IU Prof

There usually is a black SUV around there. Doubt it means anything.

Yeah, I get that. I edited my post above to clarify what I was saying. It's not clear what a simple physical is going to tell us that would disprove whatever Matta feels about his health. Are we worried about his cholesterol? His white blood cell count? His back, specifically? If the back, what exactly is the standard we are using to determine if he's healthy enough to coach? In the abstract the idea sounds plausible, but the specifics don't actually make much sense.

Interesting. If true, that would mean the IU Athletic Department's immediate squashing of that rumor was untruthful. I'm still skeptical, just because I don't even know what a failed physical would mean in this context. What would we be concerned about specifically that would physically prevent him from taking the job? It just doesn't pass the smell test to me, no offense intended Chris (I know you are just passing along what you heard, which I appreciate)! Edit: I get that he has health issues that could prevent him from giving it his all, but it's not clear what a doctor would tell us in that regard that would cause us to discount Matta's own assessment of his condition.

I'd also add that I wouldn't place any urgency on the search just because a few guys enter the portal. The program needs a massive infusion of talent. Losing a few current players, even someone like Franklin, might be a step back next year, but is a small price to pay for getting the right hire in place for the long-term.

It seems to me it makes perfect sense that Dolson would move from Stevens to interviewing retirees and IU grads. All of the other top candidates were still coaching until this past weekend, so it would make perfect sense to get the interviews with the others out of the way while you wait for your top candidates to free up. That way you can say you covered all your bases, and don't waste the down time.

On the plus side, if we hire an inexperienced IU alum we'll be in a position to go back through another failed pursuit of Brad Stevens in 4 or 5 years...

Agree with this entirety. If it ends up being Beilein after we've kicked the tires on Beard, Musselman, Oats, etc., I could live with that. But if it's Beilein this week, then no.

Didn't mean it as a gotcha, just that it would suggest that there is a backup plan in place!

Love the info you bring, but a week ago didn't you say on HSN that your source said it wasn't Stevens, but that everyone would be happy with the hire?

I'm not sure what a physical for a HC position would entail. Would that even be legal under the ADA? This seems highly unlikely to me.

re Bennett, someone also mentioned on the HSN board that they'd heard that Dolson had floated that name specifically by some Indiana AAU coaches. That then would support this Kendrick guy having heard something. That having been said, I still think it's a longshot at best.

Beilein makes the most sense to me if all these disparate rumors are linked and true. He is an innovative guy offensively, has NBA experience now, etc. Recruited Lander. And unlike Bennett or Beard, which would be pretty fast hires given when they were eliminated, Beilein's timeline works better here after Stevens spurned us. That having been said, Beilein is still my 6th choice, but if it's a done deal that's the best guess right now, I think.

Happy to be wrong, but I don't see why Bennett would take the job at this point. Not only the sister issue, but he's now fully established as a national championship coach in Charlottesville. Don't see the motivation for him to start over at this point.

I'm a big believer in geographic fits. Enfield has never coached or recruited in the Midwest (at the collegiate level). His current roster is almost all from Cali, with the only three kids from east of the Mississippi all being transfers. That's a major negative for me. He hasn't been successful enough to overcome that, IMO. Realize the same could be said of Beard, but his success has been at a level where I'd be comfortable taking him on. And his recruiting at Texas Tech has been more national.

My only concern with Drew is whether he burned any bridges with the Indiana HS/AAU circuit with the whole threatening to deport the recruit business. If not, he and Beard are neck-and-neck at the top of my board.

If folks were worried about the pace of Tony Bennett's or Chris Beard's offenses, Moser isn't much better. Loyola ranked #324 in tempo this year. The advanced metrics did like them, though, with KenPom ranking them 7th in the country currently.

Didn't TTU finish behind UT this year? The optics of paying $20 million in buyouts in that scenario isn't great. I get it was only one year, but that would still be a very aggressive move.

I'd give this game 20 more minutes before giving him the job.

I guess Texas could move on from Shaka, but he had then in the top 20 all year, and given the buyouts, spending $20 million to switch to Beard seems awfully agressive after getting upset. And who knows how Beard would view the two jobs in that scenario. I agree he'd likely prefer UT, but it's also possible he thinks IU has a higher ceiling as a program (it does).

I love 0708, but his connections have been all over the place on this one. On HSN, on Monday before the crash, he said he'd heard it wasn't Stevens but someone was a lock that everyone would be happy with. Then his connection went all in on Stevens, and now (apparently) is leaking Woodson. My guess is that Beard has already expressed serious interest behind the scenes, and him as a backup to Stevens is what made the donors comfortable with picking up the buyout. I still think the worst case scenario here is Beilein. He'd be about my sixth choice, and I do worry about the thug comment when it comes to recruiting (society has shifted quite a bit on stuff like that over the last 12 months), but if he's the floor we're still in pretty good shape. He did win 30+ games two years ago in the B1G, and call me crazy, but with a few key upgrades (a stretch 4, and PG...if he doesn't think Lander is ready), our roster is actually set up ok for his style.

One thing that doesn't make sense to me is how it flipped from IU's perspective from being a "done deal" to dead SO quickly. I personally believe that the insiders here were accurately relaying what the IU side believed. But in that case, how did it fall apart so fast? Did Stevens say 100% definitively that he was staying, after apparently agreeing to come to IU 24-36 hours before? If so, why didn't we ask him to wait for us to come back with another offer? The buyout thing doesn't make sense because there's no way Dolson let's a deal fall apart over that. The subsequent silence does make it seem plausible that we're regrouping to take one more run at Stevens. More likely, we are just regrouping before going after our next choice. I realize why the insiders aren't eager to share any more info right now, but I'd love to know how the last conversation with Stevens went down.

He was landing 4 stars at Buffalo, which is atypical for a MAC level program.

I wonder if Beard would be open to modernizing his offense a bit if he came?

Would our well-heeled donors be willing to pay Oats' buyout if he were interested in the job? He's a Midwestern guy, and has won big at every stop. The fact he knew IU could very well come open, but still agreed to a new contract with Alabama makes me think he's not interested. But if he were willing to come, he'd check most of the boxes Dolson said he was looking for.

If Beard ends up being the guy, we'd better put a similarly massive buyout in the contract should he ever leave for Texas.