Coach, you've been 'awful'

[IUNorth]

Yet another press conference with Woody calling out players. As I mentioned after one of the other ones, this is his NBA coaching coming out loud and clear.

I'm not at all opposed to holding the players accountable, especially the older kids. But Woody strikes me as a very genuine person. And if he thought any of this 'awful' play that he so directly laid blame on a few players last night, were his fault, he'd say it was.

Got news for ya Coach...its ALL your fault. It ALL starts with you. You've had ample opportunity to forge solid basketball fundamentals into these players. ESPECIALLY Trey and Xavier...they've been with you now since day 1...of anyone, they should be the epitome of what you're teaching at IU. Well, they are. They're wildly inconsistent. And they're fundamentally flawed basketball players that haven't been drilled, forced, taught how to do all the little things the right way.

NBA coaches don't have to focus on the little things. They don't have to worry about guys not communicating, not reading things correctly, not choosing the right gaps to attack, not being in the right positions... they manage minutes, they call plays at times, they recognize general game trends and substitute accordingly...and after its all said and done, when things work or don't work, the players are the ones that get the praise or the blame in the moment. But then if the team's performance ends up being bad enough, for long enough, the coach gets fired.

What specifically were those guys 'awful' at last night? And have you spent countless hours trying to teach and coach them to the point where that level of 'awful' just isn't a possibility...

I have no doubt you work the guys hard. And you probably yell plenty. But what you're doing isn't working. Figure it out, and stop calling out college kids, by name, in press conferences.

 

[stollcpa]

Yet another press conference with Woody calling out players. As I mentioned after one of the other ones, this is his NBA coaching coming out loud and clear.

I'm not at all opposed to holding the players accountable, especially the older kids. But Woody strikes me as a very genuine person. And if he thought any of this 'awful' play that he so directly laid blame on a few players last night, were his fault, he'd say it was.

Got news for ya Coach...its ALL your fault. It ALL starts with you. You've had ample opportunity to forge solid basketball fundamentals into these players. ESPECIALLY Trey and Xavier...they've been with you now since day 1...of anyone, they should be the epitome of what you're teaching at IU. Well, they are. They're wildly inconsistent. And they're fundamentally flawed basketball players that haven't been drilled, forced, taught how to do all the little things the right way.

NBA coaches don't have to focus on the little things. They don't have to worry about guys not communicating, not reading things correctly, not choosing the right gaps to attack, not being in the right positions... they manage minutes, they call plays at times, they recognize general game trends and substitute accordingly...and after its all said and done, when things work or don't work, the players are the ones that get the praise or the blame in the moment. But then if the team's performance ends up being bad enough, for long enough, the coach gets fired.

What specifically were those guys 'awful' at last night? And have you spent countless hours trying to teach and coach them to the point where that level of 'awful' just isn't a possibility...

I have no doubt you work the guys hard. And you probably yell plenty. But what you're doing isn't working. Figure it out, and stop calling out college kids, by name, in press conferences.

The press conference was awful. He seemed distant and disinterested. Besides calling out his guards I thought he was going to fall asleep.

This year and the next two are going to be like watching a train wreck in slow motion if he doesn’t figure it out quick or retire.

 

[Brewskie]

Yet another press conference with Woody calling out players. As I mentioned after one of the other ones, this is his NBA coaching coming out loud and clear.

I'm not at all opposed to holding the players accountable, especially the older kids. But Woody strikes me as a very genuine person. And if he thought any of this 'awful' play that he so directly laid blame on a few players last night, were his fault, he'd say it was.

Got news for ya Coach...its ALL your fault. It ALL starts with you. You've had ample opportunity to forge solid basketball fundamentals into these players. ESPECIALLY Trey and Xavier...they've been with you now since day 1...of anyone, they should be the epitome of what you're teaching at IU. Well, they are. They're wildly inconsistent. And they're fundamentally flawed basketball players that haven't been drilled, forced, taught how to do all the little things the right way.

NBA coaches don't have to focus on the little things. They don't have to worry about guys not communicating, not reading things correctly, not choosing the right gaps to attack, not being in the right positions... they manage minutes, they call plays at times, they recognize general game trends and substitute accordingly...and after its all said and done, when things work or don't work, the players are the ones that get the praise or the blame in the moment. But then if the team's performance ends up being bad enough, for long enough, the coach gets fired.

