Honkyman

Woodson Cheaney Smart Fife Lewis

The idea that Brad Stevens would leave the Boston Celtics--one of the two most stories NBA franchises ever-- to come coach a struggling, mismanaged IU basketball program in 2021 is so preposterous that it is amazing to me that anyone believed the "rumor." Fans got so locked in because they wanted to believe it. It is a classic case of setting themselves up for disappointment based on no tangible evidence. There are other excellent coaches and hopefully IU will land one of them.

IUc202016 said: "Hey man, If beard is IU's coach next year. We got a serious upgrade" ___________ I agree. Assuming Stevens is an impossibility, the best choice imo is Beard.

Thank you, IUc2016, for your confidence or sarcasm. Either one is equally appreciated.

Beard is Dolson's first choice. Beilein is 2nd. Stevens has already told him no. Nothing can happen with Beard until after Texas Tech is out of the tournament.

HinnyHoosier said: We fired Crean on March 16 that year. ____________ OK. So you're betting Archie is fired Tuesday (March 16). I think it will be in a couple of weeks, if at all. We'll see.

If Archie is canned it won't happen before the tournament is over or almost over. If he is staying, there will be some kind of announcement of support sooner. If Archie is allowed to stay, he will be given an ultimatum.

I wouldn't be surprised either if Illinois won it all. They are the most talented team in the conference. And they have pretty good coaching, too. The two coaches in the conference tourney final game were both hired at about the same time as Archie Miller was hired by IU.

Shooters would obviously had made a big difference. Archie's recruiting approach has been to grab a star (Romeo and TJD) and surround him with some decent role players. He needed more than what he landed to improve--one very good player on a team isn't enough. More fundamentally, Archie's offensive scheme is stagnant. And, for whatever reason the pack line defense isn't working--IU is ranked 12th in the conference in defense. Archie's coaching style lacks creativity and flexibility. In fairness, he has been hit by injuries. IU would have won a few more games with Brunk and Franklin healthy.

Damon Bailey is the most hyped IU recruit but Romeo Langford is tied with Delray Brooks for the most over-hyped IU recruit.

Archie tried to recruit over Rob Phinisee and Al Durham without success.

Hoosierfan2017 said: I highly doubt it'll be an issue, both because Archie doesn't seem like the type of guy who just wants to sit around doing nothing and because I don't think he wants to risk violating the contract and losing $10 million. __________ Agree. These clauses almost never become an issue because college coaches are not the kind of people to sit around and do nothing but collect a check. Archie in particular is a young man and will want to go out and try to rehabilitate his reputation as quickly as possible. Like Tom Crean, he may try his hand as an analyst to give him time to reflect on what went wrong. But he isn't going to deliberately violate the terms of his deal with IU because that would raise questions about his character.

Do you know where we could find the contract itself? I would be surprised if the mitigation clause allowed him to turn down any/all job offers that he would get. If all he has to do is interview then the clause is completely pointless. _________ I haven't seen the contract. But usually mitigation clauses use language like "make reasonable effort to find comparable employment." If Archie makes reasonable efforts to land a coaching job, i.e., makes inquiries, interviews, and doesn't turn down legitimate job offers, he will have satisfied the terms of the contract whether he gets a job or not. Obviously, he can't sit on his @$$ indefinitely. But he doesn't have to accept a job that isn't comparable, i.e., he wouldn't have to accept a job at FWIPU. But he probably can't pass up a job like Penn State if offered.

Aaron Henry has said IU wasn't even in his final four.

It will take a couple of years to rebuild no matter who is hired assuming TJD leaves.I don't agree that Brunk, Stewart and the rest of the returning players make IU a slightly better team next year even without TDJ. There is potential on the team but nobody who is enough of a difference maker to truly turn things around without adding new highly rated talent. IU has to take that into consideration if they are seriously looking at an older coach like Beilein or Matta, i.e., can the new (older) coach turn IU into a team that can compete for a conference title and in the NCAA tourney in the five years they can give before they are probably too old to continue? That said, I believe we need to bring in a proven winner at this point. I liked Fife as a player but there is less evidence he can coach at this level than there was for Archie.

Nobody will be happy unless IU hires Brad Stevens. Hard to believe Enfield is going to excite anyone.

JS Hoosier said: "That author seems to think more of our program than some of our fans." _________ It could be. As someone who has rarely missed a game in person or on television for over 50 years, I admit I am disgusted by the current state of our program. If you are correct and there is potentially great interest in the program by top coaches, why did IU settle for Tom Crean and Archie Miller the past 12 years? I do hope there is better interest than I realize.

Chris 007 said--" IU is better than that" _____ IU 'used to be' better than that. Few outside of Indiana would agree with that statement today. IU's reputation in basketball is the worst since before Bobby Knight. Good coaches--better than the ones whom IU has been able to attract in recent times--have taken jobs in all of those cities.

Brad Stevens is recognized as a good NBA coach. Even were the Celtics to let him go he would have no trouble landing another NBA job. Larry Brown went back and forth between college and NBA coaching. But he never stayed in college long. It is a matter of personal preference. If Brad Stevens' family doesn't like the idea of getting on the NBA coaching carousel, he might be persuaded to returning to college coaching if it looked like a more stable lifestyle. But is taking an Indiana coaching job stable? Personally, I doubt Stevens is a realistic possibility.

Mike Brey is a pretty good coach--better than ours. It's not easy recruiting basketball players to Notre Dame these days. They are competing with Indiana and Purdue for in-state talent. Fewer and fewer top players want to come from other parts of the country to Indiana to play basketball. Like Northwestern, Notre Dame has higher academic standards than many limiting their targets. Notre Dame used to attract great players from the Washington, DC area (e.g., Adrian Dantley, Austin Carr). But not so much anymore. Now schools are less tolerant than they used to be, primarily because coaches are paid so much money there is a feeling they should be able to put top 25 teams on the floor every season.

Neither Leal nor Galloway are quick enough defensively. But at least Leal provides some chance at offense which the team badly needed.

I'd rather have Jerome Hunter guarding Henry. Hunter did better than anyone keeping Henry in check. Archie should have brought him back in once Henry started taking off, even with 4 fouls. Galloway didn't stop Henry.

Chris007: I know talk has been about who we will get to replace and realistic options, but was wondering what percentage you’d put on it that Archie is indeed gone after this season? Thanks ____________ 50-50

Hoosierfan2017 said: I would rather go through another year of ugly Archie ball than hire Dan Fife. __________ I agree. It is pretty hard to get excited about hiring Dane Fife as head coach. There has to be a proven coach somewhere willing to come to IU.

Trey Galloway can't shoot and he is too slow to guard most players at his position. Unless he has a clear lane to the basket he is a liability on offense. I'd rather have Geronimo, Leal or Lander out there than Galloway.