IUrocker

Haha well shucks, I guess I’ll put it out there that it’s not true….maybe I just worded the text differently! lol

Dolson’s texts to Dusty May: Hey, so you’re telling Ohio State no and still on board with us right? Ok cool just making sure. I’ll let you know soon enough whether we need you this spring or not til next. Sit tight, thanks.

Let’s just make a deal with the administration that if this thread reaches…let’s say… page 93 by the end of the day, then it’s prob best to make a move sooner than later.

I’m about ready to just buy Mike a brand new set of golf clubs myself if that helps get the ball rolling lol

Stuff like this makes me keep going back to wondering if Dolson knows this about May, has already had discussions about being the guy after Woodson, and is a matter of just sitting tight at FAU until they get Woodson to hang it up. Could be pretty telling if these other destinations open up and Dusty chooses to stay at FAU instead of accepting other jobs. Unless stuff really hits the fan this season and Dolson calls him up and says hey we’re ready for you now.

Gosh I hope the move by Ohio State intensifies the possible talks from Dolson and Co of just getting Woodson to retire. I know nothing another school does should have anything to do with us, but it could indeed end up being a domino that affects who we want to go after. Instead of making sure we get choice #1, we just end up settling and having to go with someone else because another school got our guy. They’re a football school and are making the move to get rid of their basketball coach before the season is even over. One thing I can see as another possible reason for Woodson staying another year aside from his chance of getting back on track, is Dolson thinking May is our guy and already having discussions with him about taking over. Let Woodson get 4th year, try to turn things around through portal, then peacefully retire and May comes in. A way we can think this is a possible scenario is if we see these other jobs opening up after this season, and Dusty May making the decision to want to stay put at FAU next year. It’s just not gonna be any fun at all to see Woodson end up getting some guards and then it not matter at all because of how he chooses to use them. I know it seems to be easy to say that it’s because the guards we have this year just aren’t that good but dang it that’s on him. He said himself that the only reason why we played a certain way was because we had Trayce and once he’s gone then we’ll a completely different style. Nope…just plug in Ware and Sparks into Trayce’s position and do the same ol stuff. TJD and JHS made him look really good, and he thinks he needs NBA ready type guys to be successful and there are coaches who have boat raced him with players who aren’t. I’d love to be proven wrong if he ends up getting good guards and he changes his style to use them the right way, but until then, I just don’t have confidence he’ll do that based off what he’s chosen to do thus far. As of now the only thing I expect is for him to get guards to teach how to feed the ball to the post.

I hope this is how Dolson sees it. Gonna need a handful of new faces for next year anyways, so let’s have the new guy take the reins and plug those pieces in himself to plan for the future.

Great post, this is exactly how I feel about it. It’s gonna be a big time rebuild with a ton of new players next year anyways, so why not get the new coach in here now to do it himself with guys he wants instead of having Woodson and his staff do it and then we risk the season playing out the exact same way this one does. He’s gonna end up getting a handful of guards and then teach them how to throw it in the post…

Yep for sure, and I would surely think/hope that Dolson is fully aware of that scenario if May is someone he’s got in mind for the job, making the move sooner than later to prevent things like that from happening.

I really do hope Dolson feels like he needs to make a move sooner than later to be able to get May if he thinks he needs to be the guy. I realize it’d be a dream destination and he’d come regardless, but let’s say Ohio State or Louisville or something opens up after this season and he gets offered the job. He wouldn’t want to turn that down would he? Then he could be fine with being at those schools for a little while with success while we sit and risk going through mediocre seasons with Woodson some more. Also, I saw someone mention it being a pretty bad look that Woodson wasn’t on the coaches show and had Hunter do it instead. I wonder if there really is something to that or just isn’t that big of a deal. I know Woodson had that comment a while back saying something like he doesn’t need to answer to the fans….so just could seem like an odd time to miss the show after losing by 20 to Purdue again. Like I said, I’m not saying that’s the reason he missed, but I understand the optics that could have to some people.

Welp, I can tell I think about this topic too much haha: last night had a dream that I was at Assembly Hall and we played against ISU. When Schertz walked out onto the floor from the tunnel our crowd stood up and gave him a roaring ovation lol. Then they beat us and as he walked off, our crowd cheered for him again and he waved at the crowd with a big smile. Someone in the seats by me went “that’s the guy a lot of people hope will be our next coach.” when I woke up I kinda chuckled and couldn’t believe I just had a dream like that ha.