What specifically were those guys 'awful' at last night? And have you spent countless hours trying to teach and coach them to the point where that level of 'awful' just isn't a possibility...

I have no doubt you work the guys hard. And you probably yell plenty. But what you're doing isn't working. Figure it out, and stop calling out college kids, by name, in press conferences.

Agree with this 100%. After the Auburn game, I was disappointed, after last night it was more ticked off. He hasn't done a good job with this team.

 

[dbmhoosier]

The press conference was awful. He seemed distant and disinterested. Besides calling out his guards I thought he was going to fall asleep.

This year and the next two are going to be like watching a train wreck in slow motion if he doesn’t figure it out quick or retire.

Almost seemed like a man about ready to crack. I think if we keep losing he'll soon have an "I'm not the man for the job" moment.

 

[bsmitty08]

Woody is terrible guys. I mean terrible.
This roster construction is terrible, in game adjustments are comical, lack of accountability by Woodson. Undiciplined play that doesn’t warrant much reaction from Woody. Fundamentally a bad team. Defense stance, blocking out, passing, ball fakes, FT shooting, etc.

 

[CriticArisen]

He doesn’t have a clue what to do unfortunately and must be close to accepting that what he thought would work just doesn’t

 

[stollcpa]

Almost seemed like a man about ready to crack. I think if we keep losing he'll soon have an "I'm not the man for the job" moment.

You might be right but I didn’t see someone ready to crack. I saw a stubborn old man that’s pissed off at his kids and doesn’t recognize it’s on him.

 

[bsmitty08]

You might be right but I didn’t see someone ready to crack. I saw a stubborn old man that’s pissed off at his kids and doesn’t recognize it’s on him.

Also who is Woody bouncing ideas off in his coaching room? Woody has very little experience running a college bball program and his staff is very young and inexperienced as well. Rumor is Fife was ran off because Woody didn’t want to hear his ideas and thoughts. Also Matta not around anymore either.

 

[dbmhoosier]

He doesn’t have a clue what to do unfortunately and must be close to accepting that what he thought would work just doesn’t

Let's hope.

 

[dbmhoosier]

Also who is Woody bouncing ideas off in his coaching room? Woody has very little experience running a college bball program and his staff is very young and inexperienced as well. Rumor is Fife was ran off because Woody didn’t want to hear his ideas and thoughts. Also Matta not around anymore either.

Armond Hill is the only one in his ear.

 

[shooter1977]

Woody is terrible guys. I mean terrible.
This roster construction is terrible, in game adjustments are comical, lack of accountability by Woodson. Undiciplined play that doesn’t warrant much reaction from Woody. Fundamentally a bad team. Defense stance, blocking out, passing, ball fakes, FT shooting, etc.

Agree. On top of that Woodson has bad body language and energy on the sidelines. And he's not getting any younger.

Not sure I've ever felt less optimistic in the direction of IU basketball. And that's saying something over the last two decades.

 

[bsmitty08]

Armond Hill is the only one in his ear.

With zero college experience as well

 

[kkott]

Yet another press conference with Woody calling out players. As I mentioned after one of the other ones, this is his NBA coaching coming out loud and clear.

I'm not at all opposed to holding the players accountable, especially the older kids. But Woody strikes me as a very genuine person. And if he thought any of this 'awful' play that he so directly laid blame on a few players last night, were his fault, he'd say it was.

Got news for ya Coach...its ALL your fault. It ALL starts with you. You've had ample opportunity to forge solid basketball fundamentals into these players. ESPECIALLY Trey and Xavier...they've been with you now since day 1...of anyone, they should be the epitome of what you're teaching at IU. Well, they are. They're wildly inconsistent. And they're fundamentally flawed basketball players that haven't been drilled, forced, taught how to do all the little things the right way.

NBA coaches don't have to focus on the little things. They don't have to worry about guys not communicating, not reading things correctly, not choosing the right gaps to attack, not being in the right positions... they manage minutes, they call plays at times, they recognize general game trends and substitute accordingly...and after its all said and done, when things work or don't work, the players are the ones that get the praise or the blame in the moment. But then if the team's performance ends up being bad enough, for long enough, the coach gets fired.

What specifically were those guys 'awful' at last night? And have you spent countless hours trying to teach and coach them to the point where that level of 'awful' just isn't a possibility...

I have no doubt you work the guys hard. And you probably yell plenty. But what you're doing isn't working. Figure it out, and stop calling out college kids, by name, in press conferences.

