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Why didn't IU handle the interim coaching job like Wisconsin and L'ville did?

I was convinced that Dakich would follow Knight had he had a chance to retire. I remember going to Mike Davis' first game as head coach and realizing "oh my gawd he doesn't know the motion offense". Heck, he even admitted it. And at that point I thought, how is it that a 3 year assistant coach doesn't know the offense? I don't know how that happens. I mean, the guy was paid to be an assistant coach at Indiana. He spent all day on basketball. Every day. And he didn't know the offense after 3 years. It was a terrible omen.
Knight wanted Patrick to follow him.

And the Trustee who made by far the most noise about retaining Mike Davis was Cora Breckinridge, and she strongly intimated that she would make much more of it if he wasn’t named the permanent coach. Several Trustees and senior administrators peed down their legs every time she spoke.
 
Look where we are. look at Wiscy's results the last 15 years. They had an interim coach the same year that iU did. L'ville had the balls to do it right. Why IU, just why?
There wasn't a succession plan at IU. There aren't too many programs that have that. Purdue hired an assistant coach knowing he would take over on Keady's retirement. UNC tried moving the assistant into the top job and that didn't work either. They also made a bad hire before they got it right.

In hindsight, we should have opened the coaching search up and let the new coach worry about keeping the team from leaving. We ended up starting over anyway a few years later for different reasons,
 
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Knight wanted Patrick to follow him.

And the Trustee who made by far the most noise about retaining Mike Davis was Cora Breckinridge, and she strongly intimated that she would make much more of it if he wasn’t named the permanent coach. Several Trustees and senior administrators peed down their legs every time she spoke.

Is that why Davis got the interim position over Treloar even though Treloar had far more coaching experience?
 
Davis and Treliar were nobodies in the world of assistant coaches. IU tradition demands a search for a high profile up and comer if not a proven coach. It didn’t happen. Davis was a nice, polite kid who tried his best but came up short. It was not an easy task to replace him for several reasons, one being his one year aberration in the tournament, which caused a longer stay into his tenure with his own players when it was obvious the pressure was getting to him. This was demonstrated by his calling in “sick” from the bowels of his basement several hours before the Iowa game. It remains one of the great “head scratchers” in IU basketball coaching lore and only slightly ahead of his Kentucky meltdown - running after a referee at the end of the game to seal the defeat. After Knight, IU Nation never thought we would ever witness such on court antics again and then here it was.
Davis was a slow learner, as was discussed earlier by his self professed lack of understanding of the motion offense. I bet Bob got a chuckle or two out of that one. I still find it hard to believe but not for the man having been heard saying it himself. Why would he even admit it? That only adds to the enigma that was Mike Davis. It’s been an uphill battle ever since with questions still out there to this day.
 
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Is that why Davis got the interim position over Treloar even though Treloar had far more coaching experience?
One of the reasons, most definitely. They were afraid she'd invoke a nuclear option, portraying IU as an out of step, horse and buggy outpost that was institutionally racist. On the heels of defending themselves as longtime Knight lapdogs, it rightfully scared a lot of people.
 
The irony is, they were called that anyway. Or maybe it was just us fans.

Dakich droned on and on about this today.

He claimed that IU fans and this forum (which was Peegs at the time) was the hotbed or race-based attacks. He was wrong of course as he so often is. Most of the racial crap came not from IU fans but from Bob Knight fans. Non- grads that hated BKs firing.

The idiots that attacked Davis were not on Peegs but on a horrible site called HoopLoops. While it was co founded by an Iingrad named Gojko Kaisch, the rank and file were BK worshipping non IU fans such as Twin Degrees, then called Ducati,
 
I was convinced that Dakich would follow Knight had he had a chance to retire. I remember going to Mike Davis' first game as head coach and realizing "oh my gawd he doesn't know the motion offense". Heck, he even admitted it. And at that point I thought, how is it that a 3 year assistant coach doesn't know the offense? I don't know how that happens. I mean, the guy was paid to be an assistant coach at Indiana. He spent all day on basketball. Every day. And he didn't know the offense after 3 years. It was a terrible omen.

Dakich was not going to be a realistic option although he has since claimed on Twitter that he was never fired from IU and turned down IU after Sampson. I think he gets confused.
 
Interesting thoughts. Beilein was my number one choice. I share your thought about Herbert, but there were two trustees(as I recall, and who still remain unnamed) who wanted a minority coach.

