Just watched the end of Iowa State and BYU. I was leaning towards TJ but during the period before the last overtime and during all the time outs he was not involved in calling plays or instructing players. It was always the assistant coach. Not sure about that.
Who will be IU’s next basketball coach?
- Thread starter cshartle123
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Drew’s players generally play very hard for him. For what it’s worth.
I wouldn’t love the hire. But he could probably be successful at IU.
Before Woody we went through the Drew discussion and the consensus was that with his strong religious beliefs he would never leave Waco/Baylor. This time around that has been mostly absent from the discussion. It’s neither here nor there but I always thought Sampson has a real talent for motivating his players and forming a cohesive team. I have seen videos from Houston and I was ready to work my buttt off just listening to him.
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Ben McCollum. He wins. Google him. 3rd in defensive points allowed and winning games by double digits. I don't care if they score 80 a game, I care about winning.
I wonder if McCollum would be the type that’s too loyal and proud to consider bringing in a couple assistants that aren’t on his current staff?
Dolson could give him the green light, and the budget, to look for high caliber guys that might help cover McCollums blind spots? Offensive coordinator type guy. Established elite P4 level recruiter.
Another interesting setup would be trying to get McDermott and Alan Huss back together. Pay Huss enough that he’d consider it. Set it up as a handful of years for McDermott, then handing off to Huss. Proven consistent winner, and a very bright younger coach that’s proving he can succeed right now as a HC at High Point. Huss also has a dynamite offensive team at High Point, ranked top 30 in KenPom. Which is very hard for a school like High Point to do.
That may explain TJ's improvement in offensive efficiency over the last few years. Personally, I view it as a good thing. If a coach can get past their own ego and recognize that someone else has a better offensive mind, then why not rely on them... Who knows, if Crean had hired a defensive coordinator, he may still be clapping and slamming diet cokes on the sideline.
If I were Dolson...
I zero in on the 3 Irishmen...McCollum, McCasland, McDermott.
With McCollum and McCasland, I make it clear to them that I want them, they're my "first choice", I want to build the entire basketball organization around them. So whatever assistants they end up wanting to bring in, that's up to them. BUT, I make them fully aware, that I'm willing to increase the assistant coaching budget, to get impactful guys that might command more money than his own staff would command. And I push either of them to reach out to Jim Crutchfield...D2 coach at Nova Southeastern... I've mentioned him before...google him... Pay that guy 1.5+ per year to finish out his career as a part of the Indiana resurgence. He's an offensive mastermind, and can coach anything and anyone it sounds like.
On top of the Crutchfield possibility, I push either of those guys to scour top 50ish programs, and identify programs that have had a ton of success recruiting talent in the last few years...via the portal, HS kids, and/or foreign kids. Find a list of lead recruiter candidates from that list. Give them the budget to make it happen.
Then obviously they can bring however many of their former staff with them that they want.
If neither of those guys are interested, I pivot my attention and throw out feelers to both McDermott and Alan Huss's people, to see if both would be interested in them getting back together at IU. McDermott to finish his career in style, Huss to likely be the heir apparent at IU. And if that comes together, give those guys the same speech about filling out the remainder of their staff. Crutchfield maybe... lead recruiter for certain...
I zero in on the 3 Irishmen...McCollum, McCasland, McDermott.
With McCollum and McCasland, I make it clear to them that I want them, they're my "first choice", I want to build the entire basketball organization around them. So whatever assistants they end up wanting to bring in, that's up to them. BUT, I make them fully aware, that I'm willing to increase the assistant coaching budget, to get impactful guys that might command more money than his own staff would command. And I push either of them to reach out to Jim Crutchfield...D2 coach at Nova Southeastern... I've mentioned him before...google him... Pay that guy 1.5+ per year to finish out his career as a part of the Indiana resurgence. He's an offensive mastermind, and can coach anything and anyone it sounds like.
On top of the Crutchfield possibility, I push either of those guys to scour top 50ish programs, and identify programs that have had a ton of success recruiting talent in the last few years...via the portal, HS kids, and/or foreign kids. Find a list of lead recruiter candidates from that list. Give them the budget to make it happen.
Then obviously they can bring however many of their former staff with them that they want.
