AKHoosier

Reading this thread was not the best decision I've made today. That I can confirm.

Holy holy I like this scenario the best.

Exactly. I want us to move on from Crean too, but some of this is too much. I hope it ends as amicably as possible, and no IU fan forgets how hard he worked to get us out of a complete sh!tstorm.

This is all one big tease!

I can't help but feel like a Texas fan who's waiting for Nick Saban, only to end up with our Charlie Strong.

I bet he tastes gross. But I definitely hope we get him to be our coach.

If he has even the slightest bit of interest, get Donovan to Bloomington NOW. Get it done, Fred. You'll go down in the history books as the AD who got Billy Donovan to IU.

Neat. Billy Donovan is the answer to any team's question, outside of a few. He has a grand slam's worth of credentials. All of your post is just words and trying to be the smartest guy in the room. I wouldn't be surprised if you're one who thinks Greg Tonagel is "the answer". Yes, there are plenty of coaches who could come to Indiana and probably do wonderful things. But none of them have the same credentials as Billy Donovan. Only he knows if he would come here, so it's ridiculous for anyone to say he will or won't come here.

lol. What the f.

I'd view it as a very good Plan D hire. And I don't mean that as a slight to him, just that there are other more proven guys we should be targeting before it gets to him.

Wow, thanks for sharing. I'm hoping if this is true (not doubting you), Donovan doesn't harbor any negative feelings towards IU from this for backing out or anything. So this would have been the year we lost to Wichita State in the first round of the tournament, correct? I can actually understand why we didn't pull the trigger that year. It was still too early imo.

I remember whispers a few years ago when we were struggling that Donovan was interested in the IU job if it were open, which obviously never ended up happening. It seems like reading the tea leaves that he is at the very least intrigued by the position.

Wow that's actually what they put up on their Facebook. It sounds like it's more of a bold prediction than insider information, but who knows. As I said before, I'll believe it when I see it.

Cue the "It's Happening" gifs. Wow. Although, I refuse to get my hope up just yet. I'll believe it when I see it.

Man, and that's the type of hire we need. We NEED the rest of the B1G to be terrified. I love the quote that stuck out to me: "Donovan at IU would be absolutely terrifying"

Has anyone seen this Billy Donovan rumor post over on the Illini board? Sounds intriguing to me. http://www.scout.com/college/illinois/forums/2616-hoops-fan-forum/15394233-billy-donovan

I keep hearing people say this, but pretty much insider on every board I follow says they're already negotiating a "soft landing spot" for Crean after this season. He won't be back next year, I'd put it at 85% confidence.

I see a lot of equivalents here to Tim Miles a few years ago at Nebraska. He caught fire and took Nebraska to the tournament for the first time in a while, but has not been able to maintain any semblance of success since then. A lot of IU fans got caught up in the moment and wanted us to give Tim Miles a look because of that, but lo and behold, water has found its level again out there. Obviously no two situations are the same, but making the tournament one time at Northwestern shouldn't be enough to qualify someone for the IU job.

Would we really need to increase Donovan's salary that much to appeal to him? He's making $6M/year now. Does a job paying $5M/year appeal to him less? I guess what I'm trying to say is what can't you afford at 4-5M per year as opposed to $6M?

The only think that would worry me about hiring Donovan is: not a damn thing.

I'm pretty sure that would have to be a violation on Tad Boyle's part if that's true.

Dang it, I did not know that. For some reason I thought OKC got him for cheap. He just moved down the "likelihood' list, as I really doubt we're going to go higher than that. He'd have to REALLY want to return to college if we couldn't increase his salary.

Be still my beating heart! I would love Donovan at IU. The rest of the B1G would not.

Well that about answers the question for me. Once the national guys start picking up info, usually there's smoke to the fire. Up until now, all the chatter has pretty much on the message boards. But between this and the Metcalf story today, I'd say the writing is on the wall.

Another thing to consider is this is the first year of our newly-renovated Assembly Hall courtesy of Cindy Simon-Skodjt. She's obviously an important booster and IU fan, is she just going to be cool with the product on the floor after her $40M gift?