Hurts to say, but I think you are right.

 

[bsmitty08]

I don’t know how any IU fan or admin defends this crap. This is year 3 without much direction for the program

 

[IUNorth]

Agree. On top of that Woodson has bad body language and energy on the sidelines. And he's not getting any younger.

Not sure I've ever felt less optimistic in the direction of IU basketball. And that's saying something over the last two decades.

Good college coaches establish consistency. There are basic things ALL their teams do fairly well. And when they have the right mixture of talent and experience, the solid things that are baked in to the program just get amplified, and they become great.

I'm NOT calling for Woody's head with any of this. I'm calling on him to figure out how to do his job better. Woody has done a lot of great things for IU basketball. And one bad performance to Nebraska doesn't unwind those things. But how we lost should be very troubling...and its a hell of a lot deeper than X and Trey being 'awful'.

At this point, the ONLY consistent thing IU basketball under Woody has is we have really high level big man play. That's great, so does Painter. The reason Painters team is number 1 in the country, however, is his big man play is amplifying a handful of other solid, repeatable, basketball principles that Painter has forged in to his program. Thankfully, one of those things that's been forged with iron is they suck in March and will choke their season away. But man, in the mean time, they sure do play solid basketball in a ton of different ways.

With its length and overall athleticism, this team should be able to force other teams to take and make difficult shots. And when they miss, we should be able to rebound at a very high level. Those two things alone, if they were hammered in to our kids from day 1 on campus, would buoy us to being a much better basketball team. I'd start there if I were Woody. Double down on defense and rebounding. And then tell them to push the ball like crazy in transition when they do get stops and rebounds. 90% of every practice would be focused on that if it were me.

 

[HoosierAlum07]

Also who is Woody bouncing ideas off in his coaching room? Woody has very little experience running a college bball program and his staff is very young and inexperienced as well. Rumor is Fife was ran off because Woody didn’t want to hear his ideas and thoughts. Also Matta not around anymore either.

And look at what Matta has done at Butler in his 2nd year after getting rid of most of the previous regimes players from last year! Butler looks leaps and bounds better than IU this year!

 

[bsmitty08]

And look at what Matta has done at Butler in his 2nd year after getting rid of most of the previous regimes players from last year! Butler looks leaps and bounds better than IU this year!

Exactly, coaching matters! Culture matters! Team matters!
Sad day when PU is the team that resembles what IU basketball should look like

 

[dbmhoosier]

😔

 

[CriticArisen]

😔

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Thank goodness UK not on this year’s schedule. The television would have been through a window and in pieces in the yard.

 

[Ty Webb iu]

Yet another press conference with Woody calling out players. As I mentioned after one of the other ones, this is his NBA coaching coming out loud and clear.

I'm not at all opposed to holding the players accountable, especially the older kids. But Woody strikes me as a very genuine person. And if he thought any of this 'awful' play that he so directly laid blame on a few players last night, were his fault, he'd say it was.

Got news for ya Coach...its ALL your fault. It ALL starts with you. You've had ample opportunity to forge solid basketball fundamentals into these players. ESPECIALLY Trey and Xavier...they've been with you now since day 1...of anyone, they should be the epitome of what you're teaching at IU. Well, they are. They're wildly inconsistent. And they're fundamentally flawed basketball players that haven't been drilled, forced, taught how to do all the little things the right way.

NBA coaches don't have to focus on the little things. They don't have to worry about guys not communicating, not reading things correctly, not choosing the right gaps to attack, not being in the right positions... they manage minutes, they call plays at times, they recognize general game trends and substitute accordingly...and after its all said and done, when things work or don't work, the players are the ones that get the praise or the blame in the moment. But then if the team's performance ends up being bad enough, for long enough, the coach gets fired.

What specifically were those guys 'awful' at last night? And have you spent countless hours trying to teach and coach them to the point where that level of 'awful' just isn't a possibility...

I have no doubt you work the guys hard. And you probably yell plenty. But what you're doing isn't working. Figure it out, and stop calling out college kids, by name, in press conferences.

Good post, other than your press conference complaints. Who cares whether or not he calls kids out by name. Not me. It's not that big a deal, I guarantee you.

 

[IUNorth]

Good post, other than your press conference complaints. Who cares whether or not he calls kids out by name. Not me. It's not that big a deal, I guarantee you.

