Over the years I’ve wondered what would have happened if.....

[BayernFan]

The “player revolt” in 2000 that forced IU to make Davis interim coach hadn’t happened.

At the time, three candidates that IU was considering to immediately bring in as interim HC were Dr. Tom Davis, Bobby Cremins, and Joey Meyer. I seem to recall a fourth candidate too. Maybe Charlie Spoonhour? Not sure of that.

would any of them kept the job after that season?

also over the years, several others were considered and/or wanted the job when it opened up. Lon Kruger, Alford, Kevin Stallings, Rick Majerus, and pitino come to mind.

anyone else?

 

[bailey777]

The “player revolt” in 2000 that forced IU to make Davis interim coach hadn’t happened.

At the time, three candidates that IU was considering to immediately bring in as interim HC were Dr. Tom Davis, Bobby Cremins, and Joey Meyer. I seem to recall a fourth candidate too. Maybe Charlie Spoonhour? Not sure of that.

would any of them kept the job after that season?

also over the years, several others were considered and/or wanted the job when it opened up. Lon Kruger, Alford, Kevin Stallings, Rick Majerus, and pitino come to mind.

anyone else?

Bringing one of them in for a year would of been kind of dumb considering they probably had their own systems to run. That being said keeping Davis is not where this went wrong. It went wrong with the sampson hire. That was our chance when we could still hire a really good coach. We went risky and got burned because we loved to self report i guess.

 

[4IUfourever]

IU should have done what Louisville did. Keep Davis around as the interim coach for one season and then found the best candidate for the job. IU basketball was still a true blue blood when Coach Knight got fired. They could have had their pick after the 2000-2001 season, but they chose to hire Davis full time. That was their biggest mistake.

 

[mushroomgod_1]

IU should have done what Louisville did. Keep Davis around as the interim coach for one season and then found the best candidate for the job. IU basketball was still a true blue blood when Coach Knight got fired. They could have had their pick after the 2000-2001 season, but they chose to hire Davis full time. That was their biggest mistake.

That was a biggie, but I think hiring Sampson instead of Beilein, who the AD wanted, was the #1 screw up.

 

[Birnk403]

The “player revolt” in 2000 that forced IU to make Davis interim coach hadn’t happened.

At the time, three candidates that IU was considering to immediately bring in as interim HC were Dr. Tom Davis, Bobby Cremins, and Joey Meyer. I seem to recall a fourth candidate too. Maybe Charlie Spoonhour? Not sure of that.

would any of them kept the job after that season?

also over the years, several others were considered and/or wanted the job when it opened up. Lon Kruger, Alford, Kevin Stallings, Rick Majerus, and pitino come to mind.

anyone else?

Your initial list was purely speculative. There’s nothing to say that any of those people were seriously considered by IU.

 

[BayernFan]

Your initial list was purely speculative. There’s nothing to say that any of those people were seriously considered by IU.

maybe not, but it was in the paper.

 

[Birnk403]

As nothi

maybe not, but it was in the paper.

As nothing more than unverified speculation.

 

[BayernFan]

it was more than that

 

[Birnk403]

it was more than that

Nope

 

[fpeaugh]

There were two HUGE missed opportunities over the years.

1. We should have hired John Calipari when we hired Crean. This was absolutely clear as day but we wanted a rah rah “clean” guy after Sampson.

2. We should have fired Crean after year 3 and hired Brad Stevens.

I said both of these at the time on this very site and was ridiculed by 90% or the fan base. We haven’t had a winners mentality (still don’t) and this is where it gets you.

 

[bailey777]

Nl 1l

There were two HUGE missed opportunities over the years.

1. We should have hired John Calipari when we hired Crean. This was absolutely clear as day but we wanted a rah rah “clean” guy after Sampson.

2. We should have fired Crean after year 3 and hired Brad Stevens.

I said both of these at the time on this very site and was ridiculed by 90% or the fan base. We haven’t had a winners mentality (still don’t) and this is where it gets you.

