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Mike Honcho's vote: DANE FIFE

Oh, I disagree with you there. Strongly.

By March of 2020, it was probably entirely out of the cards to fire Archie. The buyout was big -- and the impacts of COVID put that much more financial strain on athletic departments. And, besides, Fred Glass had made it all but impossible by scheduling his retirement for May. Whether that was part of his motivation or not, only he could say for sure. I tend to think it was. But who knows.

Anyway, aside from those issues, there was no good reason to retain Archie after the 2019-20 season. Saying that a school should "always give (their) coach his first full recruiting class" is a weak tea argument. If you doubt me on this, ask yourself if you'd still be making that argument if he'd had single digit wins each of his first 3 years. Are we still going to let him get a 4th year so that he can coach a team consisting entirely of his own recruits? If not, then just how firm are you on the insistence that a coach must absolutely get at least 4 years?

It was obvious after that season that Archie was incapable of producing a winner in the Big Ten. His teams were inconsistent and undisciplined. The things that had plagued his team in year 1 were still plaguing them in year 3. There was precious little improvement -- within individual seasons, across multiple seasons.

Again, it's a totally moot discussion now -- and would likely have been academic a year ago. They weren't going to fire Archie. They probably couldn't have.

But he deserved to be.

Pretty sure IU was a lock for the tournament last year and Archie was not going to be in position to be fired. He wasn't knocking on heavens door but he also didn't deserve to be fired. So I respect your opinion but politely agree to disagree. Wholeheartedly.
 
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What I realize? Maybe. Then again, maybe Dolson is going to announce a bigger hire. Seems like it's a "we can't get anyone so let's hire Fife" consensus before the tournament is even over. IU isn't dead yet.

I agree. So if that is the case......then it simply hammers home my point, right?
 
Pretty sure IU was a lock for the tournament last year and Archie was not going to be in position to be fired. He wasn't knocking on heavens door but he also didn't deserve to be fired. So I respect your opinion but politely agree to disagree. Wholeheartedly.
8-10 in conference what a year
 
Pretty sure IU was a lock for the tournament last year and Archie was not going to be in position to be fired. He wasn't knocking on heavens door but he also didn't deserve to be fired. So I respect your opinion but politely agree to disagree. Wholeheartedly.
Yeah, IU was a lock....to be a 10 or 11 seed. We were coming off a lackluster T10 finish in the Big Ten.

But, see, that's really not even the issue. The issue is that we had gone nowhere. I'd be more than happy to respect the "a coach gets 4 years" standard....if their teams were actually showing a sufficient level of progress in the first three.

Archie's first three teams demonstrated very little progress. So the argument was essentially that the 4th would be a payoff year. I thought that was really poor reasoning -- and I wasn't alone.

And that fourth year proved us right -- and those of you who said "he should get another one" wrong.
 
Agreed 100%. The potential scenario that makes me sick is seeing Fife take over for Izzo at Michigan State and become the next Izzo when IU could have had him.


I certainly have nothing against Dane Fife.....but I've seen nothing to indicate to me that he's going to be a heavy-weight as a HC. He reminds me of Jim Crews or Dock Itch.
 
I certainly have nothing against Dane Fife.....but I've seen nothing to indicate to me that he's going to be a heavy-weight as a HC. He reminds me of Jim Crews or Dock Itch.
You indicate that you have nothing against him but damn him with faint praise and then slam him with the Dakich comment. Ouch.
 
Yeah, IU was a lock....to be a 10 or 11 seed. We were coming off a lackluster T10 finish in the Big Ten.

But, see, that's really not even the issue. The issue is that we had gone nowhere. I'd be more than happy to respect the "a coach gets 4 years" standard....if their teams were actually showing a sufficient level of progress in the first three.

Archie's first three teams demonstrated very little progress. So the argument was essentially that the 4th would be a payoff year. I thought that was really poor reasoning -- and I wasn't alone.

And that fourth year proved us right -- and those of you who said "he should get another one" wrong.

We went from not in the tournament, to in the tournament. So progress, check. You have no idea what seed we would've been. Talking out of your rump there.

So I stand by what I said.
 
Where we disagree is that I don't think we are there yet and have no reason to believe that we are. It's still early in this process. Why rush to judgement?
Right, thats why I said we agree to disagree. I think we've been there for 8-10 years so its nothing new or about us being on the cusp of it.....we've been in this spot for quite some time.
 
A) Then we are in a sadder state of affairs than we realize.

B) The difference is that IU is in long skid and can't afford another gamble, which Fife would be. The other two had better credentials coming in than he does

What in Fife's experience demonstrates he can do this job at this level?



