AH1971

And?

Directly from a former Knight era player in the early to mid 70's who I see just about every other week at various basketball AAU events for our grandchildren. He did not say that Beard was or wasn't going to be hired, just that he was vetted by a search firm sometime in the last week or two and this was brought to light.

Stirtz is a nice player no question. To think he'd be a superstar in the B10 is wishful thinking at best.

-He's never coached against guys like Tom Izzo, Matt Painter, Brad Underwood. He's never experienced a hostile B10 or P5 road environment. He's never faced the adversity of going on 3-4 game losing streak in the doldrums of January. Having P5 experience with an experienced staff absolutely matters to an extent. Especially at a job like Indiana. To suggest otherwise is silly. A lot of what he would experience at IU would be on the job training. -Identifying talent that can compete at NW Missouri State is a lot different than identifying talent that can compete for B10 championships. -Doesn't have a roster full of guys he can bring who you could realistically expect to compete for a B10 championship and a high seed in the tournament...should have prefaced that better. -30 second shot clock has nothing to do with what I said.

I don't think anyone doubts McCollum's ability to coach X's and O's. But there are several concerns with McCollum and how it pertains to the IU job. -lack of P5 experience -lack of staff with P5 experience -lack of experience with NIL and the transfer portal -doesn't have a roster full of guys he can bring with -pace/style of play concerning to players with high end talent/NBA aspirations There's an awful lot of question marks for a guy who is going to be expected to win right away. Can he do it? Sure. Would I expect him too? Probably not. How does he fare year 2 when the pressure ratchets up? All of these are legitimate concerns.

IU talked and vetted Beard well before yesterday. Rabby probably got the info from IU after Goodman's tweet once Beard's name instantly went to the top of the list for many.

Please tell me you don't think the only people that have hit their significant other are the ones sitting in jail convicted for it?

I think the guy can coach and could win here. But how quickly? What kind of staff can he assemble before the portal opens in 2 weeks assuming Drake isn't still playing? Just not convinced he wins right out of the gate which later dooms him. If you hire McCollum you have to give him full support for 3-4 years or its never going to work.

I'd feel a lot better about McCollum if he had a roster full of players he could bring with him. Seeing Drake play a few times this year, their PG is the only one who I could see playing at this level and while he's serviceable, he's not a star in the B10 by any means.

IU is much closer to the program that has to settle for someone like Ben McCollum than it is hiring someone like Brad Stevens. Been that way 20+ years. Also, it's a lot easier to throw out egregious numbers like $10mil/yr or $120 million over 10 years when there's zero chance that candidate is interested in the job. That is smoke from IU trying to entice legitimate candidates like Otzelberger or Drew that they're serious about the hire.

Touche

Not sure if this is satire or not, but Dusty May the videographer didn't recruit or build anything for Mike Davis. Mike Davis the assistant for Knight recruited a bunch of those kids that played in the national title game, primarily Jeff Newton, AJ Moye, and Donald Perry given his ties to the south. Let's not try and rewrite history here. Edit: completely read that wrong

Always been my concern with Dusty; how he handles pressure and how he stops the bleeding. There’s a very real chance Michigan won’t win another game this year…2.5 weeks ago they were a top 10 team and in sole possession of first place in the B10.

Isn’t that what an insider is? Someone privy to inside information that the rest of the public isn’t?

Texas hired Sarkisian, a known drunk with his own marital issues. I don’t think Texas cared until Beard made it their problem.

Also on a personal reassuring note, just talked to a former early Knight-era player whom I cross paths with ever so often at our grandsons basketball games. Said IU has vetted Beard and his transgression that got him fired from Texas wasn’t even the first or even second time it has happened. Similarly related instances in prior relationships with a repeated pattern: booze and anger problems. He didn’t outright say Beard wasn’t a serious candidate but feel safe in drawing my own conclusions that he isn’t.

I think style of play is a huge issue at this level.

How has a done deal with the sitting President of Basketball Operations for the Boston Celtics not been leaked? Especially if it’s been done for a few weeks?

I think this may be the one leak from Dolson’s side to prepare the fan base for a McCollum/Brownell hire. ”Hey we took a look at Beard but we just can’t pull the trigger given his past”

That I agree although it expires in June. Still think he’s a much safer risk than Chris Beard.

Wade was never an FBI subject of interest. Neither was Sean Miller, Bill Self, etc….the guys on the other end of the phone however were. It’s not against Federal Law to commit NCAA violations. Dolson had zero problem with Woodson hiring Yasir Rosemond.

Probably. Still doesn’t run a fun and conducive offense.

Anyone surprised @Hornsby hasn’t started reciting Book of Revelation passages yet?

From a tactical standpoint, I don’t think his X’s and O’s are any better than someone like Cronin or Brownell who are potential candidates this board are completely out on. But his teams are tough, hard-nosed, and play good defense. With Beard, assuming he can keep his nose clean, he’d make the tournament most years but think you’d see a wide variance in conference finishes on a year to year basis. He’s barely over .500 in-conference at the P5 level.

I’m not sure McCollum is such a gamble if you’re fully committed to supporting him for 4 full years. Unfortunately, that’s rarely the case here.