Ok, I will chip in with my thoughts. I know, I know, most of these are pipe dreams but you gotta make someone say NO, more than once, IMO.
Brad Stevens (Seth Davis made an interesting comment about that possibility last April????) I don't see him
that cushy Celtics gig, but SD is surely more wired in than I and most everyone else on this
board. I have ZERO hesitations/reservations in regards to his ability to navigate today's CBS
landscape).
Billy Donovan (He is middle of the pack in the NBA right now. Not sure about contract situation, buyout, blah,
blah, blah)
Mark Few (Yeah, yeah, yeah, loves the Pacific NW and all the fishing up there, but the right salesperson
can convince him that there are plenty of smallmouth bass to catch in Southern Indiana and a
private jet can take him to Oregon anytime he feels the need to catch a trout. Sell him on the
Roy Williams comparisons, close but not cigar until he made the switch to another program)
Brad Brownell (I like how he gets Clemson to play, makes the sum much greater than the parts. Take him in a
heartbeat)
Chris Beard (Coaching is no issue. Address the possible behavior issues in contract clauses.)
Bruce Pearl (Age is a factor and he wants to find a landing spot for his son???)
Thad Motta (Age possibly a minor detractor. He is a little older than his age with his past health issues. Not his fault, obviously, but a factor indeed. Plus, Indiana didn't exactly treat him A+ the
last go-around).
Shaka Smart
Dusty May
I've successfully talked Stevens back in to my hopes and dreams. Ha ha. At a minimum, he would help bring IU basketball forward in terms of an overall organization, and national relevance. There's a very, very low chance he'd be "mediocre" as an actual bball coach. And an even lesser chance he wouldn't raise the bar for the types of people involved in decisions and everything IU bball related.
Donovan...would love it. I think he would worry me more than Stevens, in terms of his ability to adapt back to being successful at the college level. Stevens recent complete overhaul of the Celtics organization, and rosters, and the results from that, prove he is open to new dynamics and trends, and able to maximize his tools and resources to be successful. The Celtics completely changed their entire identity and philosophy a few years ago, to become an ultra high volume 3 point shooting team, that had rim protection and very specific types of wing/on ball defenders. Brad would 100% figure out how to thrive in today's college bball. Donovan...I think probably would too, but am less certain on it.
Few...not gonna happen. Gonzaga would literally deed the entire school to him, before allowing him to leave for another college.
Brownell...never been impressed with him. He wins, but he doesn't "win big". And I'm not sure his style would correlate to him immediately getting overwhelming talent at IU, either. He's never out recruited his peers, and he's never really overwhelmingly out performed his peers. Pass.
Matta...I'm only a year removed from thinking he was the best, most realistic, choice to replace Woodson. I no longer hold that view. I do think he'd be better than Woodson. But I just don't see him keeping up with the times right now at Butler. They're struggling, and not attracting much talent. He wouldn't be at the top of any lists for me. On a list, for sure. But there are a handful of others I'd push hard for before him.
Shaka Smart...would love to have him. Kinda doubt he'd leave Marquette, for IU. He has them rolling. But if he would, would love to have him.
Dusty May...ehhhh....I just posted he's feeling like Tom Crean 2.0 to me. If we don't get a more established guy, I'd rather risk it with someone like McCollom, DeVries, even Crutchfield from the D2 ranks.
