OKHOOSIER

And I am a psycho for merely suggesting we could do worse than Cronin. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you worse than Cronin.

There's coming in hot with a first post, then there's coming in hot.

One vague yeagley post telling everyone everything is good and to relax might breeze a hundred.

Calling Woody an average coach might be the biggest compliment he's gotten here in months.

In my day we spent an extra hour in traffic on 37 just trying to get from Martinsville to Btown like proper Hoosiers.

The complete silence more or less from the "national guys" on anything is telling. Usually you'll get more "I am hearing XYZ", and at least firm denials/new contracts negotiation news from potential target coaches. All we have are about the most milquetoast I am happy quotes you could get from Brad and Dusty. Makes a guy wonder what is going on behind the scenes...

Watching Drake yesterday I noticed a couple things. Numero uno, the play was slow, but not as mind numbing as the numbers seemed to make it out. Shot a lot of threes, ran nice actions to get easy baskets. Maybe 8 years of watching people stand around dribbling and no one moving or cutting has corrupted my opinion of "methodical offense." Number two, the defense plays very hard. I know they lost (cross him off the list!), but I came away pretty impressed. McCollum is going to win somewhere P5. Wish more of their games were on TV where I am.

Not going into this beyond the bold, just a FYI. He was charged with third degree felony assault by strangulation/suffocation-family violence. The charges were dropped two months later. To the top paragraph, you do make a good point. The Golden stuff does sound pretty slimy. Harassment at worst, conduct totally unbecoming at best. Both are very good coaches, neither will be considered due to the above. If i was gonna guess, Golden would have a better shot at consideration than Beard since kept his job.

All great points, and I think it lends itself to those here who are really concerned about the administration screwing this hire up too. I hope and believe it will be different this time, but the more I have chewed on this whole Woody era (retirement nonsense included) the more I have a hard time giving zero blame to Scott and Pam. People do not relinquish that power or stop meddling because it didn't work before-- as you stated. It has happened over and over. If Scott was has been completely neutered when it comes to Men's Bball, it is hard for me to believe that does a complete 180. If it is true he is and has been powerless, and Scott cannot land Brad or Dusty, it doesn't seem like much of stretch to see the "adults" pushing him aside again to make the hire. "You tried for your guys, now we are in charge." Absolute nightmare scenario lol** **Disclaimer, I do not think this happens, but not too difficult to squint and see it happening given our history.

PU-82 IU-71

Athletic Director a "middle man" for the department he is the director? I will go further, Whitten, who is his actual boss should have provided interference for Dolson. That is the job of the chief executive. The board should not be dictating the actions of a director level employee. I think we all agree on that. Good leadership does not do that. They trust who they have hired. Again, for the third time, I am not saying our administration is not a mess with outsized power given to those who should not have it, but Pam and Scott are not helpless lackeys either. I tend to believe if he and Pam really wanted to fight it, Woody could have been canned last season. Merely my opinion, but because the grand slam "Brad hire" was not there, they did not want to risk their careers on Dusty. That now looks like a MASSIVE mistake, and my guess is Scott regrets not forcing the issue. I will pose a reason you should hope that I am right. If Dolson and Whitten were completely helpless, and had 0% power in any decision making for the Woody era, we should be terrified about the next hire. Dolson being a puppet and AD in name only four years ago would not magically stop being true because of a football hire no one cared about at the time or Woodson ineptitude. If things like the HH meeting are really true (I hope it was hyperbole in part), we should be very concerned with how this goes if Brad is a no again. In my experience, puppet directors being micromanaged by folks above their supervisor do not suddenly get full control after having none. Hence, I have to believe he was against a Woody fourth year or Woody hire, and could have risked his neck but ultimately signed off on it for it to happen in the interest of self-preservation. Interesting debate for sure. Cheers.