If neither of those guys are interested, I pivot my attention and throw out feelers to both McDermott and Alan Huss's people, to see if both would be interested in them getting back together at IU. McDermott to finish his career in style, Huss to likely be the heir apparent at IU. And if that comes together, give those guys the same speech about filling out the remainder of their staff. Crutchfield maybe... lead recruiter for certain...
I like your thinking. Is there such a thing as a phone hotline to Dolson… maybe he’ll listen. Or he could tell us that’s the same route he’s looking at.
Ha ha... Obviously none of us know where he's at in the process, who he's looking at, any of that.
I think something could be said for Dolson establishing that the overall framework of what I laid out, is going to be how the basketball program is run. And he uses that when he's talking with potential coaching candidates. Some it might turn off...but maybe those are the types of guys you want to turn off?
To McCollum, McCasland, Beard, May, Stevens, whoever... We're setting up the basketball program, organizationally, to match the current dynamics at play in major college basketball. You, as the head coach, will be the leader of that organization. You will decide what players come in, you will decide what teams we schedule in the non conference, you will set the tone for what everyone sees on the court. But, we will be hiring a program GM...who will handle many of the off the court things like NIL contacts, foreign scouting contacts, administration duties, etc... And we will be setting the budget for assistant coaching compensation, to be in line with the top paid assistant coaches in the country. And we'll expect that you, as the leader of the program is constantly seeking out coaches that are qualified and deserving of such pay...that obviously also fit with your style and philosophies.
Indiana basketball WILL become the premier college basketball organization. And we want you leading that organization.
To jump on this Otz rumor...
Scott Dolson: Coach Otz...meet Jim Crutchfield... I strongly think you should consider him as your lead assistant and offensive coordinator. Oh, and here's a budget big enough that you can go find a top tier lead recruiter, and bring with you your key guys from ISU as well.
I'll expect banner number 6 within a few years. I'll now get out of your way. Let me know what else you need.
I put this together because I sense that offensive concerns about Ben McCollum are kind of taking on a life of their own. I doubt a coach who is 43 years old and is, as of right this minute, 422-94 and in his 16th season, would agree that he has any real blind spots to speak of. I don't think many people would. Concerns about his offense seem to be overblown to me. Granted that is just my opinion after watching all of three Drake games and doing a little digging.
It's really not a big deal to me. Kelvin Sampson's first year - one of my favorites - we averaged 70.2 ppg and were tough as nails. Me, personally, I really enjoyed that season. The '81 championship team averaged 70.0 ppg. Good basketball overcomes style points. I know I'm guilty of saying I don't care - I just want to average 85 ppg. Or I don't care - I want to limit other teams to 60 ppg. But if we aren't successful - and we aren't more times than not - I wind up saying, "Well, if we just played a lick of defense we'd be awesome." Or, "If we could score at even a poor rate we'd be awesome." So, for me, the style seems like something I'm interested in, but when it comes down to it, what I think is good basketball is what I'm after. If it's tough as nails competing like Sampson's first season, that's fine. If it's high octane like one of Crean's Sweet 16 runs, that's fine, too. I think most would agree: be competitive and win is the bottom line and the aesthetics take care of themselves.
It looks like McCollum's offense scores according to their personnel. I bet it would surprise a lot of people here to know that he's averaged over 80 ppg three times and over 76 ppg three other times, but more importantly I bet many people here who never saw a game of his don't know that the offense is fun to watch. There's a lot of movement and lots of give and go's and back doors. They don't just walk the ball up or hold it trying to shorten the game. They just run a good motion offense and when you really think about it, that takes a little bit of time to get into and run.
This year he's 27-3 and averaging 70.8 ppg with a D2 team in the Missouri Valley. Literally.
I'm not saying anything except when evaluating him put some numbers and therefore, context, to the questions about how his offenses truly look and produce.
It's really not a big deal to me. Kelvin Sampson's first year - one of my favorites - we averaged 70.2 ppg and were tough as nails. Me, personally, I really enjoyed that season. The '81 championship team averaged 70.0 ppg. Good basketball overcomes style points. I know I'm guilty of saying I don't care - I just want to average 85 ppg. Or I don't care - I want to limit other teams to 60 ppg. But if we aren't successful - and we aren't more times than not - I wind up saying, "Well, if we just played a lick of defense we'd be awesome." Or, "If we could score at even a poor rate we'd be awesome." So, for me, the style seems like something I'm interested in, but when it comes down to it, what I think is good basketball is what I'm after. If it's tough as nails competing like Sampson's first season, that's fine. If it's high octane like one of Crean's Sweet 16 runs, that's fine, too. I think most would agree: be competitive and win is the bottom line and the aesthetics take care of themselves.
