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I'm surprised this isn't a bigger deal for some. Trilly who is connected with every agent hasn't heard of Indiana reaching out to anyone right now, Rabby who is pretty much just connected to agents and AAU people and hasn't heard much, just soft chatter. Both have said they have heard things for other openings but not ours. For the life of me I just can't figure out why :-)

I'll give you my $0.02 to take or leave: You have to factor in the Cignetti hire, the guy is who currently AP Coach of the Year. Scott has been AD for five years and so far that was the only major hiring process he has run without interference. The reason I back Scott, is he didn't just hire Cig, he is building up the entire football program from almost nothing, and that is really impressive and important to IU athletics' future. Getting Cig was not easy. At the end of the Allen tenure IUFB was literally in bottom few teams in the conference in NIL (like $2M, that's nothing), and of course we had barely any fan support and a history of being maybe the worst D1 program ever. IUFB was a very tough sell. But Scott raised $15M to buy out Allen and not give him another year, he raised money to increase FB NIL, he targeted Cig from many options, and he convinced him to come here. Other schools like Duke were trying to hire Cig too, and Scott got him to come to all-time crappy IUFB. Next, keeping Cig and his staff was not easy after a historic season like last year. Scott got a commitment to football and to extend/pay Cig and his staff that is unprecedented for IU. Cig is close to a top-10 paid coach and his staff budget is top-5. That's hard to believe, but it's true. All sorts of schools were poking around our coordinators/assistants and we only lost our QB coach who got a legit playing calling OC gig at UCLA. Our QB coach replacement has an amazing resume. And Scott has kept FB NIL going up. I just watched IU sign a top-3 portal QB in Mendoza that Miami, Georgia, Mizzou, and other schools were after. Since when has IU ever done that? This is amazing. Obviously, future IUFB seasons probably won't be like last year. There will be ups and downs. But it's pretty clear we are making a serious move to get out of the cellar of the B1G and become a midpack football program. That is a huge deal and worth tens of million of $ per year to the athletic dept. Maybe we can be even better than midpack, like top third or something. Regardless, this is incredible progress and most of the credit goes to Scott. As much as we like basketball, football is what drives the financials for the entire athletic dept. It's basically the only sport that matters. IU athletics has some challenges ahead, notably (i) funding the $22M per year rev share to players and keeping all our non-rev sports than lose $ going, and (ii) keeping our media rights in 2031. As for the media rights, all athletic depts are under pressure with the rev share costs right now, and in 2031 it wouldn't be surprising if OSU, UM, and other big football programs that generate the big TV ratings that drive the big media deals ask for more of the media rights vs. the current even split. Why should OSU get the same annual media rights money as programs no one watches like NW, PU, etc.? We really want IU to have a case to keep our cut of the media rights, and football is like 80% of what matters for that. Basketball is tiny. This is also why what Scott is doing with football is very important. Sorry that’s a long rant about Scott building the football program, but it shows he is competent and capable. On to basketball. Well, we’ve sucked for 25 years, but everything pre-2020 is irrelevant. That’s pre-NIL and the idiots that messed up all those hires aren’t in control now. It appears the 2021 idiots that hired Woody probably aren’t materially involved this time around, thank god. Assuming the hire is Scott’s call, it’s not a guarantee he gets it right. He could screw up. But I think there is a good chance he does get it right. There is all the stuff he’s been doing right with football detailed above. IUBB is an easier hire – top-5 resources is very appealing to coaches. And Scott has been planning for the bball hire for years. Woody was always a short-term solution and Scott must have known in year two or earlier Woody was a fraud – Scott was changing his buyout structure back in 2023. And Scott has seen all our bad hiring processes and hires since Knight. Anyways, this is just one anon’s perspective. I don't know Scott and he doesn't pay me. If people want to be skeptical of Scott that’s fine. But I am 100% positive he is the only person at IU who has a good chance to make a good hire. No one else in the athletic dept has hired a BB/FB coach, Pam hasn’t hired a BB/FB coach, and I don’t think we want to tap the incompetent BoT/old guard again lol. We aren’t firing Scott and even if we did his replacement would be worse. So, in conclusion, we’ve got a competent AD for once and I think he can get this right. Fingers-crossed and knock on wood…

I will say this; Trilly has plenty of sources and is quite good at developing more sources. If someone like Drew or Cronin was already heavily in the mix I'd expect that he'd have a little vibe by now. That could mean a few things. That the identified candidate is doing a hell of a good job of keeping it quiet. That the identified candidate is not currently a college coach. Or finally, that the identified candidate hasn’t actually been identified yet!

The family vote took place when he was offered the IU job not the Celtics job. When he was offered the Celtics job his kids were like 6 and 3. I don't think they got a vote that young LOL

We all tried to talk ourselves into that hire as best we could despite it making no sense on the surface. He was a semi-successful NBA coach, and that's a significant step up from college coaching -- so people hoped that it would translate. Thad Matta was being brought in to help direct the program, so people were hopeful that meant that Woodson's lack of college experience, especially with recruiting, would be negated by a highly successful former college coach. He was a Bob Knight protegé, and people were hopeful that he could bottle that up and find some success via his legacy. There were legitimate reasons to think that he could have worked out here. The issue is that ultimately there were character deficits and a lack of work ethic that prevented him from achieving what is possible here. His coaching performances against Purdue are proof that he can execute an excellent gameplan and get his guys to buy in. He just never could do it consistently. That requires a level of effort, energy, and focus 365 days a year that he just did not have to give to the program.