It was really just one Trustee who garnered a fair amount of support from faculty and personalities such as Jesse Jackson who threatened a march in Btown.
 
I'm convinced we would've hired Alford had Davis been canned after the Kent St debacle as he should've been. Who knows how our program would look today. You have to remember that at the time Alford was considered maybe the best young and up coming HC in the country. We also had a deeply divided fan base and would've needed one of our own.
 
I'm convinced we would've hired Alford had Davis been canned after the Kent St debacle as he should've been. Who knows how our program would look today. You have to remember that at the time Alford was considered maybe the best young and up coming HC in the country. We also had a deeply divided fan base and would've needed one of our own.
Alford likely would've been the guy for all the reasons you cite. He was universally popular among the fanbase and had broad support among both the Trustees as well as key administrators. Knight would've been furious, but he would've likely healed a number of open wounds. There were fantastical stories of secret negotiations and done deals that weren't accurate, but it could've easily happened.
 
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I'm convinced we would've hired Alford had Davis been canned after the Kent St debacle as he should've been. Who knows how our program would look today. You have to remember that at the time Alford was considered maybe the best young and up coming HC in the country. We also had a deeply divided fan base and would've needed one of our own.

You have no idea just how close it was to happening.
 
I'm convinced we would've hired Alford had Davis been canned after the Kent St debacle as he should've been. Who knows how our program would look today. You have to remember that at the time Alford was considered maybe the best young and up coming HC in the country. We also had a deeply divided fan base and would've needed one of our own.
What debacle, didn't IU BTF out of Kent State?
 
It was all about politics. Everyone knew Davis wasn't the guy but liberal IU was afraid of being called racist.

love that a healthy percentage of IU fans blame the last 20 years of IU basketball on liberal-- er, progressive political ideals. haha

i'd send my kids to bloomington but i'm afraid IU would make them gay. i'd send them to Purdue but then they'd just be lonely. lol
 
You have no idea just how close it was to happening.

I, for one, am glad it didn’t. We’d likely be in a situation like PU. Certainly more consistent over the last 15 years, but based on his ineptitude at the jobs he’s had our ceiling would be much lower than it is today imo. And because everyone loved him as a player, it would be nearly impossible to get rid of him so long as he’s making the tournament and a few sweet 16’s.
 
I, for one, am glad it didn’t. We’d likely be in a situation like PU. Certainly more consistent over the last 15 years, but based on his ineptitude at the jobs he’s had our ceiling would be much lower than it is today imo. And because everyone loved him as a player, it would be nearly impossible to get rid of him so long as he’s making the tournament and a few sweet 16’s.[/QUO
I, for one, am glad it didn’t. We’d likely be in a situation like PU. Certainly more consistent over the last 15 years, but based on his ineptitude at the jobs he’s had our ceiling would be much lower than it is today imo. And because everyone loved him as a player, it would be nearly impossible to get rid of him so long as he’s making the tournament and a few sweet 16’s.
I'm not glad about any of the happenings in basketball coaching selection over the last many years until Archie Miller. And I cannot agree that a Davis, Sampson, Crean era was better than an Alford era would have been. Although I understand the pros and cons of an Alford hire.

While Knight was a HOF coach and ruled the roost here...his lack of ability or willingness to become more politically correct reflected negatively on this institution. It was past time to let him go...sad but true. The venom of those at the other Loopy site and RMK screaming disgruntled fans were disheartening. The black helicopters circled Bloomington like vultures.

The Davis appointment as interium HC was another prime example of the major stupidity of the administration. Davis was a good guy. Really was not the right pick.

I remember him sitting on a stool up on the playing floor...scowling. After the Duke game at Rupp, if my memory is correct, Davis said something like: I don't have any idea how we won.

The lack of any backbone to get into place proper search and selection process is mismanagement and unbelievable. The Sampson hire was worse...and combined the lack of oversight were like being lost in Dante's Inferno.

Dakitch did what he had to do post Sampson. But his Knight-like over control attitude never seemed to make him positioned to become HC at IU. Those days had passed.

Crean was like going to the zoo and only seeing a mouse. Those that knew of him knew he couldn't tell the difference between an X and an O. I rationalized, right or wrong, that IU needed to stabilize the merry-go-round of HC. Cut Crean loose after a while. But Yogi and Cody et al kept Crean in striped but loose-fitting pants.

