8bucks

@chris if as you say he is back for next year but you think that will be his last, does that mean he leaves next year regardless? If we just make the NCAA but again are an early out is he still going to be gone (retire)? If we somehow get to a sweet 16, but the prospects for the following year are questionable would we keep him for year 5?

We may still need more patience than we have shown other coaches. But a younger guy like May (or similar) I think we would be more willing to let them learn on the job than someone in their late 60's.

Looks like Baylor has had the same AD and President since 2017. The AD seems to share some similiar values as Drew so that stability could be attractive to stay as well. But, he would be at the top of my list. If he does have some bad reputation with the HS and AAU coaches here though that may just as big an issue

I thought the uniforms today and music at the Hoosierfest were for the younger fans? I think having a contender regularly again will be enough to attract young and old.

College aged daughter just texted to let me know she thinks our uniforms are the ugliest thing she has ever seen. Hopefully someone likes them

Fair point. Those guys were short recruits though so more similar to portal gets than a HS recruit but you are correct.

Wait are you the “Shame on you guy”. lol, never mind. I highly doubt we will find common ground in this.

Portal: so a guy has to hit on all the portal targets? MR, Ware, MM, X, Tamar Bates, Miller Kopp, all very good gets but miss on his guards and he is not good in the portal I do not disagree about him missing on guards and or over valuing what we had but even a very good recruiter does not get em all Hope you are happy with the next guy.

I was not saying you added that just that including that word did not change the idea that many in our fan base match how the media describes us. You may not have been regularly criticizing Woody’s character as I described in my initial response. I also may be protective as I know the family and know a bit about him off the court. I also am not convinced he can get it done here seeing posts calling him lazy, arrogant, stubborn etc just seem unnecessary.

Adding “Appears” does not change things much really. My overall point is that there are a lot of ways to be critical of a coach without going after his character. Now if he has real obvious character issues then those are fair game.

Portal: He has been one of the better portal recruiters and that is important in todays world. High School: He took an aggressive approach which many of us liked when it looked like it would land Biggie, Liam and DQ. Now that he has missed on Biggie it certainly seems like he made a tactical error by not having secondary options. At his age, this may prove to be the primary thing that brings his tenure to an end. Recruiting HS kids seems to be something he is struggling with for sure. But to jump to he is lazy should be hard to without considering how much time he puts in overall. I think he may have felt recruiting could be done a different way. It seems safe to say he miscalculated on that. What he does about it may determine whether he can build this program to be a BT and NCAA contender.

Which fans? Many of the fans wanted an Indiana guy? I would have loved a Pearl, Drew type of hire but many, some with $, wanted an IU guy.

Maybe I missed something but how in the world do you know what Woody is more concerned about? I am fine with the dissatisfaction with the program and I am fine if you think we need to make a change now but the continuous slamming of the man is tiring. He is lazy, selfish, arrogant, concerned more about his legacy, blah. Another realistic idea is he was not satisfied with our previous hires and was convinced he could do better. Has he? Certainly depends on who you compare to but his own goals were to compete for BT championships and NCAA championships. We finished 2nd last year in the BT in year 2. This year we absolutely took a step back and he certainly took a big gamble going limiting his portal and HS recruiting. Won’t argue at all with that and it could be his undoing for sure. Especially at his age. Some of you guys are just so negative you just keep the personal attacks on a constant loop. The evidence you use to try and support those is weak. Well he doesn’t feel the need to explain to the press why he did X. He is stubborn and won’t change his strategies but none of us are in the huddle or in practices. He is selfish because he won’t quit now. lol. I am board if SD makes a change after the year. But to say this experiment failed badly and to continually go after Woody’s character just confirms what Goodman and crew feel about our fan base.

Would assume a lot of NIL $ is in favor of Woody staying.

This part is more interesting actually. If a big exit is coming, and it is known amongst the players, it has to impact play down the stretch. Plus, if a big exit is coming, I cannot see how the AD would not have some idea of this. I would not keep an older coach knowing a big roster turnover is going to occur.

It does not have to be a complete rebuild. IF Woody has as great a relationship with the players as it had seemed prior to this year then you may not need a complete rebuild if, of the primary players, you lose only Ware and Leal. If say MM, MR, Gallo, Cupps and Liam stays committed then we are really short on the PG role. If we bring in Queen that only helps. Now, if we lose a couple of guys amongst the MM, MR, Gallo and Liam group plus Leal and Ware then we are into a rebuild and a change would make sense. Hopefully we have a good handle on what the players are thinking.

Never saw Chris mention anything about us targeting Pearl. Not doubting you as this thread is moving quickly but missed that it appears

Where did you see the targeting Pearl part?

If we end the year poorly and it seems clear he is on the hot seat that should impact the level of recruit we can expect. I think they were close to getting that monster class and things would look so much different if that were the case.

I have a chance to go watch Florida Atlantic on Sunday. For those more familiar with them is there anything I should watch for? They play at South Florida which has been having a pretty good year so it could be a competitive game. I was hoping to get behind the bench and wear my IU gear but those tickets are harder to get and pretty expensive unless someone wants to sponsor me lol

That is a good question. I would not but I grew up and went to school during the golden era of IU athletics. Started watching Bball in the mid 70's and went to school for 87 through 92. We had NCAA BBall championships, 2 FFs, NCAA Soccer championships and regular top 5 rankings, IU Swimming/Diving had 6 time NCAA champ Doc Counsilman's final years - 3 legendary coaches right there. We also had Bill Mallory regularly taking us to bowls, AT Heismann runner up, went to watch Bob Kennedy win the NCAA CC championship in 88 and he went on to win the 1500 and the indoor mile titles later as well. Great time to be at IU. Womens BBall was not good but they had the prior scoring champ Karna Abram, who would have fallen for me if we only had the chance to meet.

Being thinking we need to see how this plays out. We will have a lot more information by year end. How do we play down the stretch? Which of our key players may opt to leave? Will Liam choose to decommit? Can we add some other key players via the portal or HS? Anything else weird happens

Why did OSU fire Holtmann early?

A friends son played for him at Gardner Webb and from their perspective he was a great guy and coach. He seemed to be reluctant to leave Butler and OSU had to up their offer to get him. He probably jumped against his better judgement and hopefully he lands back at the mid major level. No shame in being really good and comfortable at that level (especially if you have $12.8 million in the rainy day fund).

Matta was said to have failed a physical. I remember Goodman had a picture with him and shortly after reporting that he had failed a physical. I think. Not sure if true but I do know Woody had been given the indication he would have the job when this news about Matta broke. I know Woody was pissed but tbh he could have also been mad because Dolson was forcing another person onto the staff.