the idea is to hire a coach who will eventually allow you the opportunity to achieve that. You have to be able to look deeper than "make a bowl or get fired". That approach has been tried and has failed miserably. It's time to take a more educated approach and really look deeper into the direction the program and it's structure is headed. As we all know the biggest cliche is "the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again but expecting a different outcome". So to use in a bowl game or fire him approach is doing exactly what we have been doing. Had we dug in deeper on Lynch (like most IU fans had) we would've fired him regardless of his output in 07. But we used that bowl game logic and were strapped for years after that.

Keeping Wilson will show he has the universities backing and that very well could go a long way with him if he indeed has a major breakout season where other teams are vying for him.

 

[kmathum]

What do we do if he fails to bowl for a couple more seasons? We fire a guy we just extended? Kills any positive PR we have going for us. Sorry, no thanks. You wait. This year will tell the tail. The only real excuse that's out there is we are young in the secondary. That's a big issue, but it shouldn't kill us. He's had time to fix the issues with depth, lack of pass rush, getting competent coaches, etc. It's put up or shut up.

what's your solution?

 

[boiler1987]

Glass has hired one of the top 5 bball coaches in the nation and a fball coach who has recruited better than any coach prior to him. What has Glass done so wrong?

Teri Moren is a top 5 coach?

 

[crossfire74]

what's your solution?

Give him this season. If he gets us to bowl, then extend him with a raise. If he doesn't, barring catastrophic injuries, I let him go. This won't be the popular choice here, but he's had his chances. Recruiting instate has really slipped this season. There's a big reason we are going out of state to get our verbals. Pretty soon, out of state kids will not be interested the more we keep losing. At some point you have to win.....period.

 

[Big Red Crimson Buffalo]

Recruiting instate has really slipped this season. There's a big reason we are going out of state to get our verbals. Pretty soon, out of state kids will not be interested th

Recruiting in state has always sucked for just about any program other than Note Dame. You look at the top 5 players in the state and they either go to ND or outside our borders.
This is not some new revelation.

 

[YOTHN]

Teri Moren is a top 5 coach?

Your words not mine but if you say so then I was wrong. He has hired two top 5 bball coaches in the nation.

 

[boiler1987]

Your words not mine but if you say so then I was wrong. He has hired two top 5 bball coaches in the nation.

What qualifies Crean as a "top 5" coach? I even think most IU fans would laugh at that.

 

[bang63]

Glass has hired one of the top 5 bball coaches in the nation and a fball coach who has recruited better than any coach prior to him. What has Glass done so wrong?

Crean was hired 4/08 and Glass was hired 11/08 so Glass didn't hire Crean but he did give him a ridiculous extension.

 

[JohnsyRick]

S

Not really. Recruiting is doing pretty well I'd say. We aren't doing as well instate, but we are doing well outside of it. But I don't think you have to worry about an extension from Glass. It's not going to happen. He handcuffed himself with the Crean extension and he's not going to do it again. Now Crean may wiggle his way out, but it was still a nightmare situation that caused all kinds of drama. Wilson is entering a make or break year, much like Crean was last season. Let's see what he can do. The thing that people fail to realize is that if you win, you recruit well. Wilson and staff are great sellers of the program, but winning will bring these kids from instate and beyond that are going elsewhere.

So 1 minute you say recruiting is doing well and the next we aren't ? The reason in state recruiting has slipped has as much to do with recruits feeling possible impending doom for this staff as it has to do with W/L record. Sure CKW has got to start posting some W's, but again, a 2-3 year extension would not break the bank and it would give kids a lot more confidence that the staff recruiting them will be there throughout their careers. We have repeatedly tried the "restart" with a new coach approach and the results speak for themselves. We have nothing to lose by trying a new approach for once.

 

[crossfire74]

Your words not mine but if you say so then I was wrong. He has hired two top 5 bball coaches in the nation.

Crean and Moren as top 5 coaches in the Country???? Be serious man. That's beyond laughable. Both are average coaches that would rate in the Top 100 college coaches, but not top 5. To be a top 5 coach you have to win multiple championships and consistently set in the top 10 and make the tournament every year, not be hit and miss and only achieve Sweet 16s.

 

[crossfire74]

S

So 1 minute you say recruiting is doing well and the next we aren't ? The reason in state recruiting has slipped has as much to do with recruits feeling possible impending doom for this staff as it has to do with W/L record. Sure CKW has got to start posting some W's, but again, a 2-3 year extension would not break the bank and it would give kids a lot more confidence that the staff recruiting them will be there throughout their careers. We have repeatedly tried the "restart" with a new coach approach and the results speak for themselves. We have nothing to lose by trying a new approach for once.

He's not going to get an extension right now. You are beating a dead horse arguing with me to try to prove a point that doesn't exist. Move on!