The Alford hire would have been loaded with baggage. And he doesn't seem to be able to handle the off-court issues very well...but who does?

I like the Miller hire. Sitting here in Dayton...I have seen Miller take the players...make them into a team that improves as the season unfolds...and become more than just the sum of the parts. His coaching decisions seem to make sense.
 
I, for one, am glad it didn’t. We’d likely be in a situation like PU. Certainly more consistent over the last 15 years, but based on his ineptitude at the jobs he’s had our ceiling would be much lower than it is today imo. And because everyone loved him as a player, it would be nearly impossible to get rid of him so long as he’s making the tournament and a few sweet 16’s.

I have wondered about this many times. I understand looking at SA and his body of work today, but had he been given the opportunity to recruit at IU at a time when his presence as Hoosier hero was far more fresh in the minds of parents, coaches, and players.

His connections in the state would have been unmatched and he may have been very successful. IU might have gotten many of the top recruits that left the state over the years.

Who knows...
 
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With this comment, you seem to forget that Davis won with Knight's players who were playing with a chip on their shoulders over the abrupt firing of their beloved coach. Davis never duplicated this feat with his own talent.
Equally important in my estimation is that Davis got to the final game largely using Knight's offense and defense systems, which the players were already familiar with. Davis did not switch to the famous 300-play "NBA style playbook" or the Bracey Wright dribble-dribble-dribble-heave offense until later.
 
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I have wondered about this many times. I understand looking at SA and his body of work today, but had he been given the opportunity to recruit at IU at a time when his presence as Hoosier hero was far more fresh in the minds of parents, coaches, and players.

His connections in the state would have been unmatched and he may have been very successful. IU might have gotten many of the top recruits that left the state over the years.

Who knows...
We can be pretty certain based on what he’s not done with loaded recruiting classes at UCLA. He may have gotten top recruits, but he wouldn’t have done anything with them. There is plenty of evidence to support this.
 
Look where we are. look at Wiscy's results the last 15 years. They had an interim coach the same year that iU did. L'ville had the balls to do it right. Why IU, just why?

It was all about politics. Everyone knew Davis wasn't the guy but liberal IU was afraid of being called racist.

Yes, and he took IU to the championship game in 2002. Now what are you supposed to do?
 
I can remember when Tan Tom was hired that there was a rumor that IU was going to hire Lon Kruger. I was less than thrilled about LK at that time. Boy, looking back, he should have been better than the Orange Spaz.
 
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While Knight was a HOF coach and ruled the roost here...his lack of ability or willingness to become more politically correct reflected negatively on this institution. It was past time to let him go...sad but true.

Knight was on his way to another title when he got fired. The Neil Reed situation was over and done with and other than a terrible AD and a terrible President, there was little to differentiate who Knight was in 2000 than who he was in 1990. He was the same guy. He then went to Lubbuck and took Texas Tech to the Sweet 16 and mentored Chris Beard.

The truth is there was no way to follow Knight. Certainly not with the way things happened. Mike Davis was not a terrible choice at the time, they just shouldn't have extended him more than 3 years.

Watching UConn drop like a rock is a perfect example that it is actually coaches, not "proud tradition" that makes programs good.

Indiana basketball is 50% Bob Knight, 30% Branch McCracken, 15% Everett Dean, and about 5% everyone else.

The state of Indiana is rich with basketball heritage, but at IU coaches win national championships.
 
At least with UCONN, they hired a qualified, proven coach after the Ollie disaster.
 
Knight was on his way to another title when he got fired. The Neil Reed situation was over and done with and other than a terrible AD and a terrible President, there was little to differentiate who Knight was in 2000 than who he was in 1990. He was the same guy. He then went to Lubbuck and took Texas Tech to the Sweet 16 and mentored Chris Beard.

The truth is there was no way to follow Knight. Certainly not with the way things happened. Mike Davis was not a terrible choice at the time, they just shouldn't have extended him more than 3 years.

Watching UConn drop like a rock is a perfect example that it is actually coaches, not "proud tradition" that makes programs good.

Indiana basketball is 50% Bob Knight, 30% Branch McCracken, 15% Everett Dean, and about 5% everyone else.