I’d probably be happy with any of May, Shrews, or Schertz. Their style of basketball is just way more fun to watch and they’re doing it without all the 5 stars Woodson seems to need to make him look successful in his system at this level. I don’t see any reason why those coaches couldn’t get some 5 stars to come to a school like IU with the resources and allure we have. I’d think they’d be able to get higher ranked players to go to a school like IU than FAU or ISU if they pursue them. Obviously competition is gonna be way more fierce in the Big Ten than what May or Schertz are going up against now at their schools, so talent matters, but at the same time look at the likes of Purdue. Painter doesn’t think he has to get a bunch of JHSs or TJDs to be successful in a system that works. Just seems to be that Woodson thinks he needs NBA ready players to make his style work and if he doesn’t get them then he’s screwed.

Surely hope that happens. I understand Woodson maybe wanting to be back to kind of prove that this season was a fluke, but if we have a big roster turnover anyways of like 6-7 players, then I say why not do it with a new coach to build it his way with his players for the future? Hopefully Buckner, May, etc see it that way for the betterment of the program. Woodson could grab all the players he wants, but unless he gets a handful of TJDs and JHSs to mask the way he operates the college game, then we’d prob risk seeing what we did this year. If he does end up being back and ends up getting good guys to plug in and it happens to work, then great, I’ll surely be rooting him on…it’s just that the way this season has turned out there seems to be that fear of what if it happens again when we can get our next guy now and not risk it.

Something I saw most likely happen from last nights game was getting Ohio State to decide to get rid of Chris Holtmann and make the move to hire someone we’d want to replace Woodson lol I know the fear a lot of people don’t wanna risk and deal with is this staff doing just enough to stay afloat with wins like this and stay an inconsistent program, while other teams in our position make the moves for coaches we wish we had. I agree with Stuhoo as well. His post game presser even after being able to pull out that win was just no joy at all and like he’s wore out and ready to be done.

I wondered if there’d be a scenario where if Dolson does end up wanting to be done with Woodson after this year, instead of actually publicly firing him, doing him a solid of making it look like a mutual thing that was planned, but the more I thought about that, it probably wouldn’t make sense since he was given the raise and extension. if Dolson does indeed have a list of people he is interested in who would want the job after this season then he’d want to make sure it happened now before they went elsewhere, right? I agree that everyone involved will let the season play out and decide which way to go at the end, but dang, if someone is interested after this season and we can get the ball rolling instead of wondering if next season will be any better with Woodson then let’s get it done.

If Woodson is here next year just for the “deserving” factor of giving him one more year to try to turn it around before he decides to walk away on his own, i think I’d much rather it be done after this year instead of risking that chance. He may very well get a couple good guards in the portal, but then we’ll just get to see them do their job of trying to feed the ball into the post. I would obviously hope to be wrong but this staff getting players we are lacking doesn’t necessarily mean we’ll see them being in a game plan used to be successful. Like someone else said either on this site or the other, Dolson could ask Woodson for a clear plan for next year on how he can get this fixed, and it could end up just being a matter of Woodson telling Dolson what he wants to hear. If Woodson gets another year, gets players in the portal, and turns it around before riding off into the sunset, then great, I hope he does and would be rooting for him. On the other hand, if the rest of this season gets ugly(ier) than it already is, then hopefully they pull the plug peacefully and get started on hiring the guy who we can be confident in for the next decade or more and get this thing rolling for our future. The right guy can definitely get McNeeley to stay on board.

This is my line of thinking as well, unless Dolson has already spoken with May about the job and it’s just a matter of him knowing to wait it out until it’s his time to take over here. Obviously I think it’d be pretty telling if other destinations open up for May next season he decides to stay put.

If Dolson knew he wanted May and caught wind that Ohio State may try to go after him, do you think he’d try to get him after this season before it happened if that’s what it took? I guess that’s kinda hard to tell. Just thinking even though IU would be his dream job, being successful at a place like Ohio State could probably keep him there. This isn’t me hoping we move on from Woodson after this season. I mean if it happens then cool but if not I’m not gonna be upset. I’m certainly pulling for Woodson to get all he needs to make next year a successful one if he’s indeed here.