It looks like McCollum's offense scores according to their personnel. I bet it would surprise a lot of people here to know that he's averaged over 80 ppg three times and over 76 ppg three other times, but more importantly I bet many people here who never saw a game of his don't know that the offense is fun to watch. There's a lot of movement and lots of give and go's and back doors. They don't just walk the ball up or hold it trying to shorten the game. They just run a good motion offense and when you really think about it, that takes a little bit of time to get into and run.
This year he's 27-3 and averaging 70.8 ppg with a D2 team in the Missouri Valley. Literally.
I'm not saying anything except when evaluating him put some numbers and therefore, context, to the questions about how his offenses truly look and produce.
| School | Year | PPG | Record | Post Season |
| Drake | 2024-25 | 70.8 | 27-3 | Champions of Missouri Valley |
| NW MO St. | 2023-24 | 73.0 | 29-5 | Sweet 16 |
| NW MO St. | 2022-23 | 73.6 | 31-3 | Second Round |
| NW MO St. | 2021-22 | 76.1 | 34-5 | National Champion |
| NW MO St. | 2020-21 | 82.8 | 28-2 | National Champion |
| NW MO St. | 2019-20 | 83.2 | 31-1 | (tournament cancelled) |
| NW MO St. | 2018-19 | 82.4 | 38-0 | National Champion |
| NW MO St. | 2017-18 | 74.8 | 27-4 | First Round |
| NW MO St. | 2016-17 | 78.4 | 35-1 | National Champion |
| NW MO St. | 2015-16 | 75.6 | 27-6 | Sweet 16 |
| NW MO St. | 2014-15 | 72.8 | 25-7 | Sweet 16 |
| NW MO St. | 2013-14 | 80.2 | 24-9 | Sweet 16 |
| NW MO St. | 2012-13 | 66.8 | 21-10 | |
| NW MO St. | 2011-12 | 70.1 | 22-7 | First Round |
| NW MO St. | 2010-11 | 69.1 | 10-16 | |
| NW MO St. | 2009-10 | 77.2 | 12-15 |
If we don't grab this guy I'm afraid we'll rue the day.
You don't hire a head coach and then tell him how to coach.
Great stuff! Thanks...
I made a "blind spot" reference with McCollum...namely referencing his lack of experience at the P4 level, and probably more importantly, his lack of experience recruiting the types of players that Final Four level teams nearly always have and rely on. So...maybe an assistant coach that has those experiences could fill potential "blind spots" of his...or maybe better put, just make his program better.
McCollum remains at, or near, the top of my wish list. I hadn't taken the time to look up his scoring outputs. Its interesting to see that his Natty teams all were up there near the tops of his scoring teams. It does seem to suggest when he has the right kinds of guys he scores a little more, and he has more success as a result. Which would bode well for IU, I would think.
And I've posted a few times in response to people that voice concerns with his offense...that they need to watch his games. His offense is MUCH more entertaining and fun to watch than Beard's. Much more movement, cutting, side to side ball movement, etc... Beard's is much more 1 on 1, matchups based.
That’s why I keep saying McCollum is my favorite. I don’t know Jack about the game of basketball (coaching wise), but I do know when I see teams that play like their coach expects. I think McCollum is a genuine, very smart coach that expects players to do things right. I’m hoping Dolson sees all of that in his search.
Pulling that one out of my rear... Might be two roosters in the hen house with Crutchfield and anyone. Just was thinking he might be a guy that's willing to take on a "Phil Martelli" role, since he's as old as he is, and has never been at the high major level??
Good possibility though he may not even be interested in going anywhere else at this time. Hope he would at least listen to Dolson’s spiel.
Real leaders delegate to those who have greater expertise. Painter/Thompson. Hurley/Murray. McCasland/Linder. Gard/Penney ...
Not sure that's the case with Otz, but it's not a bad sign. Shows he's not a ego manical control freak that believes he knows everything.
Right - the expectation is that McCollum recruits his kind of players but those players are of a higher quality/level. It wouldn't be good if he constantly had to overachieve with less. That would be what would lead to the concerns about his offense and style of play.
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