The state of Indiana is rich with basketball heritage, but at IU coaches win national championships.
Knight wasn’t headed toward another national championship, and he didn’t “mentor” Chris Beard. IU handled his departure horribly, as did he, but neither of your assertions are remotely accurate.
 
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Knight wasn’t headed toward another national championship, and he didn’t “mentor” Chris Beard. IU handled his departure horribly, as did he, but neither of your assertions are remotely accurate.

The heck he wasn't. And the heck he didn't. The first cannot be proven but I think it is as reasonable to project as any that bare minimum Knight would have won the 2002 big ten title outright. That team under performed until the tourney. Not to mention Haston and Owens instead of Donald Perry.
 
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The heck he wasn't. And the heck he didn't. The first cannot be proven but I think it is as reasonable to project as any that bare minimum Knight would have won the 2002 big ten title outright. That team under performed until the tourney. Not to mention Haston and Owens instead of Donald Perry.
Neither assertion is close to accurate. Knight wasn't headed that way with that team and he didn't mentor Beard.
 
Exactly what has Hurley done that the coaches we hired after Davis have done. Both Sampson and and Crean both went to a final four and Hurley has not gotten past the 2nd round.

IU hired a cheater and then a con artist.
 
The heck he wasn't. And the heck he didn't. The first cannot be proven but I think it is as reasonable to project as any that bare minimum Knight would have won the 2002 big ten title outright. That team under performed until the tourney. Not to mention Haston and Owens instead of Donald Perry.
Just my opinion if RMK was still the coach in 2002 we would have not had that run to the finals
 
I still don't think Mack goes to Louisville. A graduate of St. Xavier High School and X here in Cincinnati, it's going to take one hell of an offer from Louisville to make that move. After the way both X and UC lost on Sunday, Mack may be even that much more determined to get X over the hump. As a non-fan of both programs it is all I can do to refrain from laughing at all of the local despair, what with X and UC flags at half-staff in numerous places. Anyway, with Mack reportedly in Louisville, talking about the job, I'd still bet he stays .... But, I've been wrong before.

There's also something about him I just don't like. Maybe it's that a few of his players - Macura, in particular - have been jerks around town. Mack doesn't do anything to discourage it.
I agree. Chris Mack started at University of Evansville his freshman and sophomore years and was a contributor on a good basketball team. However he transferred back to Cincy to finish his career at Xavier. Doubt very much if he leaves Cincinnati. This may be a ploy to get Xavier to increase his salary there.
 
Knight wasn’t headed toward another national championship, and he didn’t “mentor” Chris Beard. IU handled his departure horribly, as did he, but neither of your assertions are remotely accurate.
His opinion about whether Knight was ready to take the team to another championship is as valid as yours that he wasn't. I tend to agree with him because that team was built for his system but this is only my opinion too. Chris Beard said that his time with Bob Knight was a key to his success as a head coach. That could make Bob Knight his mentor or it could mean that he learned a lot from working under Knight. I wouldn't get hung up on the word mentor.
 
Davis has ended up being a pretty solid coach, but it was a mistake to have his on the job training be at IU. That was born out by him getting fired at UAB. Glad he has had success at Texas Southern because he's a great dude.

The rumor at the time was that boosters were courting Pitino pretty strongly and he was allegedly spotted in town. I think he would have ended up being the coach had Brand not got his way or if Haston had missed his shot against MSU.

Equally important in my estimation is that Davis got to the final game largely using Knight's offense and defense systems, which the players were already familiar with. Davis did not switch to the famous 300-play "NBA style playbook" or the Bracey Wright dribble-dribble-dribble-heave offense until later.

Davis dumped the motion offense immediately since he didn't have it mastered. He basically admitted it would take him minutes to figure out things in the motion that Knight instantly knew. His defense was a modified version of what RMK ran that basically had less help-side defense in situations that would lead to open 3 point shots (and was pretty good). IMHO, Davis was and is a great defensive coach.

A lot of the offensive plays for Davis' first two teams got called by the players themselves. All those kids had pretty great BBall IQ between playing under RMK and HS, so once they were out from under RMK's thumb they thrived. They knew what the smart thing to do was and played loose since they weren't afraid of messing up once in a while. There was a behind the scenes video of Jeffries calling the plays in the huddle/locker room when we played Louisville.

When Wright's class came in, you saw the BBall IQ go down on offense and IU doing "Houston One" or whatever the play was all the time.
 
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