I totally agreed crean should have been gone after three years but i got blasted. You dont know what he inherited blah blah blah.

 

[Birnk403]

There were two HUGE missed opportunities over the years.

1. We should have hired John Calipari when we hired Crean. This was absolutely clear as day but we wanted a rah rah “clean” guy after Sampson.

2. We should have fired Crean after year 3 and hired Brad Stevens.

I said both of these at the time on this very site and was ridiculed by 90% or the fan base. We haven’t had a winners mentality (still don’t) and this is where it gets you.

The fan base would’ve flipped out over Cal and Stevens would’ve left IU for the pros just like he did Butler.

 

[fpeaugh]

The fan base would’ve flipped out over Cal and Stevens would’ve left IU for the pros just like he did Butler.

They would’ve shortly stopped “flipping out” when we were winning.

You don’t not hire a great coach because they might leave. Just like you don’t not recruit top players because they may leave for the nba. We don’t know what would’ve happened with Stevens or what he would’ve won while here.

 

[Courtsensetwo]

it was more than that

Davis was the default candidate from the beginning.

 

[go_iu]

The “player revolt” in 2000 that forced IU to make Davis interim coach hadn’t happened.

At the time, three candidates that IU was considering to immediately bring in as interim HC were Dr. Tom Davis, Bobby Cremins, and Joey Meyer. I seem to recall a fourth candidate too. Maybe Charlie Spoonhour? Not sure of that.

would any of them kept the job after that season?

also over the years, several others were considered and/or wanted the job when it opened up. Lon Kruger, Alford, Kevin Stallings, Rick Majerus, and pitino come to mind.

anyone else?

Cremins would have done well with our resources, I always liked his teams, could recruit too

 

[TommyCracker]

We've had several opportunities to upgrade our coaches that we didn't act swiftly on.

When it became obvious that Davis was going to struggle, Thad Matta was there for the taking. We passed and he obviously went to OSU and made them a powerhouse over the next 13 some years.

The following season Pearl was on his redemption campaign at Wis-Mil and was there for the taking. Understandably a little risky with his reputation but this was pre Sampson and we could have played that card, but we passed. Pearl went to Tennessee and immediately turned them into a power.

We did get Sampson who immediately turned us into a power. We know what happened but I do wonder what kind of success we would have had the past 12 some years. He's a monster coach but horrible steward.

After Sampson we could of gotten Calipari but understandably couldn't go that route after Sampson. So we got Crean which was cool at the time. He was highly regarded and did well at Marquette. He at least had a name to recruit.

His first three years were a disaster. They weren't even competitive. At the same time one of the brightest young minds in the game was doing historical things at Butler, who was a Hoosier, played HS in Indiana and grew up an Indiana fan, and we let him sit there while we waited for Crean.

To me this was the biggest mistake we've made in evaluating our coaches.

Once we got rid of Crean I championed Gregg Marshall, but was really pleased that we got Archie. His pedigree was solid, his story was great and what he did at Dayton earned him the right to be called the next big thing in coaching.

Somehow, someway it isn't transferring over to IU. I'm a little baffled by it to be honest but I think after three years and once the tide turns its pretty much over and you need to act swiftly.

 

[ams66]

The “player revolt” in 2000 that forced IU to make Davis interim coach hadn’t happened.

At the time, three candidates that IU was considering to immediately bring in as interim HC were Dr. Tom Davis, Bobby Cremins, and Joey Meyer. I seem to recall a fourth candidate too. Maybe Charlie Spoonhour? Not sure of that.

would any of them kept the job after that season?

also over the years, several others were considered and/or wanted the job when it opened up. Lon Kruger, Alford, Kevin Stallings, Rick Majerus, and pitino come to mind.

anyone else?

I don't typically waste a lot of time thinking about changing the past, no.

 

[crazed_hoosier2]

That being said keeping Davis is not where this went wrong. It went wrong with the sampson hire.

In hindsight, they were both bad decisions.

I didn't have a problem with making Davis the interim HC. Somebody had to do it and the season was just about to start. It made sense to make it one of the assistants -- Davis or Treloar.