Main point was that I think he genuinely believes its the players "fault". I think Woody is completely genuine, so we hear pretty much exactly what he thinks and believes.

I have no issues with 21-22 year old players being called out publicly, in a vacuum. Where it rubs me the wrong way, is I don't believe, at all at this point, that Woody has spent a ton of time teaching/forcing them to not do those 'awful' things on a day to day basis. I'd bet money they watch film, he calls them out/makes fun of them for their mistakes... but that he fails to follow through with hours and hours of fundamental, foundational drills that will build better habits with these kids...so the 'awful' things happen much less frequently, if at all.

 

[Harry Hondo]

I don’t know how any IU fan or admin defends this crap. This is year 3 without much direction for the program

Year 3 your program should be getting better and it’s gotten worse. Todd Leary said on Jim Coyle’s show this morning that there’s not one player you’d trade for Nebraska’s players. IU had the overwhelming talent and underwhelming coaching.

 

[ndhuntington]

 

[IUNorth]

Here's an example of what I'm talking about... get your eyeroll emoji's ready because I'm going to reference my own college experiences...

We had what our coach called 'DPDs'...Defensive Progression Drills. Two sets of drills, 1 on 1 up through 5 on 5. The first set were closeout/checkout drills. The second set were "shell" drills that focused on positioning, defensive rotations, communication, etc...

We did those drills every single practice, all four years. Early in the season, we'd spend entire practices just doing DPDs...I have PTSD from those practices...As the season wore on, and as the coach felt more comfortable we had his principles down pat, we'd spend less and less time on them. But that was always dependent on how well we did in those areas in games, and what we looked like at the starts of every practice. If those drills lasted much longer than 20 minutes or so, they weren't fun, at all. We knew how we needed to play, and how intense we needed to be, to avoid that, believe me.

We weren't very big. Our budget was the lowest of any school in our conference, so we had less "full ride" type guys than any of our peers. But we were always competitive with most conference teams because our defense and rebounding was always near the top of the conference, and the nation for that matter.

Woody either isn't doing anything like this, with really any aspect of the game...or he's not very good at teaching whatever he is trying to do.

 

[.Gerdis]

We weren't very big. Our budget was the lowest of any school in our conference,

Contrast that with IU: one of the biggest teams out there. Players getting paid like we are a top 5 team.

In college did you find it challenging balancing your obligations with your on-line followers , marketing, investing, washing your Tesla, and dealing with boosters and agents against the time you spent at practice doing drills?

 

[IUNorth]

Contrast that with IU: one of the biggest teams out there. Players getting paid like we are a top 5 team.

In college did you find it challenging balancing your obligations with your on-line follows, marketing, investing, washing your Tesla, and dealing with boosters and agents against the time you spent at practice doing drills?

Ha ha...

Different era for sure. And small college ball vs IU is not an apples to apples comparison in A LOT of ways.

Those specific drills, and how hard we were forced to work on them, might not be applicable in todays world. But Woody could absolutely find a core group of things he could work on. Fundamental things that would make his teams more consistent, AND would help build and expand his very talented players abilities for the next level.

"I know you hate me for making you do these things every day. But you'll be thanking me 10 years from now when you're an NBA All star."

Our incentive was we didn't want to puke in practice, we wanted to play in games, and we ended up taking pride in those things. Woody needs to find the right buttons to push, but has to forge some repeatable habits in to his teams.

 

[BCCHoosier]

Favorite play which summarizes this team on defense is when we retreated against a wide open three point shooter. Can't recall if it was MR or MM. I don't recall that ever happening in a D1 game.

 

[Ty Webb iu]

Main point was that I think he genuinely believes its the players "fault". I think Woody is completely genuine, so we hear pretty much exactly what he thinks and believes.

I have no issues with 21-22 year old players being called out publicly, in a vacuum. Where it rubs me the wrong way, is I don't believe, at all at this point, that Woody has spent a ton of time teaching/forcing them to not do those 'awful' things on a day to day basis. I'd bet money they watch film, he calls them out/makes fun of them for their mistakes... but that he fails to follow through with hours and hours of fundamental, foundational drills that will build better habits with these kids...so the 'awful' things happen much less frequently, if at all.

I don't think Woodson believes it's all on the players. He's likely using his press conferences as attempts at motivating his seemingly disinterested players.

