Super Tom Crean. 15-57 in conference at Georgia and now out of coaching. How did we let him go?!
An uninspiring hire has produced uninspired results - OPINION
- Thread starter Seyton
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Very true. I was on his left just slightly out of that picture.
I know it’s not going to happen but if we could only get a new coach and hit a home run. It’s all I want for Christmas the rest of my life!
Please keep your slack jawed hillbilly whack job politics off the basketball board.
TIA
Maybe so, but that doesn’t alter the fact there’s a hint of truth to my hypothesis at the basic root of the differences. Whether my slack-jawed hillbilly whack job politics is here or elsewhere, doesn’t change this characterization.
He literally won the conference, and was Coach of the Year, the year before he got canned. How the hell can you say he fell off a cliff?
And as we all know, Georgia is a historical basketball power, so failing there should be a condemnation of him. /s
Are you kidding me? Lawrence, Durham, and Chapel Hill are even more liberal than Bloomington. Politics has nothing to do with the state of the men’s basketball program.
Oh, and Biden won Tippecanoe County.
Crean is a terrible coach and deserved to be fired. He alienated every high school coach in the state which killed his ability to recruit the top talent. His performance at Georgia validated IU’s decision.
it's not Whiten holding them back at all, it's the mismanagement of the athletic department and its horrible decision making. It applies across the board however, people hired into positions they have absolutely no qualification for, sometimes even hired knowing that to be the case as in staff appointments of spouses of faculty ... the university basically finding places to stick people where the nature of their actual job is constantly shifting to whatever hides them best from sight as being nothing more than a charity hire to attract faculty they want.
This is apples to oranges from the situation RMK was in. This is ineptitude, combined with too much money. The notion that IU is anything other than one of the bottom half of the conference from an academic standpoint and is laughable as it's always been. Stanford of the mid-west, yeah right, that's the ticket
Now that the administration is hiring with DEI mandates to fulfill, it will only get worse. The best qualified won't necessarily be in the most influential positions, more so.
Bob Knight remained a student of the game throughout his life. Few are as dedicated today.
As time goes by, gene pools get further diluted. Purebreds become mutts in the course of evolution. Whatever is, was, and will be is now becoming. Time, as we know of it, only moves in one direction, the direction dictated by the Second Law of Thermodynamics, that is, higher randomness, this thing labeled "entropy."
Organization requires energy input, going against the grain of nature. It started near the beginning of time with elections seeking a lower orbital state, shedding of excess energy useful elsewhere, in the process. Let's hope IU sees fit to hire someone with vitality, someone full of energy, someone imbued in the spirit of strong work ethic. Personality is the outward reflection of inner vitality. Think of Bob Knight as a supercharged thoroughbred fast out of the Churchill Downs starting gate vs Archie Miller/Mike Woodson, slower moving trail horses put out to pasture.
This situation is painful. It might take us to hit rock bottom to rebuild. When that happens let’s just hope we hire a qualified individuals.
I understand being positive but there is NO REASON TO BE POSITIVE ABOUT ONE THING WITH IUMBB RIGHT NOW.
Well you're quite right about the rampant hiring of friends, spouses, and family at IU, positions and reporting lines carefully structured so as to avoid the letter of the law that prohibits nepotism and conflict of interest. This has gone on for a long long time though, nothing that started recently.
Nepotism slows the advancement of life's technology when the less gifted are granted special positions of influence over those more deserving through the blood, sweat and tears of the higher qualified.
Since early on...Woodson has projected a "my way or the highway" sort of demeanor. While that seems normal....it is when the coach knows what he is doing. I think it was questionable when Matta and Fife both left. I got the impression that they were closer to players than Woodson was...and frankly, represented a threat. He chose to bring in his own "yes men". I don't think Woodson is open to change and thinking outside the box. Part of that is his high mileage, and part is ego. I think that explains his lack of contact with recruits and recruiting in general.
Furthermore....I think the "law of diminishing returns" is creeping in on portal dependence as well. He won't get 3 fives stars next year. In fact, he will lose three 5 stars. This roster mismanagement is both on and off the court. The only way Woodson could possibly turn this around is by having top shelf, player oriented assistant coaches whose input he welcomes and utilizes. That is what he chased off. In short, IU has a head coach that demonstrates stubborn tunnel-vision, as a substitute for college head coaching skiils.
Furthermore....I think the "law of diminishing returns" is creeping in on portal dependence as well. He won't get 3 fives stars next year. In fact, he will lose three 5 stars. This roster mismanagement is both on and off the court. The only way Woodson could possibly turn this around is by having top shelf, player oriented assistant coaches whose input he welcomes and utilizes. That is what he chased off. In short, IU has a head coach that demonstrates stubborn tunnel-vision, as a substitute for college head coaching skiils.
No idea what evolution, stochastic processes or human genetics has to do with this coaching situation but competence and personality are two different things. We can have the most dispassionate coach on the planet but if he/she recruits and develops players effectively leading to wins and NCAA tournament achievements, I'm all in. Mark Few doesn't strike me as the most rah rah guy in the world but he wins.
Everyone except Sampson has been inconsistently competent in their career when it comes to delivering wins - Davis, Dakich, Crean, Miller and now Woodson. I don't care about the person, I care about the outcomes. None of these coaches have delivered consistent outcomes. Saying stupid, illogical things about the lack of achieving those outcomes only makes things worse for that person.
Personalities…those of energy surplus, socially directed, are attractive to others. Energetic coaches are more prone to winning records.
Against the bottom feeders of the conference. Astute observation. However I do agree they are playing better and did not mail it in.
VanPastorMan
Hall of Famer
I had a retired lawyer tell me that what made America great was genetic hybrid vigor. I responded by saying that the genius of our Constitution was a bigger part. He said, "That was written because of genetic hybrid vigor". lol
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