But making him the permanent HC? That was truly a head-scratcher. I thought that then, I think it now. Completely unsupportable.

As for hiring Sampson, that was a different deal. I was fine with it at the time -- if a little wary about the trouble he'd gotten into in Norman. But, then, I assumed like many did that his rule-breaking had happened once and wouldn't happen again. I was stunned when I learned he'd done it again. Felt burned.

I think the Crean and Miller hires were both sensible. But, for whatever reason, neither of them were ever able to get over the hump here.

 

[BaxterIU]

There were two HUGE missed opportunities over the years.

1. We should have hired John Calipari when we hired Crean. This was absolutely clear as day but we wanted a rah rah “clean” guy after Sampson.

2. We should have fired Crean after year 3 and hired Brad Stevens.

I said both of these at the time on this very site and was ridiculed by 90% or the fan base. We haven’t had a winners mentality (still don’t) and this is where it gets you.

You should have been ridiculed by 100% of the IU fan base for advocating the hire of Calipari, not 90%. Even the KY fanbase, which is by far the most pathetic one in the country, considered him scum when he coached at Memphis. The cheating slimeball Calipari has two vacated Final Fours and you want him to coach IU? I assume that you would also be OK with Pitino as IU's coach, right? Why don't you officially transfer you fandom to Kentucky? You add nothing here and are a perfect fit with KY.

 

[Chicago-bound Hoosier]

We've had several opportunities to upgrade our coaches that we didn't act swiftly on.

When it became obvious that Davis was going to struggle, Thad Matta was there for the taking. We passed and he obviously went to OSU and made them a powerhouse over the next 13 some years.

The following season Pearl was on his redemption campaign at Wis-Mil and was there for the taking. Understandably a little risky with his reputation but this was pre Sampson and we could have played that card, but we passed. Pearl went to Tennessee and immediately turned them into a power.

We did get Sampson who immediately turned us into a power. We know what happened but I do wonder what kind of success we would have had the past 12 some years. He's a monster coach but horrible steward.

After Sampson we could of gotten Calipari but understandably couldn't go that route after Sampson. So we got Crean which was cool at the time. He was highly regarded and did well at Marquette. He at least had a name to recruit.

His first three years were a disaster. They weren't even competitive. At the same time one of the brightest young minds in the game was doing historical things at Butler, who was a Hoosier, played HS in Indiana and grew up an Indiana fan, and we let him sit there while we waited for Crean.

To me this was the biggest mistake we've made in evaluating our coaches.

Once we got rid of Crean I championed Gregg Marshall, but was really pleased that we got Archie. His pedigree was solid, his story was great and what he did at Dayton earned him the right to be called the next big thing in coaching.

Somehow, someway it isn't transferring over to IU. I'm a little baffled by it to be honest but I think after three years and once the tide turns its pretty much over and you need to act swiftly.

I love Cody Zeller...but when he committed to IU, he ensured us of more CTC yrs and we missed our boat with Stevens. That was the time- 2011....Crean finished his 3rd yr ,which should have shown much improvement but did not. Stevens had just taken Butler to the second final game. That was the time, if there ever was one, when the stars were aligned. But CTC had just signed Zeller a few months before.

Imagine those 2 yrs with Zeller, Vic, Jordy, CWat, Sheehey, ...with Stevens coaching.

ok enough . I've done this too many times already. Upward and onward. Into the abyss of yet another coaching change.

 

[Vern Pain]

I always wondered how many of them would have actually walked if IU had a real plan (they knew they were firing him) for replacing Knight.

You can stand there and say you're leaving if this or that doesn't happen but what if it had been a pitino or Majerus? They would have certainly reached out to the players. I always wondered how much hot air "the revolt" might have turned out to be if iU actually had a real, thought out contingency plan in place.

 

[VanPastorMan]

Cremins would have done well with our resources, I always liked his teams, could recruit too

He recruited Craig "Noodle" Neal from my alma mater the Washington Hatchets. I followed GT for quite a few years because of that.

