OKHOOSIER

The Matta as overlord role was 100% strategic. Leaves the 3 assistant jobs open. Essentially, you have a NBA coach with IU ties, and a borderline NCAA HOFer to guide him through the change from NBA to College. Its brilliant. The 3 assistants are almost assuredly going to be some strong combination of younger IU guys/coaches/recruiting experts. If you cannot or do not want to see the strategic planning with this, I dont know what to say. Maybe it fails, but the last six coaches have failed so I am not sure what we have to lose by going a little unconventional.

People are hard to please here. Half wanted an IU guy. A bunch wanted Matta or Belein. 36 hours ago it was HIRE ANYBODY WE ARE DROWNING. And now we get an IU guy who can coach (he wouldnt have lasted that long in the NBA if he hadnt forgotten more about basketball than anyone here) paired with Matta being program overlord, and THREE available assistant spots. Those are going to be filled out by other names people wanted, I am sure of it. May not be the ONE GUY HOME RUN, I believe this will be a STAFF/PROGRAM HOME RUN.

Woody+Matta recruiting + probably calbert or lewis added to the staff? This is exciting. May not be the splashy media Eff off we wanted, but this is a ton of basketball expertise. Im on board. ROLL HOOSIERS

FWIW there was a guy from Westfield over on ITH ranting and raving for months about Braden and him being completely overlooked due to his height, this was a while ago, but I instantly remembered the name because of it.

I generally don't like to pester folks in the know, but I am curious about what a poster said earlier regarding a "hard no". Wouldn't someone whether yours or other sources stated clearly that BS had said no formally behind the scenes? Because that doesn't seem to have happened, just "The Masshole Conspiracy Conference" (i have trademarked that), then silence from all involved. With all the other rumors, whether goodman or rabs, its "i have solid source that this/that happened", I don't recall anyone saying that beyond the BS public comments. Hope that makes sense.

To be fair, you did not need to be Nostradamus to read the writing on the wall. He was either gone now, or gone after a lame duck year of getting booed out of SSAH every night. It had to be done, and was as you said fully justified. Even if we are trash next year, new coach will get some leeway with the fans. ESPN would have purchased as many IU games as they could next season if Archie stayed just crap on IU fans.

This right here. Let's not forget, whether it was announced tomorrow or in June, this would be the biggest NBA/NCAA news bomb since Lebron went to the Lakers. This would run head line across all sports talk for a week or more. That said I don't the wait would hurt us from a player standpoint as much as some may think. The exposure alone would be worth an incalculable amount for both recruiting and national exposure for the program.

Welp, not to veer to hard out of coach talk.... But I do a couple different things depending on time. I have lived in SC for a while and had a gentleman share the glory of whole hog with me and have a portable smoker that will do around a 60 pound pig. Basically, you spatchcock the pig, season, and cook over apple/oak wood (my preference) whole hog doesn't need real strong smoke like a hickory-- but thats a personal preference as well, Texans would argue me to death on that one. Skin side toward the heat, and let the magic occur over about 8 or hours depending on time available. Pull the ribs, and chop everything else into one big pile. Season again, some apple juice and rendered pig fat from inside the carcass, and voila, whole hog chopped barbecue as they call it down here. Sorry for the sermon. I take my meats seriously. :)

As much as I want to quit Brad, I just can't and the longer this goes, the more it seems like something is brewing. Or I am delusional, which is entirely possible. I have to believe at this point, it is strictly waiting on BS, or guys in the tournament. And no way its Moser, Dolson is not a dummy and knows that would fracture the base worse than any "plan B, C, D" type hire.

Wife clowned me, but seriously considering parking the motor home at the first home game with a custom flag that says Brad Stevens Coaching Search Support Group. See the flag, come on over for free bourbon and slow cooked pork of various types.

The Baylor defensive intensity is really impressive. I think it is my biggest disappointment with Archie. I thought no matter what the offense did, the defense would have us in ball games. Instead we seemed to be what every struggling shooter needed to get out of a slump.

This may be the most beautifully written description of IU basketball history and my current feelings ever to hit the interwebs. Bravo sir.

Finally got caught up here, and wow did the thread take an interesting turn. I will never understand why a portion of the fan base is so incredibly obsessed with being squeaky clean. There is no such thing in college athletics. Whether it is softer admission standards to out right bag dropping, it is pervasive and everywhere. IU (Brand) caused our own cratering by following this misguided attachment to doing the right thing. We tell the NCAA to kick rocks, lawyer up and say nothing, and the program is never decimated because of KS making a couple too many phone calls. UNC is a perfect example, they clam shelled, told the NCAA to pound sand and low and behold they are still a premier program, for something far more egregious. Anyone who says they would have traded the potential success KS would have had here for the first three Crean years, and really all the years since "to do the right thing" is either lying, or living in a fantasy world that ignores what the NCAA is/cares about-- profit. Also, if you really want to believe that in 30 years of coaching RMK committed no violations beyond being verbally and physically abusive to players, I have some ocean front property in Arizona to sell. Can you imagine Ralph Floyd going to RMK at the height of his power and saying "Coach we have to self report a violation you committed."? He would have been shouted out of the building and had his life threatened. Or maybe I have no morals and care too much about winning, but all this hand wringing about potential hires' pasts just rings hollow to me.

