Magnanimous

Didn't half the country just call for Urban Meyer's job? How did that work out? As I said following the IU/MSU game and IU's handling of the situation, this isn't our mess and no matter what our student section said during the game it would not have changed a thing regarding Izzo's job status.

By discouraging its students from calling Izzo a ********* during a game on national tv? Ok...

Cody had a 54 yard catch in tonight's preseason game.

Ohio State fired Jim Tressel, who went 106-22 as their coach and was 9-1 against Michigan, because he lied about his players selling their own possessions. They also fired Woody Hayes and John Cooper. Ohio State is not afraid to fire successful coaches. It's one of the best jobs in the country, and they normally have their pick of the lot whenever it opens up. Programs at that level have no problem canning a coach because they know they'll be back at some point. It's the mid-level schools that have had the majority of their success under one coach that are less likely to willingly fire that coach (Michigan State).

Highlights of Nate's Week 2 performance:

Nate took the majority of snaps tonight, going 22/39 with 3 TDs and a pick. His receivers and o-line haven't necessarily done him any favors tonight either.

LEO

Nate got the start for the Eagles tonight in their preseason opener against the Steelers. 10/14 for 140 yards with two TDs and two INTs.

You would have thought that him having coached two Heisman winning QBs would have carried more weight with recruits.

The biggest issue I see is if we can reduce our turnovers (which hopefully will improve with Lagow leaving). That has been our Achilles Heel since Allen has arrived. The 2016 squad went 6-6 in the regular season. We should have gone at least 8-4, but had five turnovers against both Wake Forest and Penn State, two close games that would have been double-digit victories if not for our carelessness with the football. We also would have likely beaten Nebraska as well, but the WF and PSU games were both completely blown opportunities. The 2017 team was anemic on offense and it cost us an opportunity at a third straight bowl. The Michigan game was ours for the taking, yet we could not capitalize against a team that threw 10/20 for 58 total yards. Same goes for MSU. Our run defense had its deficiencies last year, and it hurt us against Michigan, Maryland, and Purdue, three very winnable games. The inconsistent run defense can partially be attributed to a shoddy offense, as teams were able to wear down our defense late in games. I've said it before, but it bears repeating again. Kevin Wilson's inability to recruit the quarterback position hurt this team three of the last four seasons. His only option behind an injured Sudfeld in 2014 was a 2* recruit in Diamont. He replaced Sudfeld with a turnover-prone, last-minute JUCO recruit in Lagow. Lagow's backup has left a lot to be desired as well, as Ramsey is a decent game manager but has shown little (outside the UVA game) of really leading an offense. Wilson did a good job in turning the program from nothing into mediocre. When he took over we were starting our baseball team in the secondary, and he did develop a competent offensive scheme that kept us competitive in a fair amount of games. However, for someone with the pedigree Wilson had in regards to QB development, he did a piss poor job in getting a steady stream of quarterbacks to come to Bloomington. If Rich Rodriguez didn't take the Arizona job, Sudfeld would have never come to IU and we would have had literally nothing to show for Wilson's quarterback coaching capabilities. He left the program with next to nothing behind center, and it's quite a miracle what Allen has been able to bring in after just one recruiting class. I personally think Wilson plateaued at the end of his tenure and think we may truly be better off with him having left after a large enough sample size, just like with Lemonis in baseball. Allen has left some things to be desired so far, but I'm glad we finally have a coach who can implement a competitive defense. That is what is going to win us games down the road, not getting into shootouts with Ohio State and Michigan. On top of it, Allen is likely to stay if he finds some success, which is something I'm not willing to say about Brohm or Fleck. Dawkins has the potential to add some explosiveness and leadership to our offense, and Penix could be a real factor in a year or two.

The ceiling for this team is 9 wins IMO. I think we go 7-5.

If he is gone I'll give Ohio State this, they will have shown (again) that they have the decency to fire incredibly successful coaches when any scandal above a mild infraction has plagued their program. Michigan State on the other hand runs a vile athletic department and deserves their comeuppance.

Not only that, but he was fired for abusing players. If OSU is serious enough to fire Meyer, they're serious enough to not replace him with Wilson.

He's an undrafted, fringe starter on arguably the worst team in the league. He's also fairly undersized and a defensive liability. I knew he had a chance at the league but I didn't even expect him to be around for four seasons at this point. He should be happy with the $3 mil.

I hate when this is the primary argument used against Glass. Was Crean's extension bloated? Yes. Would it have been nice if Crean left sooner? Yes, assuming we got a viable replacement. But the fact remains that Crean won the Big 10 and was a 1-seed in the NCAAT in 2012-13. Even with the SW16 exit, he was going to be extended after that season, and justifiably so. Upsets happen all the time in the tournament, and we would never have been able to sniff another decent coach if we were firing conference winning coaches after one tournament upset against a very good team, all following a massive rebuild. Looking back, there were only two options regarding the extension. Either extend Crean before the 2012 season or after. If it happened after we may have had him at least a year longer, and with the conference title to fall back on he may have had more leverage to demand a larger buyout. Glass fired Crean and brought in what looks like a great up and coming coach. What else do you want him to do in managing our athletic department? He didn't hire Mike Davis, Sampson, or Crean, the three biggest reasons why our program fell to where it is now. He's maintained high standards for our programs and has held negligent coaches accountable. With how dirty college athletics have been, especially recently, Glass has done a commendable job keeping the ship afloat.

Good! Maybe now the Pacers can finally win the east instead of getting knocked out by Lebron in a series they should have won.

I have to wonder to what extent Tracy Smith's failures at ASU have diminished his ability to be a mentally effective coach. He was essentially to ASU baseball what Rich Rod was to Michigan football in producing historically low points for the program. In fact, it was worse given we're talking managing a baseball team in comparison to changing a football program's scheme. The talent never left ASU, yet under Smith's tutelage they're barely winning 20 games a season at this point. He should've been let go after this season.

The team wouldn't have missed a bowl game if our former "QB whisperer" of a head coach was able to reel in even one decent QB recruit beyond getting Sudfeld as a late AZ decommit. If Rich Rod doesn't take the Arizona job then Bill Lynch would have had a better resume at QB recruiting and development at IU than Wilson.

The best defensive coordinator we've had in decades who is also likely to stay if he finds success is the furthest thing from an underwhelming hire.

Their coach resigned in February for having an affair with a football team staff assistant. Not sure on the specifics but I guess they didn't want to retain their interim coach.

I think the AD's recent investment in the program is enough to attract a decent coach. The problem for a school like ours is that this recent surge in baseball prominence the last eight or so years is not something we can take for granted. This isn't a baseball school and we're not in a baseball conference. A couple of down years and it'll be tough to bounce back to where we've been recently. Making the tournament as often as we have recently with an occasional deep run is really the best we can hope for, unless Smith comes back for the long haul and can rekindle the magic he had before taking the ASU gig. Most decent coaches we land will use this as a stepping stone gig. Not upset to see Lemonis go though if we can pull in a capable coach.

We finished 4-6 spots higher than last year's preseason predictions. I think it'll happen again.

Let's play Ball State at Purdue.

The score is plastered every five feet in an NBA arena. Smith checked out mentally and it likely cost his team the game. Simple as that.

No way. This isn't little league baseball where the whole team needs to remind the outfielders to move 10 feet to the right when a lefty comes up. Smith is a 14 year veteran. The rest of his teammates all knew what the score was, evidenced by them all being completely dumbfounded by his decision making.