 

[ams66]

I always wondered how many of them would have actually walked if IU had a real plan (they knew they were firing him) for replacing Knight.

You can stand there and say you're leaving if this or that doesn't happen but what if it had been a pitino or Majerus? They would have certainly reached out to the players. I always wondered how much hot air "the revolt" might have turned out to be if iU actually had a real, thought out contingency plan in place.

Knight knew it was time to go. He had said often that he stayed a few years too long. His wife knew. Some kind of graceful departure could have been worked out but Myles Brand bungled it like he bungled everything else he touched.

I throw up a little every time I drive past the building they named after him.

 

[VanPastorMan]

Knight knew it was time to go. He had said often that he stayed a few years too long. His wife knew. Some kind of graceful departure could have been worked out but Myles Brand bungled it like he bungled everything else he touched.

I throw up a little every time I drive past the building they named after him.

I blame this Harvey kid because he was a plant. Where does he live now? Also Saturday Vitale tried to get Coach Knight to hit him. He was a plant too. Roflol. I wish things could have gone as you said. A graceful departure would have been the best thing to do. Also it might have made it so that a Knight type coach could have replaced him instead of what we have gone through the last 20 yrs.

 

[victorbear]

I love Cody Zeller...but when he committed to IU, he ensured us of more CTC yrs and we missed our boat with Stevens. That was the time- 2011....Crean finished his 3rd yr ,which should have shown much improvement but did not. Stevens had just taken Butler to the second final game. That was the time, if there ever was one, when the stars were aligned. But CTC had just signed Zeller a few months before.

Imagine those 2 yrs with Zeller, Vic, Jordy, CWat, Sheehey, ...with Stevens coaching.

ok enough . I've done this too many times already. Upward and onward. Into the abyss of yet another coaching change.

We were ranked #1 dude

 

[fpeaugh]

You should have been ridiculed by 100% of the IU fan base for advocating the hire of Calipari, not 90%. Even the KY fanbase, which is by far the most pathetic one in the country, considered him scum when he coached at Memphis. The cheating slimeball Calipari has two vacated Final Fours and you want him to coach IU? I assume that you would also be OK with Pitino as IU's coach, right? Why don't you officially transfer you fandom to Kentucky? You add nothing here and are a perfect fit with KY.

Get off your imaginary high horse. Camby took money from an agent behind Cal’s back and IU was recruiting Rose with that same ACT. We would’ve loved to have him. All IU fans would love him if he was winning here.

 

[BaxterIU]

Get off your imaginary high horse. Camby took money from an agent behind Cal’s back and IU was recruiting Rose with that same ACT. We would’ve loved to have him. All IU fans would love him if he was winning here.

Sure thing. Calipari has the worst luck in the world.
Wherever he goes others around him cheat.
Time and time again. The guy can't catch a break.

And once again you're wrong. All IU fans would not love to have that slimeball coach our team.
Like I said, you're a perfect fit for that pathetic program and their delusional fanbase.

 

[abraxis]

IU should have done what Louisville did. Keep Davis around as the interim coach for one season and then found the best candidate for the job.

When that assistant coach is one of color, it changes the complexion of the situation. Minority hirings come with the added burden of having to be handled extra carefully to avoid potential discrimination lawsuits.

 

[mushroomgod_1]

Knight knew it was time to go. He had said often that he stayed a few years too long. His wife knew. Some kind of graceful departure could have been worked out but Myles Brand bungled it like he bungled everything else he touched.

I throw up a little every time I drive past the building they named after him.

What building is that? As I recall, not a biggie.

 

[IUXC68]

Knight knew it was time to go. He had said often that he stayed a few years too long. His wife knew. Some kind of graceful departure could have been worked out but Myles Brand bungled it like he bungled everything else he touched.

I throw up a little every time I drive past the building they named after him.

What building is that? I tried to pay attention to anything involving Myles Brand, whom I did not care for, but have never heard of anything bearing his name.

