AH1971

Where on Earth did I say Pitino Jr is the best IU could do? I literally said if you’re going to bring up mid-major guys like Calhoun and McCollum, Pitino Jr should be in that discussion as well. GD when did reading become a skill? IU could hire Wade or Beard tomorrow and that’s likely the best they could do as those are two phenomenal coaches. I think Mick Cronin would strongly consider IU as well. But if IU isn’t going to entertain somebody with some baggage, then it’ll be the up and coming/mid-major route. No sitting tenured P5 coach with a history of sustained success is going to jump ship for this fishbowl. If that’s the route IU does go, Pitino should absolutely get a look.

Stevens is the president of basketball operations for the most famed basketball franchise in the world looking to repeat. Otzelberger is currently coaching college basketball. There’s a better chance Woodson is retained than Stevens coaching IU next year.

Thanks for letting me know!

MJ is an awful executive, who cares what he thinks. I certainly don’t.

Damn straight. Anybody who actually wants to win at a high level would too. UNC won’t care about transgressions almost a decade ago and they’ll go back to winning at a high level again.

Calhoun, McCollum, etc would all get swallowed, chewed up, and spittin out here. Pitino wouldn’t. Confident saying that.

Otz is much more realistic candidate. He actually wants to coach college basketball and is currently doing so.

The significance?

If Otzelberger isn’t option 1 or 2 then what are we even doing?

What “ghost stories” have I peddled here? This ought to be good.

Full disclosure, I’d love to have Brad Stevens on board. But more importantly, I stopped believing in ghost stories when I was 9 or 10 years. Any serious discussion involving IU’s next coach doesn’t include Brad Steven’s.

Why do you think I listed Otzelberger? His buyout would be a non-starter if he wanted to come to IU. He’d be cheaper than Stevens even with the buyout.

Ya. It wasn’t an offer he couldn’t refuse, clearly. Don’t see it any differently this time around. He’s got the comfiest job in basketball.

He’s got ties to Iowa State. And every situation is different. Unless you’re at a high major school, raw W-L record isn’t always the best way to gauge a coach.

Stevens already turned down $10mil/yr….

10-15 years ago sure. TJ is one of the hottest names going in college basketball right now. Plus, you know, he actually wants to coach in college at the moment.

I don’t care. Simply pointing out the fallacy the otz is unattainable because if his buyout.

Otz- $15-20 million buyout + 6 yr $40mil roughly ~$55-60mil all-in Stevens—already turned down 7 yr/$70 mil I’m not a math guy but….

Something like that. Would still cost a fraction of the salary Stevens demands.

I’m sure Dolson has called him.

Without a blessing for Beard or Wade (who would both take the job by the way), TJ Otz is my first call without question. Likely a no but I can afford to be turned down once. Start striking out on guys like Stevens, May, Pearl, you’re going to get an influx of calls from agents you’ve never heard from before and you’re going to be taken for a long, hard ride. From there I kick the tires on Mick Cronin. Mick has publicly called into question UCLA’s NIL and for the right job geographically, I think he bolts. Really surprised he didn’t end up at Louisville last cycle. Realistically, he’d be one of the best candidates without any serious baggage you could hope to hire. Strike out on those two and then I’ve probably shown my hand and the chances of getting a P4 guy that has shown some success really dwindles from there. If I’m looking at guys at smaller conferences, Chris Mack and Pitino Jr are probably your best bets.

Huh? I’ve never gotten off. I’ve never rooted for IU to lose or pretended I didn’t care. You’re barking up the wrong tree.

The word from who? The guys who are telling you Brad Stevens is coaching here next season? lol

IU is only paying one guy in the country $10mil/yr and it was already offered and rejected last go around. Dusty May would probably command somewhere around $5mil/yr. Up and comers like Calhoun, McCollum would probably be in the $3-4 mil/yr range.

We had 600 pages devoted to Bruce Pearl last year who was also never going to coach at IU.