SI picked up the Holtman stuff, I seriously can not imagine IU spending 12 million to buy him out. If we have that kind of jack for a buyout, why not offer Brad 15 million a year? The numbers seem outlandish for this to be true.

Missed a SS and purposely ignored the FF run on 2002 because no person on earth doesn't know that was a fluke. You are acting like I am comparing IU to Rutgers or Northwestern. Again, its emotion preventing you from seeing reality. You are arguing about dusty banners, this is why Purdue fans clown us constantly. You're seriously arguing that because we went to a SS in 2016, 13 (embarrassed by a zone defense), and 2012 that makes our job better today? It has been 8 years since TC had us at #1. No one remembers that except us. Arkansas is, by every metric a top fifteen historical basketball school, and currently is in better shape than IU. If Archie had the same record and tournament appearances in 17 and 18 as the last coach Arkansas fired, he would still be employed by IU. The numbers aren't that different. Follow along, not that I have been arguing history, but FWIW: IU: NCAAT-39, FF-8, EE-11, B10-22, BTT-0 most recent title: 87. Arkansas: NCAAT-32, FF-6, EE-10, SEC-24, SECT-7, most recent title: 94. Nothing about those numbers scream THIS SCHOOL IS WAY BETTER RIGHT NOW YOU ARE CRAZY FOR COMPARING THEM.

Anyone have any idea contractually what that would take? surely there is a large non compete buy out for those two (similar to the big12 beard one), interesting though.

You can shout it into space all you want, but it does not make it true. So what is your argument going to be when Beard takes Texas, Muss doesn't leave Arkansas and Altman uses us for a raise? I am not saying historically those jobs are better. I am not saying the potential doesn't exist for IU to surpass them both quickly. I am talking about today. That they did not have the stones to take a better job like IU? Perception is reality, and the perception is we have fired 6 coaches in 20 years and made two SS, one of which we limped into backwards and got smashed with probably the best IU team in 30 years. Want me to really salt this wound? Right now, Purdue is a better job than IU, and it isn't close-- and that is going by your own "recent history bias".

Dude you have to put your emotion and love for IU to the side. I am not speaking to you as a guy who does not bleed IU, two degrees, met my wife there, I love Bloomington and the state. I have been around the world in the Air Force, met diehard fans around the landscape of college sports, and I can tell you 100% no one outside of our bubble thinks the IU job is better than say a Texas or Arkansas job because of a couple of SSs in the last six years. By your logic, Loyola Chicago is a better job than IU. We are not looked at by the basketball world like a Duke, UNC or Kentucky. It pains me to even type that, but it is reality. The ceiling is there, but right now we are stuck in the elevator in the basement.

511-265 394-291 which of those records would you prefer? Which of those records says better team? I am not arguing history. But recent history? it isnt close.

outside of some ranked matchups at assembly, the most electric basketball arena I have ever been to. That place is special, just unknown.

Around the last time we even made the tournament.

I have tried. No one wants to hear reality. Which I understand. Arkansas doesn't scream basketball, until you actually go there. I imagine it is how most people under 40 view our job.

Theyve been to the tournament like 19 out of the last 21 years. FF, couple EE. Crean's two SS being the only real outlier of "recent tourney success"

It is right now. IU has the higher ceiling, but right now they are even at best.

To be fair the two leading candidates for leader of the free world were 74 and 78. I have a hard time believing that 68 is too old to start something new. The ageism on here makes no sense. Now if you want to argue the semantics of his 'thugs' comment, that is a valid reason to forgo an offer. Of all the people mentioned for this job, I could make a pretty strong argument that Belien is far and away the best actual Coach on the list, and it really isn't that close from a resume standpoint. Not that I want him, just making a counterpoint. Would 6-10 really good years of Belien really not be intriguing to you because it couldn't parlay into 20 or 30 years because of his age? I am looking for someone who could coach up, recruit good players and win games, and restore the shine to this job. I believe that is the most important thing for the next hire. It does not necessarily need to be a IU lifer, but it needs to be someone who can win, and make this place desirable again. We can as fans, rose color the job all we want, but the reality, is there have been six (counting DD) consecutive coaches fired. Not moved on, not retired, not lost to the NBA, fired. If I am a high major coach on the come up, I am thinking long and hard before I consider a career move that history says will end in me being fired. That is why a hire like Matta or Belien made/makes sense.