There was this one time, I told everyone at work and anyone that asked me, that I was happy with the organization I worked for and the one thing I love the most was the people I worked with. I said all of this while I was working on getting another job somewhere else... The only quoted statement we've seen means absolutely nothing... It's Stevens till it's not for me. But I'll be happy to watch some good basketball next season even if it ends up being someone else.

Appreciate your post! Just replying so you don't think I'm ignoring it. Not gonna really reply though because I respect and like the posters that share info here, and i enjoy the info they share too. I have my feelings on much of that info that is skewed by my experiences, and I don't want to turn this into an "insiders" debate. The people that share info here are longtime members of this community, good guys, and i enjoy engaging with them here!

I literally don't care if our "insiders" end up being wrong. As long as they are genuinely passing on what they've heard from what are hopefully reputable sources. Honestly the idea and hope of possibly getting Brad is and has been more fun than the actual season anyway. Keep it comin' boys!

Not very hung up on a vague Goodman tweet. All he has to say is "That was my take when I said it. Things must have changed." That doesn't make Stevens any more or less likely, but Goodman's tweet isn't especially relevant to me.

5 protected seeds 3 seed or better in the last 5 years. Ius last protected seed that was 3 or better was 2012. Drew has 5 in the last 5 years. Don’t make this more difficult. Drew to IU would be a game changer for a program that definitely needs a shot in the arm

I think people forget... HE wanted to come last time, his family wasn't ready.. His family is in a different place now.. The Celtics won an NBA title Last and I think the most important detail that people don't think about.. He doesn't do the conventional thing...

It's also the same group that acted like Stevens didn't even take IU's calls last time and then later reported that he had been offered 7 years, $70 million.

https://x.com/bobby2bags/status/1894396028016890222?s=46&t=VCm-eVsdhHni-5V2WFoDBg

The one thing I don't understand is if everything worked out the way people say it did. On Feb 14 Brad said no thanks. Then wouldn't have Scott been on the phone with Dusty's agent that afternoon saying he has big money coming for your client as soon as the season is over since we all know he was the #2 choice. I don't care if his family loves Michigan or not, (don't believe it) we could have given him a much better raise than the 1 million he got with the extension.

Just echoing what others have said……the people who find the need to come in here and antagonize people because they believe it’s Stevens….need to find a new hobby. Maybe they are completely wrong, maybe they aren’t. No one really knows and if RTZ, Chris, and Jerry post what they hear we are all grown up enough to put our big boy pants on and decipher rather we want to believe it or not. No need to attack those posters or other guys who believe. Go whine on a Purdue board or something, good grief…..

Here, I'll give you something else. I'm excited about this hire. It's been awhile, but I posted earlier in this thread that I'm more confident in this hiring cycle than any of the recent ones. With IU's position with NIL and the portal, I think there is a much deeper talent pool this time. A grand slam hire would be great, but isn't necessary this time. We just need a real, dedicated college basketball coach with a track record of building culture and identity, that can coach the X's and O's and is a winner. We don't need a press conference win or a big splash for recruiting purposes like in previous cycles. I'm confident for most of the potential candidates.

Nah, not it at all for me. Just based on what I know and also experiences, I don't believe any of the stuff that it was ever close last time. This time, I don't think he's coming, and I think the signs are all pointing that he isn't. But with that said, I think the Celtics ownership situation does potentially change things, maybe the chance to coach his son too. Also with the Luka trade, anything is possible at this point. I'm a Celtics fan and an IU fan, so either way I get Brad Stevens leading my favorite team (college or NBA)

In my mind (and my gut) - it is Brad until he says directly states “I will not be the next head coach of Indiana Basketball” or until we hire somebody else. All signs seemed to point to Brad until (what I believe was) a smoke screen quieted things down. Since then, any noise has not been substantial - the way that I think Brad and Scott want things to be until Woodson is officially done. I do not think we would still be hearing minor rumblings about Brad if the donors thought it was someone else, since that seems to be our main source of info here. I trust our insiders to honestly report what they are able to, and I believe what they were told early on. Also, as far as I have seen, nobody has reported that a donor is upset with how the process is going. Even after the news broke that Brad “thoroughly appreciates being a Celtic and loves the people he gets to work with every day.” Maybe I missed something, but I would think that it would upset a donor if what we were told early on is true, and we would hear about it, because again that seems to be the info source here. JMO. The reality is that nobody knows for sure until something is done and announced. Call me delusional. I’m okay with being wrong, and I will be optimistic about the future of the program regardless of who our next coach is. Go Hoosiers :)

All this time we've been worried about the wrong word in the Goodman statement. He's not "a" candidate because he is "the" candidate....how subtle.

Let’s be for real guys. Drew would be an absolute grand slam. He took Baylor over after a literal murder scandal. One of the harshest non-death penalty punishments ever issued. After his first four seasons, he’s won 70% of his games over the past 18 years in a P5 conference at a school that had four NCAA tournament appearances in its history before he got there. We should be over the moon at the possibility of landing him.

This hurts my Stevens to IU narrative. So I've decided you are wrong.

Is it possible given the timing (ie February when coaches are really locked in on their own/current teams, quality wins, etc.) that the lack of chatter is maybe because this is just going to be a slower process than most of us think/want? I know there can be agent back-channeling, etc., but I just think maybe things don't really heat up on this until maybe next week or the week after when many current college coaches have more time with conference tournament buys, double-buys, etc.

seems like signs are pointing to Drew and that would be sick

https://x.com/j_spencerbrown/status/1893894803357618318?t=ybjbjha5N0YsEmfA7EHyLw&s=09

It seems to me that some of you don’t want Stevens because you’d have to man up and say you were wrong. That’s clinically insane.