I don't disagree with you here, and stated as much in the OP. I am just not willing to hold Scott completely blameless in this, and I think it is shortsighted to do so. He obviously did not and does not have the autonomy that ADs and some schools do. To reiterate, I literally said I like Scott and have faith in him to right by the program, but that doesn't mean I believe his hands are completely clean of the Woody era. What I probably didn't state correctly is that he will be blamed if this hire goes south whether he deserves it or not. Educated fans on message boards know QB is mostly responsible. The average IU fan does not. Read through the thousands of Facebook comments if you do not believe me, Dolson bunks this, any goodwill from football will not matter. For now, basketball is still king at IU. I know we joke about being a football school now, but one successful football season does not change that, and social media interaction on each sport clearly shows that. I may have been too harsh on him in the original post ill admit (its early and I am stuck in an airport so I am starting the day salty lol), but the whole "retirement" letter stuff and media blitz that took place to garner sympathy for Woody really rubbed me the wrong way.

I tend to agree with you here. While there’s no doubt QB and others exert and have exerted considerable influence over the hiring at IU— Ultimately, good or bad, Dolson is in charge and the results fall squarely on his shoulders. That’s why this hire is make or break for Scott’s job. QB is never going to come out and say “Scott is not the reason we hired or gave Woody a fourth year, give him some grace on this hire.” because it isn’t QBs job to hire and fire. He isn’t Woodys boss. Dolson is. I like Scott— he’s a smart guy and he knows that the last four years, particularly if it also costs us Dusty, are going to be laid at his feet (not Quinn’s, not Ferguson, not anyone else) if this hire is a failure. That’s just the reality in corporate America. I have faith he’s gonna get it right, but acting like Mike Woodson’s boss is completely blameless for Mike Woodson is not something I’m willing to do. Also the “retirement” letter was an absolute farce and an embarrassment to the school, another thing Dolson was ultimately responsible for. He’s getting way too much of a pass here IMO.

That’s the one thing giving me some marginal hope if Dusty is a no. Dolson and company don’t wanna hear “Come Home Dusty!” Chants once a year in perpetuity.

Hey, look at the bright side jers, worst case we will know how Ohio State felt for thirty f***** years lol.

Hard to see that and not think UM moves heaven and earth to keep him.

This is the kind of high level conjecture I come here for.

Every win Dusty racks up is so frustrating and just increases the amount we are gonna have to overpay for not firing Woody’s @$$ last year if we can even get him to leave after one season. Letting that potato coach a fourth year is gonna go down as an all time blunder if this turns into our Wisconsin moment with Dusty given how good he looks in year 1.

Drake has a cool looking barn from what I can see when they pan out

Ready for Drake and Bradley!

I do wish if the report of the Stevens offer are accurate we’d throw that around to Oats or Few.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, Drew’s faith is a huge part of his life and he works for a Baptist school lol. Direct quote to CBN: “Everything we do in the program is Christ-centered.” I have no issue with people professing their faith, but I have serious doubts how he’d fit at a liberal institution or if he’d even be willing to go to one. https://cbn.com/news/us/joy-jesus-others-yourself-baylor-university-mens-basketball-coach-opens-about-his-faith

Okay hear me out. Cronin as HC with Tim Crean as OC and we’d win infinity games. Boom. Problem solved.

See, you DO like Cronin lol he’s on the list!

I haven’t seen anything pro-Cronin. I am not pro-Cronin. We need someone who would get us consistently back in the conversation, and he would do that. So if we got to him, I’d be okay with it. Nobody is pining for Cronin. IMO Dolson cannot take a risk of Archie 2.0, and if we get to tier 3, Cronin is a safe bet. I just don’t think many of the safe/sure bets are realistic. Beard isn’t getting considered. My personal favorite McCasland probably isn’t leaving Texas. Of the realistic close to sure things, I think it’s McDermott. All of this assuming Dusty wouldn’t leave UM of course. Or it’s still Stevens and we are gonna be begging an apology from that new guy lol