Papacap

Agree 100%. Not to derail things, but I live near Atlanta and some of us would go see AJ play in HS especially when he was being recruited and after he committed. We got to know his mom and let me say, AJ is a momma’s boy and he should be. Anyway, a bit after the Duke game in 2002, I spoke with her and she was so nervous that she couldn’t watch the game. She taped it. And then her phone blew up as soon as the game was over so she knew IU won. I’m still amazed she didn’t watch it. That would have made me even more nervous. Would love to see AJ. back at IU.

Interesting. In the end, it’ll be results that matter. Just funny how we both had an opening an ended up with the school family.

Good question. I haven’t paid a lot of attention to that search because it seemed like Davis’ name (along with Miller) was what everyone talked about from the get go. So it was no surprise when Davis was hired.

Not to derail the current topic, but I had an interesting lunch yesterday with a couple of friends I hadn’t seen in a while. They both went to UNC and are huge Tarheel fans. So of course the topic came up of coaches. One thing we discussed was keeping things within the “family”. They both are really excited for Davis. I asked them does it bother them that no other elite school would have hired him as their head coach (something I heard a lot from IU fans about Woodson) and they just shrugged that off. they wanted a UNC guy. Period. I’m not saying they are right. But it’s interesting how they didn’t want UNC to go after some established coach or some hot young gun (although both would have been happy with Miller). They wanted a UNC guy. I know, CSB.

I respect a good troll. Goodman is a try-hard, cringe troll. Not good.

Huh. Does that include Parker?

One if Race and Franklin come back, correct? So if more players want to commit, then bye Franklin and Race.

Until he waits too long and loses his spot. If I’m Woodson, I’m not waiting around for Franklin to make a decision if another player wants on board.

I agree people can convince themselves of things. Human nature. But isn’t that what the Chicken Littles are doing here? I’m not talking about people questioning things. I’m talking about people saying this is lunacy and can’t work. For example, I have asked people who are dead set against this hire why they think Woodson won’t be able to recruit well other than he hasn’t been a college coach. Do they think he can’t recognize talent? That he can’t develop relationships with the players and parents? But I haven’t seen a good answer to those questions. It’s simply....kids don’t know who he is. As if kids today are too stupid to look up who he is. Yet people who are excited about this hire are the emotional ones trying to convince ourselves this will work. I’m not saying this is guaranteed to work. Nothing is. And I’m not saying Woodson should have been peoples first choice. But the minority of IU fans who think this hire is terrible are being just as emotional about this as people like me who are really excited.

OK, if you are aiming that high, I get it the disappointment for the last 3 hires. And the beauty of it is, results will determine this, so it’s not like we won’t find out if this will work.

No, I wouldn’t expect it to fail. It might fail. And I might think there were better options. But I wouldn’t expect it to fail. Because I don’t understand the thought that Woodson won’t be able to recruit. It’s not rocket science. It’s developing relationships. And I think Woodson will be able to do that. Am I guaranteeing it? No. But I think Woodson will be able to the type of players he wants. The last two hires, we selected coaches that made a deep run in the tourney and had some success at their school. Worked wonders for us. Guess we should have done that again based on the paper data you referenced.

And I’m trying to see why fans can’t get excited about this. Lunacy? No recruiting pull? Seems like better coaching? Can’t see it ending well? I get having questions. But I honestly don’t understand the intensity that some people feel this can’t work. Randy Quaid’s character in Major League had more optimism.

But based on his answer, I’m not sure he will beg all of them to stay. I think that will depend on if he thinks they are going to fit into what he wants to do.

Yeah, he is no Crean, that’s for sure.

I’m not saying you are wrong in your feelings. Because let’s face it, there is a huge subjective/emotional component to this. There are few coaches we could get that we could say, this is the guy who will get us where we need to be. Drew, Beard, Oats, Musselman....all of the coaches like those have their own question marks. I can see why someone would want them ahead of Woodson, but they are no where near sure things. Best guy for the job? I think Stevens was. But once you get past pipe dreams like Donovan, Wright or Bennett, the variance of outcomes becomes too great to say who’s the better choice. I’ll put it this way. I can see why someone would rather have Beard (or a college coach like him). What I can’t see is the argument that he would clearly outperform Woodson as HC of Indiana. That’s no where near a given to me. So going a different direction than the shiny new coach seems like a valid strategy this time. If folks are disappointed, I get it. But the level of angst I’m seeing from some people makes no sense to me.