I dont think ppl on this board actually grasp "B" nearly to the extent they need to
 
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I like Matta, Belein, and Fife in that order. The first two have won at a high level in the conference, in the tourney, and can recruit. Fife has been recruiting and coaching under Izzo for 10 years. Like Woodson and Cheney too, but the lack of college coaching experience is a concern. Think Fife may be the safer choice as far as stepping right in and running a big program in the B10 particularly
I agree. After listening to so many guys who know iu better than any of us and considering our previous hires, Fife is actually my #1 choice right now. It’s all about fit imo.
 
I’m not sure that offer would lure Dane away from MSU. After all, Izzo is only a couple years younger than Beilein. And it seems at least plausible that Dane is already occupying the role of heir apparent in East Lansing (and for a much healthier program, at that).

I think if IU wants Dane Fife, they’re going to have to offer him the HC position now. If not, there’s a really good chance that he’ll take the reins at MSU whenever Izzo hangs it up...just as Izzo did from Jud.
I think former players like Magic are going to have a say who replaces Izzo. Fife has no guarantees.
 
After pondering the available and realistic candidates for the job, I've made the determination that Dane Fife should be the next head coach at IU.

Fife played at IU under both Bob Knight and Mike Davis, with his collegiate career spanning from 1998 to 2002. Davis brought him on board as an assistant after a brief stint in the Continental Basketball Association with the Gary Steelheads. After two seasons on the bench in Bloomington, Fife accepted the head coach position with IPFW. Under Fife's leadership, IPFW -- a fledgling D1 program at the time -- saw its win total improve each season until Fife was lured away by Michigan State's Tom Izzo after the 2010-11 season. Fife had also considered a job offer from Purdue's Matt Painter, which is yet another endorsement of Fife's coaching acumen.

As it pertains to Scott Dolson's search for IU's next head coach, Fife seems to be an ideal candidate, as he checks the following boxes:

- Former IU player who played under Bob Knight.
- Former IU assistant coach.
- Has spent the last 10 years learning from one of the best coaches in college basketball in Tom Izzo.
- Knows the Big Ten landscape, particularly as it pertains to recruiting.
- Excellent culture fit at IU due to his history with the program and university.
- Young coach (41 years old) who would be around for the long haul.

Yes, Fife has not been a head coach at a high-major program, but I truly believe this hire needs to be the right fit. Tom Crean was not a good fit. Archie Miller certainly was not a good fit. Dane Fife will certainly be a good fit.
And for the people talking about bringing in Michael Lewis as an assistant, Fife might end up doing that considering they played two years together here.
 
We went from not in the tournament, to in the tournament. So progress, check. You have no idea what seed we would've been. Talking out of your rump there.

So I stand by what I said.
I know you do. And how’d that 4th year you said he deserved to get work out for us?

I always feel better when I admit I was wrong about something...especially when it’s been proven so conclusively.
 
Mike Davis has a runner-up under his belt and Stevens is on his way to getting fired. Steve Fisher has a NC under his belt. I think Fife did pretty decent at IPFW all things considered and I think you have to give him some credit for MSU's success. He's certainly more of an unknown but Stevens could very well come here and lay an egg as Archie did.
Nah. I don't see that. Brad would crush back in College like he did at Butler. The NBA is a different animal, and even if he was fired from Celts, almost all say he'd be able to get another NBA job in a snap. He's still a hot basketball coach 8 yrs later. IU would be lucky to have him, but if he likes his life now, I get it. Just have to trust the "next person we hire will be the right choice for that time."
 
After pondering the available and realistic candidates for the job, I've made the determination that Dane Fife should be the next head coach at IU.

Fife played at IU under both Bob Knight and Mike Davis, with his collegiate career spanning from 1998 to 2002. Davis brought him on board as an assistant after a brief stint in the Continental Basketball Association with the Gary Steelheads. After two seasons on the bench in Bloomington, Fife accepted the head coach position with IPFW. Under Fife's leadership, IPFW -- a fledgling D1 program at the time -- saw its win total improve each season until Fife was lured away by Michigan State's Tom Izzo after the 2010-11 season. Fife had also considered a job offer from Purdue's Matt Painter, which is yet another endorsement of Fife's coaching acumen.

As it pertains to Scott Dolson's search for IU's next head coach, Fife seems to be an ideal candidate, as he checks the following boxes:

- Former IU player who played under Bob Knight.
- Former IU assistant coach.
- Has spent the last 10 years learning from one of the best coaches in college basketball in Tom Izzo.
- Knows the Big Ten landscape, particularly as it pertains to recruiting.
- Excellent culture fit at IU due to his history with the program and university.
- Young coach (41 years old) who would be around for the long haul.

Yes, Fife has not been a head coach at a high-major program, but I truly believe this hire needs to be the right fit. Tom Crean was not a good fit. Archie Miller certainly was not a good fit. Dane Fife will certainly be a good fit.


in what world is Fife more qualified than Woodson or Wittman?

oh yeah, i forgot Wittman and Woodson are both way past due for a ride on the "renewal" carousel, which half the board lusts to become a real thing.


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Dane Fife over Woodson.
Dane has actually coached college basketball before.
 
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