A changing society was part of the problem. Plus, changing rules of the game were designed to help level the playing field, so to speak, and that’s exactly what they did. Those perceived years of decline continued to worsen after Knight’s firing, save for a couple of lucky Zeller/Oladipo years. IU fans felt entitled to continued success due to inflated egos of who we thought we’d always be, regardless of coach. The system chewed us up and spit us out and we’ve been trying to reassemble the parts ever since, with no success, as we once knew of it.
Today, we spend more money trying to buy ready-talented players than all but a few other schools. Everything Knight stood for has basically been dismissed in this progressive way of going about the college basketball business. Enough years will soon have passed such that this is the only way the majority of IU fans have ever known, a new reality of time forgotten values lost forever on the younger generation.
Definitely accepted behaviors and coaching methods were rapidly changing at the end of RMK's tenure at IU. I would say Michael Jordan's emergence in the NBA might have been an early contributor to the shifts and changes. What he stirred up, and brought to the forefront was a never before seen level of individualism. Every star before him, the team was still the focus. Magic was a part of "Showtime" for the Lakers, and had Kareem and Worthy, amongst others. Bird was a part of the legendary Celtics organization, and had McHale, Parrish, amongst others. Guys like Pistol Pete, who pushed more individual identities, weren't largely accepted. Then Jordan came along. And his shoes came along. And things started to change. And while even he needed help to get the Bulls to the top, everything was always about Jordan.
The Fab Five threw gasoline on that flame, and it became a huge shift and change, seemingly overnight. Uniform styles even changed. But I believe the whole concept of breaking kids down, and then building them back up...which was essentially RMK's entire approach...it became obsolete once The Fab Five did what they did. After that, very few of the most talented kids would choose to go through what an RMK program was. And many of the ones that did, that initially thought they could handle it, they didn't stick it out once they got to Bloomington.
As for what we've been since...I think its as easily explained as we've made a series of bad coaching decisions.
Davis was a horrible decision. He wasn't qualified to be IU's coach. Look at what his successes at IU look like versus anything he's done anywhere else. Even his last few IU teams, that didn't have any RMK recruited players, were higher caliber and quality versus their peer schools, than much of anything he's done since leaving IU. Tells me both RMK and IU were buoying him.
Sampson was a horrible decision because his past didn't match up with what our admin would allow. But as a coach, he was a no brainer. Sampson would have been wildly successful if he could have stuck to the script. He had IU to what, top 2-3 in the country, before everything came crashing down.
Crean...I think he just ended up being the best guy we could get with the situation we were offering. And despite how mediocre he was as a coach, in a few years, he had us to number 1. And then a few years later, he won a B10 title. You don't need to be great to be successful at IU.
Archie I think ended up being unlucky. He was a very popular choice, at the time. He was a very highly coveted coach. His teams at Dayton, and the style he employed, were analytics darlings. He just doesn't have a high major personality. Wet blanket to put it mildly. And that clouded the program.
Woodson...I think its another bad overall decision. His first 3 years have been underwhelming. We'll see what he does this year. I'm pretty excited about his roster construction. And I'm in the middle of forming my views and opinions on how to effectively build an elite program nowadays. I think they'd have been better served to go after a proven college coach of some sort. Maybe a little more dynamic personality. Shaka Smart type of guy.
As soon as the admin makes the right hire...even if they just get lucky with it, as often is the case for those to do get it right...but as soon as the right guy is in place, IU basketball will take off again. Its been a long damn time. But what Woody was able to do with our roster, despite how "toxic" everything seemed in March... IU basketball is still being buoyed by the historical success RMK had for his first 20 or so years at IU.
