Magisterium

Neither team had very good seasons, but maybe the IU staff might as well try to bring in 1) Furman’s entire backcourt and 2) Pepperdine’s entire frontline.

So if next season circles the drain, will their rationale shift to “hey, Crean got 9 years…”?

Yup, just like Arkansas—except for those Elite Eights and S16. Other than that…

Would Matt Graves take over for Schertz at ISU if Josh left? I was hoping Woody might consider adding Matt to his staff, but maybe it’ll be someone like Wittman instead. More “NBA lite” stuff, I suppose.

Yeah, I’d almost be inclined to hold on in Terre Haute for another year rather than make that move. Maybe the money’s significantly better? Think Schertz is currently making about $365,000 fwiw.

Welp, if nothing else at least it freed them up to do a coaching search. Wonder if Schertz ( or May if OSU fell through) would be interested.

And if they do, IU will likely not be given any credit for doing so by most of the people who habitually criticize IU for being “too impatient” or “changing coaches too often.”

Agree, because imo MM (if he’s back) should be a 4, not a 3. Regardless of who plays the 5–Reneau, Sparks (!?!), or a portal addition.

I don’t see any realistic scenario where IU could hire May a year from now unless he stays at FAU. Certainly not if went to OSU, Louisville or Michigan. Probably not even if he went to WVU or DePaul. He’d probably have to request an “out” or “exception” clause in his new contract (in the event IU wanted to interview him) and if I were the AD at those other schools a request like that would be a major red flag.

Maybe JerryYeagley and Scotty D have been rounded up and sentenced to a “not true fan” gulag in one of the nearby quarries

Maybe so—thought he had some connection to IU, like maybe Woodson coached the kid’s dad, or something along those lines.

Is the Stanford kid that IU recruited going into the portal? Big shooting guard iirc

Sounding like May could be returning to the Midwest very soon (either Columbus or Chicago), which would make him almost certainly unavailable to IU a year from now.

Or he’s so certain some donors have his back that he feels he can say anything he wants to other people

Attend 1high school game per month and make the NIT?

If I could be convinced that Reneau and Mgbako returning meant Woodson would finally be running a true “4 out, 1 in” offense (with MM at the 4 where IMO he belongs) then I could view their potential return as a positive development. But the staff’s stated intention to bring in a Ware replacement (“rim protector”) combined with Woodson’s recent statement that he still believes college BB is played from “inside out” makes me conclude that 1) Woodson always planned to use a double-post offense (even after TJD), and 2) his plans still haven’t really changed.

I don’t think the question is whether May has interest in the IU job, it’s whether he also has interest in other jobs like Ohio State. If the answer is yes, I think you can probably say goodbye to May as far as IU is concerned. I don’t believe he’s going to leave OSU (or Michigan or Louisville) for IU, Alma mater or not. If Woodson’s retained we better hope May stays at FAU.

Maybe the BOT is so used to traveling between Bloomington and Indianapolis that they don't know where Highway 46 is? Just a theory.....

that sounds like he'd fit in with IU's defense, unfortunately--but I'm thinking more in term's of IU's offense compared to what Schertz runs. Any ISU players who transferred to Bloomington (or any of May's FAU players for that matter) wouldn't be getting the same kinds of shooting opportunities in Woodson's offense that they currently get. That appears to have been one of the main reasons for McNeeley's decommitment.

the offenses the 2 programs run are night-and-day different in terms of scheme, execution and results.

Realistically speaking, I think the 3rd one (“highest level donors”)-is the one that matters. This is as much about power as it is about basketball.

“And some incoming calls from someone in Ann Arbor, Louisville and Madison. Can I get back to you later?”

Sort of like the Pacers, not so coincidentally

I'd have to go back and look at the former buyout language, but perhaps it stipulated that the $4 million would be due on a specific date as 1 (or maybe 2) lump sum payments, and could not be paid out over a longer time period with smaller payments. Not sure, though...

From my brief experience as a low-level employee in an SEC Ath department decades ago, most buyouts originate from donors since they typically aren’t considered “salary “ or “compensation” in the sense of belonging in the same lines of a university’s budget. But that’s not ironclad, as Jimbo Fisher’s buyout proves. The raise/buyout info re: Woodson was public record info ever since it was announced a year ago, and as soon as I saw it I thought “Dolson’s trading a smaller total buyout amount on April 1st of 2025 for the opportunity to amortize a larger buyout amount over 8 years OR (given Woodson’s age) another opportunity to renegotiate the new buyout amount down.” Reading what few actual tea leaves seem to be out there at the moment, I get the impression that 1) Dolson wants to move on, 2) Buckner wants to stay put, and 3) Pres Whitten may not yet want to be involved (but may soon have to be nonetheless). I have no idea if Pearl (or, more accurately, Pearl’s agent) is now involved, or if Dusty May’s representatives have been fully engaged, but perhaps things have reached some sort of standoff between the folks who want Woodson retained (Buckner, Cooks, Simons, some former players?) and those who strongly feel a change needs to be made (possibly Dolson, some other donors, some other former players, most of the fanbase?). If that’s where matters are at this point in time, history tells me that some sort of exogenous or “outside” event may have to happen to break the stalemate. It seems to me that the most likely event fitting that description might come from the one group directly embroiled in this that possibly has the least concern about what the BOT and donors think: players on the current roster. If enough rumors are true and a “critical mass” of players plan to leave AND Dolson can convince others of that likelihood, maybe that could break the logjam and persuade Pres Whitten, enough donors, and if not QB himself then enough other Trustees, that the status quo is no longer sustainable, and as a result could possibly force the change that so many of us feel is desperately needed. If such a chain of events led to Bruce Pearl, so be it. If it brought home a “native son” like Dusty May, so be it. If I could talk with either of them for 5 minutes I would say “whatever else you do, hire ASAP someone like Matt Graves on your staff because in-state recruiting is on life support and he can do the CPR necessary to revive it.”