Woodson: "That's on me..." is getting old!
- Thread starter Indiana_1993
- Start date
And his Kenpom numbers got worse after last bad outing. You do realize when we play these pathetically bad teams we have to beat them 25-30 points or more?
He chose to leave coaching after his Woodson experience.
One can pick and choose his bad and good stats to make their argument. Or they can just watch his teams play and figure out he isn't a very good basketball coach.
So...what would you have done differently, prior to this season? And don't give answers that are easily discarded with common sense. Actually give the thought process, behind the "logic".
Define "prior to this season" From when Woodson was hired? Offseason leading up to this season?
I've been pretty outspoken, and consistent, in my criticisms of Woodson, basically since he arrived here. In fact, many mocked me for my C+ hire grade, on the Woodson hire. One of our more knowledgeable posters here actually used my post as the signature in his posts for quite some time afterwards.
Anyways... trying to kill some time before my sons game tonight, so here goes. Since you asked for though process, and details...
Prior to hire date, during interview process...
-I would have thought long and hard about what I believed Indiana basketball should be. And I would have communicated that, and how I thought it should be managed and accomplished. I'm very big on processes, and setting standards...and slowly building those things upon themselves. So, I think Indiana is uniquely positioned, to have "Kansas like" or "Duke like" success within the B10 conference. They have the name. They have the resources. Its one of the southernmost schools in the conference, so even the weather is an advantage over most B10 schools. Indiana should LEAD the conference, not allow itself to be lumped in with the slower, plodding, physical style that the B10 has become over the last couple decades. And I would have made clear to Glass and BOT that I would be fully engaged with Indiana high school and AAU staffs, but that I would not hold Indiana down to just fielding teams from Indiana kids, or even focusing on them more heavily than the rest of the basketball world. And I would have laid out, in detail, what stuff I would focus on running, how I would manage on a daily basis, etc...
Assuming that got me the job...
-Meetings with current players commence immediately. My goal from the meetings, with each and every one of them, would be to make it very clear what Indiana basketball was going to be. How we were going to workout in the summer. How we were going to practice. The principles we were going to teach. The things we were going to do, to help them achieve their own personal goals. The things we'd expect them to do, to help the team accomplish the team goals. Etc...
-I suspect, recruiting TJD to stay would have been a pretty huge priority. But I WOULD NOT have told him we were going to make him an All American by running everything through him in the post. I would have told him his best chance to achieve his NBA dream, would be to expand his game to being comfortable and able to make plays away from the basket. I'd show him film of guys like Draymond Green, Bam Adebayo, heck, even Ben Simmons at the time. I'd have made sure he knew he would be a central focus on our team, but it would NOT be traditionally in the post.
-I would have established expectations for an offense that was based on perimeter movement and cutting. And a defense that was based on limiting ball reversals, and applying intense ball pressure. I'd have a base man to man defense and a trapping defense that could be used in full or half court. And guarding the dribble, and rebounding would be sacred tenets that we would work HEAVILY on, starting the day any player steps on Campus and becomes a part of the program. If you can't defend the ball, and can't rebound, you don't have a spot at Indiana. And all those expectations would be laid out and discussed with potential returning players.
-After the meetings, I'd evaluate what kind of roster I had, and would get to work in the portal AND then obviously recruiting high school kids. Selling the more open, faster, paced play...and obviously everything Indiana had to offer. I would have 2 assistant coaches that have an abundance of energy, that have sales related skills, and if possible, have a proven track record at recruiting at a high level. I'd fill the staff with a seasoned basketball coach, that had proven to be able to win consistently as a head coach elsewhere. The goal with portal kids would be proven winners, and kids that had proven to be able to make plays in a variety of ways, playing in systems similar to what I was trying to build. The thought being...if I can surround guys like TJD and Race, with highly successful players that are used to moving and cutting a lot, and pressuring the ball a lot...we could fast track establishing what Indiana basketball is, AND be competitive doing it.
-Once the roster is built...daily plans, starting in the summer, are put together. With the very explicit intended goal of forging what Indiana basketball WAS GOING TO BE. Lots of physical conditioning. Lots of ball skill development. Lots of film study and individual and small group workouts based on specific aspects. Measurable drills will be implemented, and done on a biweekly basis to ensure growth. As a part of this regular review, I'd also have discussions with each player about their own specific goals. Not everyone in a basketball program has a goal of playing in the NBA. If I found a point guard from Princeton or something, as an example, maybe he's working towards a doctorate or something. The agreement I'd have with all my players, and staff, is that as long as they're giving everything to Indiana basketball that I'm asking of them, I'll do everything in my power to help them achieve their dreams. This will become a commonly accepted tenet for IU basketball, and I would assume it would resonate with potential recruits.
-Once the official practices start, and I have all of them together every day. I commit most of the first couple weeks of practices on foundational things like closeout defensive drills, defensive shell drills, running a motion based "5 out" offense, tons of shooting drills... Practices will be a bit longer the first couple weeks because of this, will taper down to less than 2 hours as the games approach.
-Once the games start...trust the processes early on. There might be a big pull to change things up from what we're working towards, to just park TJD on the block and let him get 25 and 15, and ensure we're more competitive. But at that point, we'd have been 4-5 months in for many of the players, and ALL of the staff, on what Indiana basketball IS. We would for darn sure be committed to that, win or lose, early on.
-I would deal with the wins and losses by evaluating how they are conducting themselves, and how they're executing every day on Indiana basketball standards. And reacting accordingly. If we're winning, making sure they don't get complacent...forcing anger in some ways to stay sharp. If we're losing, don't throw anyone under the bus, just focus on where we're not executing...and keep working at it.
-Practically within games, best players play as many minutes as they have the conditioning for. Likely a 7 to 8 man rotation. No robotic method for substitution patterns. When a starter gets in foul trouble, sub for him. When a starter gets tired, sub for him for a minute or two. When any player is playing really, really well...rather than sub him when he's tired, use timeouts in between the TV timeouts to get him more minutes and maximize his play. NEVER...as in not once...have all 5 starters sitting on the bench in an undecided game.
-Every single day, every single day...be scouring and evaluating talent worldwide, college kids for the portal, high level high school kids, Indiana kids, AND foreign kids. What does Indiana look like if it can effectively tap in to the state of Indiana, AND be an attractive school for top 100 national kids and talented foreign kids? Again, I think IU is uniquely positioned that with the right approach, they could do that within the B10.
I could go through the offseasons and seasons for the the other 3 years if you want...but it would be basically repeats of the above. Focus on the core tenets of the program and recruit every day. I'm sure you'll easily discard this approach and mindset with YOUR common sense. And obviously I have no clue if I could pull all this off, and there's even more obviously no chance I'll ever get the opportunity. I just know a version to what I typed out above, is the type of coach we want at IU. And Woodson either doesn't do many of the above things...OR he's awful at pulling them off if he does.
