Coach Woodson isn't a great coach and I'm glad he is "stepping down" at the end of the season but it wasn't all bad. He took over a team that hadn't been to the tournament in over 4 years and will take them 3 out 4 years. I was in the gym for his first game against Jackson st. I was there in Jan of 2022 when Phinisee hit that big three. That will always be one of my favorite IU memories and my favorite of the Woodson era.
Favorite coach Woodson memory
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Woodson's first game was a 6 point winning effort over mighty Eastern Michigan.
I guess winning at Purdue in 2023 is my favorite memory. Hood-Schifino had the game of his life.
Probably his first win vs Purdue and ending our losing streak hangover from Archie and Crean’s last season.
Yep that's right. I just remember that I expected a much larger margin but was glad they won
The Purdue Hood-Shifino game. That game was like watching a player of another caliber.
I'm not sure he announced his retirement. IU did. Think he said he would put out a statement after the season.
The ILL comeback the 1st season in the Big ten tournament to make it into the playin game of the tournament.
Copy that. It was a must win game. Must win. Was Groce the coach of Illinois at that time.
So many double digit losses to choose from....
Wasn’t it Michigan where we were down something like 18 points and came back? Then we beat Illinois and played Iowa tough.
Little Arch left the program in a disastrous state, every player was in the portal. The guards were so bad they struggled to enter the ball into the post.
It was a great day when TJD decided to return to IU and play for Woodson.
It was a great day when TJD decided to return to IU and play for Woodson.
Late in the 1980 season. Plenty to remember.
These past 4 yrs, not so much.
These past 4 yrs, not so much.
To go a step further, when D. Fife and Thad Matta were named to the coaching staff with TJD returning it felt like a ‘ok, let’s goooo…’ moment.
My favorite memory is him leaving. I would hope he would make the tourney with the biggest nil in the big ten. Average at best.
In retrospect it was a huge red flag. But many of us told ourselves something like "it's so crazy it just might work!"
It was PAST time.
He should have been gone after last year.
Huge payroll and he ends up 10-10 in the BT with blow out losses to Nebraska and Illinois at home.
I think his years will look better in a few years. Getting TJD and the rest of the guys out of the portal was a great start. He also added some swagger and I liked how he talked about IU and how special it was when he was a player. He also let Knight go to practices and things in his last few yeasr as his health got worse. Winning half his games against Purdue was especially nice after they have lost about 10-12 games in a row to them.
People did it because after the initial shock of the crazy hire they tried to convince themselves it could work. I did the same thing. But it was clear after getting blasted by Miami it wasn't going to work.
Dolson knew how awful the hire was and tried to mitigate the damage with Matta and Fife. Good effort, but SD underestimated the forces working against him.
And one force was woodson himself who wanted no part of fife or Matta. He wanted his yes men and got them. It was never really a coaching search. It was try stevens and if not you get woodson. After four awful years that's was just an awful way to find a new coach and was never going to work.
Here's the saddest thing: So many of us said, "Whew, at least Archie's gone" ... and we ended up with something worse. Only Quinn and Woody could trip over such a low bar.
Lewis was originally suppose to take the role Fife filled. Woody chose Fife instead of Lewis
Woodson was better than Archie. Archie didn’t have NIL though. Neither came close to meeting expectations.
And how do you know this?
Link?
I have never read Lewis's name in any capacity when MW was hired.
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