why the hell didn't we hire Matta and make Woodson his Hoosier liaison.

[Tammany Hall]

I actually like Woodson myself and think our problem is more than we just don't get the caliber of players we used to and other teams do. Everybody states after every crappy season we need a new coach, but it never seems to change IMO.

Maybe. I see it as we have top-5 NIL $, so we have the firepower to get players.

MM, Reneau, and Ware are 5*’s. McNeely is a 5* and we have a shot a 5* Queen. JHS was a 5*, and Bates was a high 4*. On paper we recruit pretty well, though the overall roster construction is messed up.

 

[FormerRevMatt]

Although Crean and Archie didn't work out, they were reasonable hires at the time. There's no excuse, however, for Woodson. When a candidate's best attribute is "played for Knight at IU 40 years ago," that's a major red f***ing flag.

Well, except a big red flag right from the start with Crean was when so many of the Marquette people were happy that IU hired him away. And it wasn't just sour grapes. That was probably a bad sign when IU hired him.

You have to wonder if they did they due diligence on what a weird dude he was and whether that would play at IU in the same way that Archie's milquetoast personality would either.

There's more to the job than just Xs and Os. You're essentially the CEO of a very large program. That's one of the major ways that it's different than a smaller program, and I don't think that IU has been very good at choosing people who "fit" that role very.

And, of course, Crean couldn't figure out how to beat that damn zone...

 

[go_iu]

Butler getting ready to take down #13 Creighton on the road. score in the high 90s actually fun basketball to watch

"Because it's IU", they waste more money than most make a year every few odd seconds I'd guess, seriously.

 

[Tammany Hall]

Well, except a big red flag right from the start with Crean was when so many of the Marquette people were happy that IU hired him away. And it wasn't just sour grapes. That was probably a bad sign when IU hired him.

You have to wonder if they did they due diligence on what a weird dude he was and whether that would play at IU in the same way that Archie's milquetoast personality would either.

There's more to the job than just Xs and Os. You're essentially the CEO of a very large program. That's one of the major ways that it's different than a smaller program, and I don't think that IU has been very good at choosing people who "fit" that role very.

And, of course, Crean couldn't figure out how to beat that damn zone...

Yea. Our admin and AD are not good at understanding what we need in a coach and picking coaches. Part of the problem is our current AD has only been at IU, so he’s learned from other people who have done a bad job. I also don’t think we do a good job attracting coaches either, it’s a two-way street.

Archie was a definite miss on fit. For me, Crean was okay, the program was on fire with sanctions and players going wild, so he was a decent get. I think we kept him too long.

We probably mismanaged Kelvin — we should have tore up the stupid text/call records (who cares, our competitors pay players under the table), not self reported, and worked with Kelvin to clean up his recruiting a bit, his team was just too out of control. If we could have got Kelvin going here we probably get a natty, but we screwed it up and didn’t work to fix the issue internally.

 

[Big Red Crimson Buffalo]

Trust me, you don’t affect my day. More like a bird shitting on my car. Annoying, but I’ll clean it off and never think about it again.

It was a valid question. Anybody that is a “name” in the world of sports, if they get a serious health condition (like cancer), somebody, somewhere in the media or social media picks up on it and there was nothing on this. Not saying it didn’t occur but this one case was not reported by anyone at all.

 

[Bucket Getter]

It was a valid question. Anybody that is a “name” in the world of sports, if they get a serious health condition (like cancer), somebody, somewhere in the media or social media picks up on it and there was nothing on this. Not saying it didn’t occur but this one case was not reported by anyone at all.

Thank you.

 

[kmathum]

It was a valid question. Anybody that is a “name” in the world of sports, if they get a serious health condition (like cancer), somebody, somewhere in the media or social media picks up on it and there was nothing on this. Not saying it didn’t occur but this one case was not reported by anyone at all.

We were told at the time it was back issues. Not a thing about cancer.

 

[Bucket Getter]

We were told at the time it was back issues. Not a thing about cancer.

It’s nearly impossible to believe - in this day and age - someone with as high a profile as Matta wouldn’t warrant someone, somewhere reporting on it. That’s why I asked a simple, legitimate question. Pretty much anything I post is a trigger for him.

 

[kmathum]

It’s nearly impossible to believe - in this day and age - someone with as high a profile as Matta wouldn’t warrant someone, somewhere reporting on it. That’s why I asked a simple, legitimate question. Pretty much anything I post is a trigger for him.

To the best of my recollection. We were set to hire Matta but he flunked the physical because of his back. No mention of cancer. Woody was the last minute desperation back-up.

 

[welshman#]

Although Crean and Archie didn't work out, they were reasonable hires at the time. There's no excuse, however, for Woodson. When a candidate's best attribute is "played for Knight at IU 40 years ago," that's a major red f***ing flag.

For me a huge missed opportunity was in 2006 when iirc Greenspan allegedly wanted to hire Beilein but the IU Administration didn’t want to pay the $2.5 million buyout (the Big Ten Network wasn’t yet in operation at the time).

Instead we got some Administration folks deciding to play “athletic director for a day” and we ended up with Sampson who, we were assured, would never be so foolish as to repeat the same behavior at IU that got him in trouble at Oklahoma.

A year later Michigan was able to convince West Virginia to drop the buyout to $1.5 million and everyone knows he rest of that story.

P.S.: adjusted for inflation, $2.5 million in 2006 and $1.5 million in 2007 would be about $3.8 and $2.3 million respectively in 2024 dollars. In other words, considerably less than the Crean and Miller buyouts ended up being.

 

[edub72]

What a piss poor coach Woodson is. Embarrassment

 

[BigRedMachineBigBlueNation]

Hiring Woodson and Matta, but letting Woodson coach was a strange choice from the IU offices

 

[Wildmanroom]

As most here know, Woodson had zero interest in what Thad had to offer. Just completely shut him out. Thad leaving was inevitable and the timing with Butler couldn’t have been better for them.

 

[Carib04]

well, a lot of us have wanted Matta for years...and, if you recall, Matta was yet healed from some serious health issues, namely his back and all the things a really bad back causes. him taking the IU gig sorta seemed like his re-entry into the sport. timing was bad, in other words. I don't think he was at a point physically where he could walk the bench when MW was hired. a year later, he was better.

IU just hasn't had any luck in coach searches since RMK. things seem to always derail.

but i gotta think Dolson and Matta at least spoke about the HC job before that MW/Matta/Fife announcement was made.

Matta and Fife are the two guys that need to be in Bloomington.

 

[Wildmanroom]

It was a valid question. Anybody that is a “name” in the world of sports, if they get a serious health condition (like cancer), somebody, somewhere in the media or social media picks up on it and there was nothing on this. Not saying it didn’t occur but this one case was not reported by anyone at all.

It wasn’t reported because it’s not true. Very irresponsible for anyone to say otherwise.

 

[Bucket Getter]

It wasn’t reported because it’s not true. Very irresponsible for anyone to say otherwise.

Exactly why I asked. That’s not something to say in a very public forum and then get pissy about it if someone simply asks if it’s confirmed.