(Sorry for the length in advance. If you don't want to take the time, fine. No skin off my back. Or sue me. I don't care. I've been on these and other boards since the old Star forums, so I've already heard all the clever witticisms and put downs. So knock yourselves out. But what I have to say here is valid, like it or not.)
For quite awhile, as a sympathetic Purdue fan who genuinely appreciates IU basketball, I have lurked and observed what appears to be very repetitive and predictable behavior on here.
When your coach du jour is in the process of flaming out, you want to get a coach who will recruit the necessary elite players to take your program back to prominence. Okay, fine. <yawn>
Then, when you get your coach, and he gets a good recruiting class or two, but still loses, then the refrain around here is that he cannot coach or develop those players. And when opponents come over here to talk their trash, you insist you still have better players. Okay, then it is the coach, right?
So you all dive headlong into the Next Great Coaching search, insisting that he bring in even better players. And the cycle begins again.
See what's going on here?
Look, while Matt Painter appeared to struggle with landing anywhere near the top ranked players IU was getting, he was building good, solid teams that won - not with bad talent, but with carefully chosen talent that fit the roles Painter needed for his offensive and defensive schemes. And he made them work - hard. Even kicked a few to the curb.
So, despite occasional setbacks as his teams went from old and experienced to young and mistake-prone, Painter kept on course, and kept on winning. Not Final Four level winning, but Sweet Sixteen level winning. And over time, with some dumb luck, a near miss at a Final Four, and some hard earned and honest work, he has started winning more recruiting battles. Not just for random kids with lots of stars strung out next to their names, but kids he knows who fit his system, regardless of their rankings. And now, after winning almost 2/3 of his games, he is at the cusp of producing Final Four quality teams - the right way. He may not get there, but he's a tad closer to that threshold than where IU is at the moment.
But it didn't happen overnight. And it won't for IU.
Look, IU needs to get back into prominence. The B1G is not the same without IU in the hunt. It just isn't.
But IU needs to stop fretting over recruiting stars and numbers, and focus on getting a good young coach who will set up his system and his philosophy and recruit the kinds of kids who will run that system to perfection. And maybe for a few years, there will be ups and downs, and some disappointing recruiting losses.
But if the coach is good, and he holds his ground and establishes his brand, the players will slowly come. It won't matter if he runs RMK's old motion offense, or Denny Crum's run and gun, just that the coach needs to have a clear identity, a brand of basketball he can sell to recruits, not just empty promises of returning the program to glory, whatever the hell that means.
Instead of the endless debate ad nauseam of what coach has the biggest name to draw the best recruits, maybe you all should debate what style of play you want, and what promising young coach has that brand, and is committed to that brand and finding the pieces that make it work.
If Matt Painter can take marginal recruits and build a brand and a program that is now at the doorstep of elite status, surely with patience, trust, and commitment, IU can find that young coach who will not just return IU to prominence, but will build a new legacy for the ages. But it's not going to happen with just finding another name coach who will bring in the "top recruits." You've been down that road enough times, don't you think?
What do they call it when you keep doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results?
Figure out what you want IU basketball to be, then find that hard-working, under-appreciated, never quitter who will give you what you want and just needs a break. Make him yours, and support him through thick and thin. And someday, not as far away as you think, your program will be back, and even greater than before.
Or not. Your choice.
For quite awhile, as a sympathetic Purdue fan who genuinely appreciates IU basketball, I have lurked and observed what appears to be very repetitive and predictable behavior on here.
When your coach du jour is in the process of flaming out, you want to get a coach who will recruit the necessary elite players to take your program back to prominence. Okay, fine. <yawn>
Then, when you get your coach, and he gets a good recruiting class or two, but still loses, then the refrain around here is that he cannot coach or develop those players. And when opponents come over here to talk their trash, you insist you still have better players. Okay, then it is the coach, right?
So you all dive headlong into the Next Great Coaching search, insisting that he bring in even better players. And the cycle begins again.
See what's going on here?
Look, while Matt Painter appeared to struggle with landing anywhere near the top ranked players IU was getting, he was building good, solid teams that won - not with bad talent, but with carefully chosen talent that fit the roles Painter needed for his offensive and defensive schemes. And he made them work - hard. Even kicked a few to the curb.
So, despite occasional setbacks as his teams went from old and experienced to young and mistake-prone, Painter kept on course, and kept on winning. Not Final Four level winning, but Sweet Sixteen level winning. And over time, with some dumb luck, a near miss at a Final Four, and some hard earned and honest work, he has started winning more recruiting battles. Not just for random kids with lots of stars strung out next to their names, but kids he knows who fit his system, regardless of their rankings. And now, after winning almost 2/3 of his games, he is at the cusp of producing Final Four quality teams - the right way. He may not get there, but he's a tad closer to that threshold than where IU is at the moment.
But it didn't happen overnight. And it won't for IU.
Look, IU needs to get back into prominence. The B1G is not the same without IU in the hunt. It just isn't.
But IU needs to stop fretting over recruiting stars and numbers, and focus on getting a good young coach who will set up his system and his philosophy and recruit the kinds of kids who will run that system to perfection. And maybe for a few years, there will be ups and downs, and some disappointing recruiting losses.
But if the coach is good, and he holds his ground and establishes his brand, the players will slowly come. It won't matter if he runs RMK's old motion offense, or Denny Crum's run and gun, just that the coach needs to have a clear identity, a brand of basketball he can sell to recruits, not just empty promises of returning the program to glory, whatever the hell that means.
Instead of the endless debate ad nauseam of what coach has the biggest name to draw the best recruits, maybe you all should debate what style of play you want, and what promising young coach has that brand, and is committed to that brand and finding the pieces that make it work.
If Matt Painter can take marginal recruits and build a brand and a program that is now at the doorstep of elite status, surely with patience, trust, and commitment, IU can find that young coach who will not just return IU to prominence, but will build a new legacy for the ages. But it's not going to happen with just finding another name coach who will bring in the "top recruits." You've been down that road enough times, don't you think?
What do they call it when you keep doing the same thing over and over again, and expecting different results?
Figure out what you want IU basketball to be, then find that hard-working, under-appreciated, never quitter who will give you what you want and just needs a break. Make him yours, and support him through thick and thin. And someday, not as far away as you think, your program will be back, and even greater than before.
Or not. Your choice.