As for the fundamentals part...Woodson is clearly not teaching/demanding etc, to the degree he needs to in order to get the players do them properly and every time. There's no doubt about that.

 

[BusdriverE]

On of the issues I worried about when we hired wiody was if this doesn’t work out, how soon would they recognize it it and pull the plug on a former player/star. Hoped it would work out and he did a lot of the right things except coaching fundamentals ….hope he rights the ship but losing hope

 

[Hoosiervannah]

Cav said 14-6. None of you know anything about basketball !

 

[.Gerdis]

Ha ha...

Different era for sure. And small college ball vs IU is not an apples to apples comparison in A LOT of ways.

Those specific drills, and how hard we were forced to work on them, might not be applicable in todays world. But Woody could absolutely find a core group of things he could work on. Fundamental things that would make his teams more consistent, AND would help build and expand his very talented players abilities for the next level.

"I know you hate me for making you do these things every day. But you'll be thanking me 10 years from now when you're an NBA All star."

Our incentive was we didn't want to puke in practice, we wanted to play in games, and we ended up taking pride in those things. Woody needs to find the right buttons to push, but has to forge some repeatable habits in to his teams.

A different era, for sure.

But, look at the contrast between current programs, even within our conference. I don’t see NU bringing in two OAD players. Is nu more likely to poach top players or have their kids poached? We have a different model.

 

[ams66]

I don't think Woodson believes it's all on the players. He's likely using his press conferences as attempts at motivating his seemingly disinterested players.

As for the fundamentals part...Woodson is clearly not teaching/demanding etc, to the degree he needs to in order to get the players do them properly and every time. There's no doubt about that.

Yeah I turned the game off when we went down 20 in the 2nd half. I didn't watch the post-game stuff. But in prior interviews, Woodson almost always talks about what we didn't do well, and then says something like "... and that's on me, I gotta get them better." If we played well, he'll recognize individual players but usally also says "it was a total team effort" so I don't really have the perception that he blames players without taking any responsibility himself or recognizing that it's ultimately his responsibility if we play poorly.

 

[bailey777]

Woody is terrible guys. I mean terrible.
This roster construction is terrible, in game adjustments are comical, lack of accountability by Woodson. Undiciplined play that doesn’t warrant much reaction from Woody. Fundamentally a bad team. Defense stance, blocking out, passing, ball fakes, FT shooting, etc.

He 100% put this team together. He went witht he guards he had while leaving a grant wide open. It is jsut a bad team from top to bottom honestly. I knew we were in big trouble when we could barely beat cupcake teams in the preseason.

 

[ndhuntington]

This is what happens when you hire a NBA coach. College Basketball is about teaching and fundamentals something that is already possessed in he NBA.

 

[bailey777]

On of the issues I worried about when we hired wiody was if this doesn’t work out, how soon would they recognize it it and pull the plug on a former player/star. Hoped it would work out and he did a lot of the right things except coaching fundamentals ….hope he rights the ship but losing hope

With archie the plug shold have been pulled after two years. Instead it took four. With Woodson probably after this year but my guess is they will give him five years and let things get really bad first.

 

[kurt cloverdales]

😔

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I wonder if Purdue has had a 15-point loss in the last 9 years. if so, not many I would bet. losing road games happens not being competitive is systematic.

 

[mohoosier]

Almost seemed like a man about ready to crack. I think if we keep losing he'll soon have an "I'm not the man for the job" moment.

Let’s hope

 

[kkott]

Todd Leary said on Jim Coyle’s show this morning that there’s not one player you’d trade for Nebraska’s players

Say what? They had several players better than our guys. I understand the sentiment that overall, we have players who are more talented on paper, but they had several guys who were much better players than the guys we had on the floor. Players vs ratings. Our guys had more stars, theirs played better and harder.

 

[ams66]

I found the transcript of Woodson's post game remarks and it does not look like he called anyone out "by name" but he did say "our starting two guards, they were awful tonight" so maybe same thing.

But he also said "I’ve got to get them over the hump when it comes to defending and rebounding and not turning the ball over, that’s my job to do that, and we failed in that area tonight." so I would say he realizes that he "owns" this team's performance.

 

[mohoosier]

Say what? They had several players better than our guys. I understand the sentiment that overall, we have players who are more talented on paper, but they had several guys who were much better players than the guys we had on the floor. Players vs ratings. Our guys had more stars, theirs played better and harder.

Their players are coached and developed, ours aren’t.