Let’s say Dolson has Dusty May in mind and wants him to be the next guy in line. I wonder if at this point he thinks the only way we get him is to make the move asap in hopes he doesn’t end up spending time somewhere else, or if he’s not really worried about the when and thinks we’ll get him whenever once it’s time to pull the trigger Obviously if IU is his dream job he would come, but I wonder if it would matter to Dolson to not want to risk having an extra destination in between FAU and IU and get it done sooner than later. Like I said, maybe if we do spend more time with Woodson and Dusty gets picked up by another P5 school, it won’t matter and he still comes…or maybe if he already knows he’s lined up to come to IU and plans on just sitting tight at FAU til the move is made.

Nice, yeah that’s true. I guess if he’s able to get Davis and Queen on board then that obviously puts more in the bag that he’s got available for next year who would be great additions. I understand the whole thing about maybe he at least deserves another year because of what he did the first two, and I get that, but I just wonder if knowing he was kinda like a bridge guy to get the program back on track, is there already talk about thinking we’re able to get his replacement as soon as after this season, or are things leaning more towards no talks about that yet and waiting until at least after the 2024 season regardless of the outcome of season and ‘24 recruits he’s able to secure? i wonder if at this point it’s a matter of even people in his circle (who would be the ones to talk him into stepping aside) know he’s a guy who isn't gonna be willing to change his style. “Just got to keep working” has been his go-to response to a lot of things lately.

Yep, I’d much rather be done with him now knowing he doesn’t have any future players lined up other than Liam. Everything else is looking like mostly portal additions that he’s gonna have to scrounge up, which another coach suited for a long term build that wants to take us where we want to go is more than capable of doing himself anyways with our resources. Woodson getting a new group of guys in the portal is fine and dandy, but haven’t we been shown to this point that he’s gonna be unwilling/unable to use them correctly in an effective college ball style?

Well hey, at least we know their practices are translating to games….

The way things have gone lately and how it just seems to be people/media saying the team needs to be fixed and Woodson can’t fix it, won’t, etc…I wonder if there’s a certain way the rest of this season could go in Woodson’s own mind that would make him say ok, I need to step aside after this season and let the next guy take over…or if no matter how bad it goes, he’s going to think he still needs to be the guy to be here next year. I’m guessing his stubbornness is going to make him think he needs to be the guy, but there’s got to be something in him that eventually wakes him up to be ok with stepping aside if it ends up being the case. I also wonder like others if the lack of recruiting and only having one guy in the bag is a sign that the staff thinks the end is near, or just happens to be the way they are going about things. Do I hope like heck that Woody gets everyone he wants out of the portal next year and we have a great season? Absolutely….but I sure hope it doesn’t end up being a case of it just buying him more time of not knowing how to use them properly and we continue to go through the same stuff we’re going through now. I just don’t think he’s the type of coach at this point in his career that’ll change what he’s doing. Getting portal guys we “need” is great, but if he refuses to use them like he should then what’s the point.

Yeah I’m just ready to be done with the whole wondering which version of team we’re gonna get every single game. If we happen to pull off beating Wisconsin it isn’t gonna make me think all is fixed and will stay that way the rest of the season, unfortunately. Would love to end up being wrong on that but the things that have led us to this Jekyll and Hyde consistency of play could/should be fixed by now by the coaching staff and we just haven’t seen it. I like Woodson and appreciate what he’s trying to do for IU, but I think he had that mindset of “I’ve coached in the NBA for 30 years, so I can coach anywhere” and thought he’d just be able to out-coach everyone he goes up against, and obviously we’ve seen that its not working out like he thought it would. Like I said, if we can beat Wisconsin and it sets us off to go on a big streak of positive consistency and we see the changes we think should be made then great, I hope it happens..but I think there’s too many problems we’ve seen that could have been fixed by now at this point that just seem to be unwilling for some reason.

Like I’ve mentioned before, I almost wonder if the Dusty May thing had already been talked about with Dolson. I’ve heard/saw somewhere that when Dusty signed extension with his team there was a clause that enabled him to leave for IU. Dolson getting Woodson could have been a part of a plan that includes what happens AFTER Woodson’s time here. Hire Woodson to get the ball rolling again and repair what needs to be fixed, and then when he’s ready to give it up, we move onto the next planned step. I’m not gonna sit here and say that’s a sure thing and claim as fact, but it’s certainly a scenario that could have some validity to it. Just a matter of when. I agree that Woodson won’t be fired, but he could surely have some people talk to him about a job well done, got things back on track, now let’s hand it over to this next guy who can put in this work needed for the college basketball landscape while you ride off in your golf cart enjoying life and still be a part of the program in a different light.