KYHoosier

You aren't a serious program until you hire a serious coach. UK will spend whatever amount to ensure they are landing another rising, high-level coach. It's what good programs do. You can throw as much money into the NIL, facilities, etc. but that will only get you so far. That's what doesn't make sense to me about IU investing all this money into Woodson when he clearly isn't the right guy.

If he is such a bad coach, why do you think UK stuck with him for another year if there are so many better options out there? Don't tell me the 33 million dollar buyout as it was reported they could find the funds to do so if that's the direction they decided to go

Don't disagree he has underperformed in the tournament the last few years at UK and should have more titles than he has produced with the players he has had, but year in and year out he gives you the opportunity every year to win a national championship. Not many coaches give you that chance. Being a HC is about promoting your brand, recruiting, developing talent, and winning games. He's been pretty successful at all of those his whole career. Not sure Woody is good at any of them honestly. UK would never put up with Mike Woodson, but the bar has been lowered so much at IU, our admin doesn't seem to care.

There’s no way you actually believe this. I’m no UK fan but Calipari is 10x the coach Woody ever thought about being. It’s not even close honestly

This staff has no sense of direction in constructing a roster. They are just attempting to land the highest ranted recruits regardless of how they fit or what role they play for the team. This team desperately needs perimeter shooting but it doesn't appear we are targeting enough of these players, and I won't be surprised if we are still a poor 3 point shooting team next year. The reason why Purdue has been so successful, is that Painter has identified his style and recruits players who will fill certain roles. He targets a 7'0" big man and surrounds them with perimeter shooting. Constructing a roster and building a good team becomes much harder when there is 0 planning. IU shouldn't have this much trouble especially with all the NIL money they have.

Crazy to think what a competent coach at IU (Bruce Pearl) could do if they had that cash to spend… never will understand why boosters are willing to spend so much supporting a guy who is clearly not the answer instead of ponying that money up to go get a high level coach

Seems like if you are only targeting 3 coaches and 1 of them has said no multiple times that leaves you with 2 options (Pearl and May). Not moving on from Woodson this year will prevent you from getting May, if he is your guy. Not moving on from Woodson, is one less year that you could have Pearl. Next year will be a wasted year.

Any idea who the third person is? I agree that only identifying or targeting 3 candidates seems like we are not casting a wide enough net. This seems to be a recurring issue IU has when targeting new head coaches.

I supported the firing of Crean because he was too inconsistent and seemed to be burning bridges with the HS coaches in Indiana. I think majority of fans would agree that the Crean years were light years ahead from where we have been for the past 7 years and especially where we are now. Crean won 2 big ten titles in 4 years and was fired. We have not been remotely close to that level of success since he left. It seemed like when IU fired him, they were ready to take the next step at re-establishing themselves as an elite program. The Archie Miller hire made sense, and I thought Archie would have way more success than he did and was genuinely surprised how poorly his tenure was. However, when Archie was fired and IU hired Mike Woodson it was truly head scratching. After the past 3 years of Mike Woodson, it seems like the standard for success of IU basketball is now simply making the NCAA Tournament. Bringing Woodson back for another year seems like the university has given up on ever making IU basketball elite because everyone knows Woodson is not the answer. I cannot understand where there is not more urgency in doing what it takes to restore IU basketball. IU has the history, fan support, donor support for NIL, facilities, and the national exposure to be an elite program. It shouldn't be as hard as it has been for IU to find the right coach with all the resources they have at their disposal.

@KathywithaC I know there have been reports of Woodson getting another year. With Liam decommitting, if the last two games go poorly, and there is mass exodus of players that go into the portal, will there be any discussion or change in decision in bringing Woodson back? Or does the university simply not care and is ok with allowing next year to be a complete embarrassment?

Wonder how long it's been, if ever, IU basketball has been this late in the season and does not have a single recruit committed for the following year. It's truly incredible we are at this point

I agree. Probably career suicide for Dolson if it doesn’t work out but hard to be the AD that will get pinned for this atrocious hire and era of IU basketball. Ask for forgiveness later type of scenario if he can get the right guy

Never made sense why a decision one way or another was not made at the end of the season

Pretty pathetic if that’s true. We’re talking about the guy who was hired with no coaching search and who got a huge extension after Penix made him look better than he was. The future of IU basketball is probably the lowest it’s been since right after Kelvin Sampson and if that’s still better than football that’s sad. The IU athletic department has done a horrendous job with the football and basketball programs over the past 20 years. Most schools can seem to at least be successful at one but IU has done a fantastic job at being consistently bad at both. Congrats to you all, impressive work

We are mortgaging the future on a guy who should have never been the coach over politics. We will miss out on Dusty, Pearl, or whoever other candidates people wanted this year. Buy continuing to support the program, it doesn't hold the people accountable who are making these terrible decisions and will only encourage keeping Woodson around. Seriously, the guy said he would coach into his 70s. What recruit would want to come here and play for a coach that is clueless and has an unstable future. Unbelievable the decision that was made.