This reminded me of Ted Kitchel's greatest game as a Hoosier. It was against Illinois. I was thinking it was 17-17 but it was actually 18-18 free throws he made on his way to a 40 pt game. He has always been outspoken and it is probably what helped him land his sportscasting gig with Laskowski. This article, in part, appeared right after Archie Miller was announced as coach.
BLOOMINGTON -- Ted Kitchel has never been one to mince words when it comes to hiring new Indiana basketball coaches.
Kitchel, who starred on the 1981 Indiana national championship team, was the guy who became famous for his thoughts on the day of Kelvin Sampson’s hiring in 2006.
“It’s an absolute disgrace,’’ Kitchel said at the time. “I wouldn’t hire that guy to coach my fifth-grade girls team. That guy is absolutely what we don’t want at IU.’’
Eleven years later, Kitchel is unhappy again. This time, he’s not anti-Archie Miller as much as he is disappointed in the way the coaching search played out, specifically in terms of whether former IU players were given serious consideration in the process.
Kitchel doesn’t believe anyone was. He said several former players were given “obligatory interviews” to discuss the future and the direction of the program, but no one was actually interviewed for the position.
“I haven’t heard from a single ex-player who is happy about the way this was handled,’’ Kitchel said. “The athletic director told us that an Indiana guy would have a shot and that he would interview anyone who was interested. And that was a lie. He talked to Randy Wittman for 15 minutes, and the same was true with Mike Woodson. He didn’t talk with Steve Alford. I don’t think Dane Fife was given more than an obligatory interview either.’’
