pumpfake

I'm in the middle of that podcast at the moment. One could say Woodson spent the "honeymoon" locked in the toilet.

Might be able to get him to give an update on his lawn care, lol.

I don't like watching a team of rentals. I don't like watching a team that plays a boring offense and always gets burned by the same things over and over. I don't like a team that can't shoot. I really don't enjoy IU basketball these days. My interest any more is "morbid curiosity". Sad.

Given the dire circumstances, we'll likely only have a chance with guys motivated mostly by the money - not the desire for team success, not to advance their skills. Maybe there's players who are looking for playing time but they probably won't be difference makers. The best chance for a major name would be a big who's looking to be the feature player so he can bolt to the NBA at the end of the season. This is the recipe for failure.

A couple of weeks ago the Assembly Call guys were debating the "Woodson problem". One of them cited the historical outcome for coaches who have bad records in their third season - it's not good.

This is all part of a very carefully orchestrated plan by Buckner and the Simon family. They're clearing the deck of HS players and will force out as many returning players to achieve a near empty roster. Then the "magic" happens: they shock the CBB world and forego the portal route, instead they will buy an existing G-League team and hand the reins over to Mike. Guaranteed lock to finish no worse than third in the B10 next season and get a 5 seed minimum! Seriously though, this is why you never, ever hire a CBB coach with zero experience as a college coach.

Makes 100% sense. They're accustomed to fielding also-ran teams.

I do believe RMK would have a similar feeling about facing a Woodson team as he did a Dale Brown team. lol

I have zero issues with the info you share, and I'm glad you do. I believe I can think objectively and pragmatically, so I don't take rumors as certainty. Honestly, I think the gullible ones are those who lashed out last evening (JMO).

I wonder if the boo$ters have just grown weary of getting asked (begged) to pony up buyout money for our constant hire & fire carousel of basketball and football coaches. Maybe Dolson was trying to arrange the foundation for a change and struck out. On a couple of related notes: 1. Because of this pattern with BB coaches, hiring an established guy (BP for example) with an arranged successor would be attractive since it would mean stability for several seasons, albeit with the risk that the successor didn't pan out. 2. There were a few posts about getting Cuban on board. I may be wrong, but hasn't he said he won't give money directly for coaching decisions like buyouts or salaries?

Yay! A rental team! As Jerry Seinfeld called it: "Rooting for Laundry"

Truer words were never spoken.

How many different ways are there to post "God, we suck!"? Nope. I think a lot us us have reached our breaking point and have nothing but apathy left for this once great program.

Definitely plausible...

Right now my "coping mechanism" for the suggestion Dolson is having trouble getting support for hiring BP is that this is being spread to cool the rumors for the time being (keep the pressure off Pearl).

Didn't you say yesterday was taco tuesday? lol

Yes it is, at the least, troubling. The BOT should be concerned with direction of the Unniversity and act as consultants in major hiring decisions - not micro-managers of athletic teams. The relationship between Buckner & Woodson just makes it worse.

And still, in your nightmare scenario, we may be better off than if we stick with the status quo.

Kicked in the "jimmies"...

Yep. Looking back on it, many of us thought (hoped) Woody would be a guy that stabilized the program and got us back to being competitive. Woodson said he was here to win championships. You have to be a damn good "bridge" coach to do both in a half dozen seasons, and sadly CMW doesn't seem to fit that description.

Sadly, the preseason predictions for IU have been both A) More pessimistic, an B) More accurate than we all-knowing fans.

I think many of us suspected that was the case. I don't think you can force an assistant (ambassador, director, whatever) on a coach and expect him to heed any advice. When Woodson was hired, the structure sounded promising but was a flop.

Both '75 and '76 teams were undefeated and were the best team the entire season. Heck, the '76 team beat the NCAA runner up 3 times (a coworker of mine from Michigan claimed UM was the better team, but IU just "had their number" LOL). The '81 team peaked exactly the right time and really destroyed all comers.

Yes, and given that CMW was projected to only coach for 5 years or so, there's really no way to build the program for whomever was to succeed him after that time. We have Reneau, Cupps plus whatever can be salvaged from our bench (perhaps Newton), and one incoming recruit - that's NOT a foundation