 

[go_iu]

What building is that? As I recall, not a biggie.

The fag$otdome, just taking a guess, I don't know either.

 

[Big Red Crimson Buffalo]

When that assistant coach is one of color, it changes the complexion of the situation. Minority hirings come with the added burden of having to be handled extra carefully to avoid potential discrimination lawsuits.

This is why I disagree with the folks who hated Rick Greenspan. Greenspan had tabbed Belein as Davis’ replacement before Herbert pushed his agenda through. He ended up being a fall guy.
Crean was something like the 6th guy on the list and by then Greenspan was so fed up with the bureaucratic bullshit that he left shortly after.
When interviewed upon his exit, Greenspan gave some very telling comments about the ineptitude of the leaders at IU. He said:

I don’t think this is a revelation but I think it’s becoming more critical that the relationship that you have with some of your major coaches and then the relationship that you have with your president and chancellor go further in determining whether it’s a good job or not than they used to. When challenging times or crisis hit, whether it’s the death of a coach or infractions, if everybody around you is blinking then you’ve probably got problems. You need somebody that is going to stand there with you in a model of sophisticated understanding of the complexities of this business now. That’s important to me.”

In a nutshell - Greenspan basically said that the IU leadership didn’t have any clue how to run a major college athletic system.

 

[fpeaugh]

Sure thing. Calipari has the worst luck in the world.
Wherever he goes others around him cheat.
Time and time again. The guy can't catch a break.

And once again you're wrong. All IU fans would not love to have that slimeball coach our team.
Like I said, you're a perfect fit for that pathetic program and their delusional fanbase.

He’s been at UK over a decade. What’s he been in trouble for?

 

[Chicago-bound Hoosier]

We were ranked #1 dude

Syracuse. the movement. Ron Patterson. Roth getting creaned. Hollowell playing point guard. Davis getting run over by Holt . Stan Robinson not sure what hand he shoots with. Vonleh the most forgettable OAD you’ll ever see. Hanner Perea. Fisher leaving after 1 semester. What did that #1 ranking get us? More seasons of the CTC circus.

 

[go_iu]

Syracuse. the movement. Ron Patterson. Roth getting creaned. Hollowell playing point guard. Davis getting run over by Holt . Stan Robinson not sure what hand he shoots with. Vonleh the most forgettable OAD you’ll ever see. Hanner Perea. Fisher leaving after 1 semester. What did that #1 ranking get us? More seasons of the CTC circus.

Good memory, it's almost unbelievable the circus that was Crean, even Yogi got arrested once too to add to all you recall. There's probably even more I can't remember and people want to bitch about Sampson's phone calls? Geez, you seem to have a really good memory, can you rattle off a stream of incidents like that under Sampson? I can't, I'm sure there might have been something I forget, but just the totality of Crean's memorable f-up's and shady behavior seem to dwarf Sampson

 

[Chicago-bound Hoosier]

Good memory, it's almost unbelievable the circus that was Crean, even Yogi got arrested once too to add to all you recall. There's probably even more I can't remember and people want to bitch about Sampson's phone calls? Geez, you seem to have a really good memory, can you rattle off a stream of incidents like that under Sampson? I can't, I'm sure there might have been something I forget, but just the totality of Crean's memorable f-up's and shady behavior seem to dwarf Sampson

yeah I almost mentioned Yogi's fake ID issue. Yogi was a stud his Sr year but it also gave us one additional yr of CTC.

Sampson wasn't really here long enough for a list of incidents, other than bringing in some players who had no business being at IU. There are many on this board who idolize Sampson but I'm convinced if he had stayed here for years, we would have some dirty laundry to remember (on top of what there already is with his short stay in Btown).

As for Crean, the laundry list is mighty long. It's really amazing how many good recruits came here to play for him, but never lasted 4 yrs. I'm not talking about Cody or Vic, or even Vonleh....I'm talking Perea, Hollowell, Robinson, Holt, D Davis, Fisher, Etherington, Jurkin, Hoetzel. Could even toss Curtis Jones into that list.