IU Prof

Bonderman died last month, so I don't think he'll be getting an NBA franchise.

Roughly speaking, do you think it's a 5% chance Stevens comes, or more like a 50-50 chance? In other words, is this more of a theoretical, but still unlikely, possibility? Or is there is a real chance he comes home?

I like that your closest analogy is a case where the long-shot candidate did end up going back home, and won a championship to boot.

I meant more of a firm, "are you in or out" type conversation. There's no reason we couldn't pin down Stevens' status shortly after a decision on Woodson's future is made.

I wonder when IU would initiate discussions in earnest with Stevens. Unlike a sitting college coach, there really isn't anything stopping us from determining now whether Brad is interested or not. It's possible Dolson already knows, for that matter.

Those were mainly Woodson issues.

And it's home.

The optics of canning a coach with a 15-10 record would be pretty bad, justifiedly or not. And besides quenching some parts of the fan base's thirst for blood, I'm not sure what it would accomplish. Better to let Woody ride out the year, and make a move a couple days after we play our last game.

Do we know how long Reneau is out for? The longer he sits, the more games Woodson is forced to play 4 out, which increases the odds he stays, IMO.

Yes

I drove by SSAH yesterday. Main roads were fine, secondary roads more dicey. The K lot (Gate 11) looked like it had been plowed, but was still pretty snowy.

Realistically, what would it take to get an NCAA bid at this point (short of winning the B1G Tournament, of course). Given the lack of quality non-conference wins, does 10-10 get it done? 11-9? 9-11? Obviously it depends somewhat on what those wins and losses are, and the B1G tourney results. But how much margin for error do people think Woodson has to make the dance sitting at 2-1 in conference?

I think McCollum has even more question marks than Dusty. There's no guarantee his small school success levels up at a place like IU. This program desperately needs an established winner at the highest level like Pearl. Or Brad. Anything less, and there's a 50-50 chance you're firing up the FlightTracker again in 4 or 5 years.

Setting aside the identity of the messenger, Dusty is a lot riskier than many here are assuming. He's no slam dunk. Plenty of teams have wilted over the course of a full B1G season after a hot start, so let's see where he's at in March. The late game issues recently have to be concerning, regardless of any comparative assessments between May and Woodson. Sure, Dusty is better than Woody, but that's a real low bar at this point. The question is how much better is he, and does he have what it takes to hang a banner. The jury is still out on that.

The only reason IU is "on the bubble" is due to pre-season rankings. If this were, say, Eastern Michigan with the same resume, they wouldn't even be on the radar. In another month or so, IU won't still be getting the benefit of the doubt based on being overrated in the preseason.

Yeah, I don't think that's how most (competently run) universities would handle a negotiation of that sort.

What do you think the odds are that the outcome is different this time around?

I'm not sure how you can claim to both be a long-time IU Insider and also an expert on the interworkings of other major universities. IU is an unusually insular and incompetently run institution, based on my experience at a variety of universities, in ways that most IU lifers fail to appreciate or understand. So if you have the longitudinal perspective of IU decision-making processes that you've suggested, then I don't think you are in a particularly strong position to discuss how similar or dissimilar IU's processes are to other, more competently run institutions.

Agreed. But for someone who claims to be here simply to share insight into how institutional decision-making happens, you seem to be posting with incredible frequency and defensiveness. The simple answer to that resulting quandary is that you are really here for a very different reason than the one you profess.

Like I said...

Props to @KathywithaC, this was some world class trolling today...

Considering we're playing Providence, I'd say it'd be mighty impressive if Woodson beat Davidson today...

https://x.com/TheFieldOf68/status/1844426344286793762