At this point, the pressing question for IU fans is "Who is going to be the next Coach?" There is no middle ground with this hire, quite simply, IU has got to get this one right. The problem, is that I'm not convinced they will. Here's why:
1) Indiana has named a 10 person Committee to seek out a new coach. Are they serious? They need 10 people to figure this thing out. Look, it's pretty simple, anyone that knows anything about this program or basketball, knows the best candidates...it doesn't take a committee. 2) Rick Greenspan is on the committee. OK, let's get this straight. You have an AD, but you can't trust the AD to make the school's biggest hire on his own....so why is he the AD? Oh and by the way, the committee has 1 person (Wayne Radford) that has any basketball association. The only good thing about the committee is that former soccer coach Jerry Yeagley is on it. I'm a believer that good coaches, no matter the sport, can spot other good coaches.
So anyway, that doesn't answer the question. Personally, I think Indiana needs to just start over, find the best guy out there (regardless of prior affiliation with IU) and start moving forward. Here are the qualifications the next guy needs:
- 100% clean. No explanation necessary.
- Winner w/ experience
- Great personality to unite fan base
- Great recruiter with patience to restart this thing. Must get Indiana kids.
- An understanding of IU and Big Ten basketball
That said, lets rule the following guys out:
- Bob Knight. Not going to happen. Intriguing, but not going to happen and not best for the program right now.
- Steve Alford. Allegedly doesn't like Greenspan and has vowed to stay at New Mexico
- Wittman, Woodson, Smart. No college coaching experience, enough said.
I am of the opinion, that at some point you have to sit back and say, "hey, this is Indiana Basketball, we're going after whoever we want." Take a shot at a name guy at a major program, and see what happens. The guys I like from this list are:
- Bruce Pearl. Instant excitement, kids love him, students love him and Illinois hates him.
- Thad Matta. Had he still been at Xavier when Davis left, he'd be the coach now. He can recruit and OSU will always be football first.
- Jamie Dixon. Has a "big ten" style of play and seems to get good, consistent results out of what would appear to be under-talented Pitt teams. Look what he did this year with the injuries they faced.
- Tony Bennett. He only makes this list because Washington St. is considered a "major" program. You'd be hard pressed though to confuse WSU with IU in hoops. Has big ten ties and plays a big ten style. His teams always play hard. A little boring offense like his dads, but not as bad. Midwest guy.
The next set are the "up and comers" that may be at Mid Majors and ready to make the jump.
- Sean Miller. Has done a nice job at Xavier for the past couple of years and put together a really good team this season. If Dixon were to end up at IU for some reason, Miller would most likely be next at Pitt since he's a former player.
- Brad Brownell. Indiana guy from Evansville and DePauw. Has done some pretty good things at UNC-Wilmington and Wright St. The IU job would be a pretty big jump for him.
Just for kicks, here are some other names being thrown around that don't make my cut.
- Scott Skiles- NBA guy
- Mike Brey- No mock turtlenecks please
- Mark Few- no all that impressed
- Kevin Stallings- too many Purdue ties, boring
- Keno Davis- only one year of experience
- Rick Pitino- not even feasible
- Tom Izzo- why would he ever leave MSU?
3 comments:
Ryan, this is Dirt posting from Sam's account.
What do you think about Scott Drew?
Drew actually should have made the "mid-major" portion of the list...my bad on the omission. I think he's done a really good thing at Baylor, I'm just not 100% sure on him for some reason that I can't pinpoint. I think he could do a good job and I'd put he and Brownell on par together.
Lambert, I totally agree with the Dirt's choice of Scott Drew. He'd be too perfect I think. The thing you can't pinpoint about him is his ties to Bethel and whenever you think of him you think of Homer, and while Homer is not that bad of a person, he just kind of annoys you. Yes, there are better hires as you mentioned, but over the long haul Scott Drew will prove he is the man. You heard it here first.
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