To be fair, the timing didn’t make a Crean firing/Stevens hiring an easy decision. Stevens was being noticed by many before his final four runs. But I doubt many, if any, on this board were pining for Stevens until after his first title game run.
Glass would have had to fire Crean after year 2, and hire a 30 something coach, that had only been a head coach for 3 years. I think he should have done just that. But even I can’t remember if I was vocal about that at the time. And while I’m always a loyal supporter in the end, I wasn’t often a Crean backer for most of his tenure at IU. Despite Vic, Cody, and Jordan being some of my favorite players ever.
That spring/summer of 2010 was the time to do it. It was basically our only shot to get Stevens. There was rumored to be an “IU clause” in his contract. He and his wife have deep roots in the state. I’d be surprised if we wouldn’t have landed him if we’d have went after him hard that spring.
One of the problems with that was we were in the middle of a heated recruiting battle for one Cody Zeller that spring/summer. I don’t know if that played a role, but I’d guess it did. If we hadn’t gotten Zeller that fall, would that have pushed Glass to go after Stevens and get rid of Crean after the 10-11 season? He certainly didn’t have a great year that year.
But Cody did sign. Then he inked the great 12 class. Then Vic exploded. Then Wats shot went down. Then we beat OSU. Sweet 16. No way you make a move like that at that point. Many probably thought Butler had peaked. And IU was back to 70s/80s stuff.
I enjoyed watching some of the talented kids Crean had at IU. I cheered for every team. I hoped every one would win it all. But I never liked Crean, his style, his hectic recruiting approach, etc... I’d like to think I’d have let reason override emotion in either the spring of 10 or spring of 11. And locked Stevens up. There was enough info available to make that call.
But it would have been a very tough one to make.
You're right on your recollection after year two.
I was pining for it but realized (and got into heated debates on here) that it was aggressive.
However after year three is where I just got pissed.
Stevens just went back to back national titles in his 4th year, again after losing a lottery pick the season before. Obviously a great player can lift a team on a run...ah hem Dwayne Wade, Steph Curry, David Robinson but Stevens rode Heyward, lost him and then got back there again from the Horizon league.
It was absolutely remarkable.
He had something like an insane 94% winning percentage when he had 4 or more days to prep, which is why he rarely lost on the first round games of the week (1st round, sweet 16 and final four games).
The timing was perfect. He was losing Howard and Mack (he didn't make the tourney the following year) and Crean went an embarrassing 3-15 like, finishing last in the conference in year three.
Yes Zeller was coming in, but Stevens was so regarded Butler made Cody's final three. He admitted it was all Stevens as he didn't want to play in the horizon league with no TV.
My point was, if we make the tough decision to cut ties with Crean then, we very likely get a still 30 something Stevens to coach that core with Zeller still coming in.
Can you imagine how we might have faired against Syracuse with more than four days to prep for the sweet 16? By the way, I think Butler beat Syracuse during their tourney runs.
Now we can really print up the 'we're back' shirts knowing that we have the best young coach in the game like we did in 1971.
But....we didn't pull the trigger.
Today is a different situation. There is no superstar young coach other than Beard (who I would switch with Archie if there was an opportunity, but I have huge doubts that we appeal to Beard).
That and Archie has rebuilt the infrastructure of the program. I love everything he's done to be honest...now it's about the dubs.