8bucks

Kathy?.?

Could be a troll too. She just comes when we are most feisty and his seat is scorching,

Pops becomes Team Doctor?

?

Actually i dont think she is here to stir the fans up but is sent out to try and calm the fanbase. Seems she shows up each time Woody's seat starts to get really hot. Does not seem she is able to calm things down though.

Why in the world do we need our Diebler? We are not looking for an interim to then become our head coach. Finding an interim is not the goal but taking Woody and the team our of the crosshairs of a fanbase that has given up on them. It is an ugly look for IU when the fans boo and we do not want any more reasons to scare the next coach away.

The goal of a change now is not to salvage this season. It is also not to find out if an interim coach might become the coach. The fan base is/has given up on Woodson and subsequently the team. The fan base will act like last night but progressively worse as this continues and there is no messaging from IU that a change will be made. Letting the crowd get ugly will draw unwanted media attention and will make filling the job harder. That is the goal for Dolson and IU. To preserve a viable reputation and to have IU appear to be an attractive place to coach. Letting this drag on runs counter to that.

Hopefully, at a minimum, if Woody is not released midseason they make an announcement that he will be retiring at the end of the year. If I were the AD, I would know that home crowds, media etc is just going to get worse if a bad season continues. A lot of the booing comes from fans who have no other opportunity to express their opinion on the state of the program. It gets the AD and trustees attention as that and empty arenas continue night after night. So while true fans would likely not boo their team, they often have too because they do not feel their opinions are being considered. If they were to announce he is retiring, then more grace would be given during the season. That does not mean there would be no boos from the crowd but I am pretty sure it dials that pressure down a lot.

I did not think Beard was a "not follow rules guy" but more of a potential drinking problem guy.

I think this needs to be vetted more. He has a low buyout. I hope he set that because of IU but I think we are assuming a lot here

Did you listen to the Keefer podcast. Fascinating and is consistent with your post

Understand but also can’t get over being an IU fan since the late 80’s. My pessimistic nature regarding us sustaining success is strong.

And we now have a womens soccer coach opening. Our prior coach was not liked very well by many of the top instate talent. Clearly this is Dolson improving things to attract a rising star player from Boston

Crazy how low our B10 ranking is.

Any idea what the SEC or Big 12 or other conferences will have or is the BT the first out of the gate with this?

Any chance Self might be in play? Not sure if the Big 12 will have as much pull as the SEC or the BT and maybe to keep up in the arms race he makes a move? I know Adidas keep him in a good spot but just wondered.

Is this becoming more than it is or do we know he negotiated a lower buyout? Do we know he passed on L’ville because of the desire for a lower buyout or is this just hopes becoming “facts”? If those are known strategies and desires in his part it is pretty interesting for sure. Is his buyout higher if he is fired (not that that will happen but it would help support the argument that he did negotiate this intentionally.

Could have had an uncle and nephew had Woody came a few years earlier

Good win tonight. I wish this would be a copy and paste for how to approach remaining games but this team seems to be full of guys who play great for a game and are a disaster the next. What really helped the last 2 games was the effort. How many times the last few years did it look like the team did not care. Currently we have several guys willing to dive on the floor (even jump on opponents laying on the floor) fighting for loose balls. I love the tips back on rebounds as well. Rice may not be scoring well but his D and penetration and then creating openings for others are all effort driven. So I will not be surprised if next game Ballo and MM have a combined 10 points but Rice and Gallo get 30. Good to see the effort. Good to get a road win. This win is to be expected though if we are going to have a good to great season. Does not mean we have figured things out yet but big ten road wins against average to good teams are still good wins.

The new GM, unless they know they can get their #1 guy, kind of gets a free pass with Steichen. They can say sure I will keep him for another year and if he works out great. If not they then get to bring their guy in. It is kind of like getting a free try with Steichen.

Are we talking ourselves into thinking this portal class is great? Could be way off but it seems last years was better on paper and ended up being very good. Is this class for 2025 considered better and if so why?

It’s a new kind of arms race in college athletics. It used to be based on getting money for facilities to stay up with or ahead of the pack. Better facilities, in theory, better recruiting and coaches. Now, it is money for NIL. But these donors seem to have a stronger voice in who the coach will be. Will the money dry up if we keep Woody and keep being basically a top 35-50 team? Or do those donors give only because of his influence and relationship? How do you keep part of the donor base happy if they want to move on while another important group wants to keep the coach. Dolson has a lot of experience working with these groups so he is probably a great guy to handle it. Hopefully he can find a way to “honor” Woody with an exit plan that keeps important donors happy and gets us back on a winning track.

The problem i have with Leal is while he can give you some valuable minutes in a game here or there he usually only does one thing helpful in those games. Yesterday he played good D but was largely neutral on the offensive end. It would sure help if he gave some scoring, had some assists or at a minimum shot FT better than 62%.

I think this can be misleading as he played in mop up minutes for a lot of the wins. It would be more beneficial to see his +/- impact in games where the final score is close.

I am not expecting it at all but it is not impossible either. The BT’s highest ranked team is Oregon at #9 and we have 3 others in the top 25. Not nearly as deep a conference as we have had in prior years. Woodson teams have also had stretches where they have played very well. Usually late in the year after underperforming for most of the year. There is enough talent on this team to end up with double digit wins in a conference without that many unbeatable teams. Will they do it, unlikely but for now there is a path. They could easily start off 4-1 in conference and perhaps that confidence leads to better performance. It could also lead to overconfidence and one of those losing streaks Woodsons team have also been known for.