AH1971

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.

You used the term white whale, not me. Those three along with Self and Hurley are widely regarded as the best coaches in the game. Two of the ones I mentioned turned Kentucky last year as did Hurley. And I understood exactly what you meant, you're just wrong in your assessment. IU's lack of success isn't a deterrent. The EXPECTATIONS for a team with IU's lack of success is most definitely a deterrent, at least for these "white whale's" you speak of.

What White Whale(s) are you talking about then?

Why would a White Whale like Pearl or Oats or Drew leave what they've built at their current schools? Alabama, Auburn, and Baylor are all better programs than IU right now. Especially guys like Pearl and Drew who were giving time to build their respective programs without the fanbase breathing down their neck? It's not going to happen. There's nothing those guys couldn't achieve at their current schools that they could at IU The only White Whale IU might be able to get is someone like Brad Stevens who isn't currently coaching and has also turned us down multiple times. And I'm not even sure he's a White Whale anymore.

Louisville has a nice little year going for them. Doesn't change anything what I said. If Pat Kelsey continues this for 3-4 straight seasons it will have become an excellent hire. But he loses 8 of his top 10 players this year. Guessing an inevitable step back for him next season.

One good season is not going to erase 30+ years of futility. Pretty straight forward response.

Literally zero expectations for Cignetti and the football program. None. Look at DeBoer and Alabama who went 9-3 in year 1. Already on the hot seat. That's IU's basketball expectations for a program who has shown nothing the last 30 years.

Watch who we hire next month. You'll see.

IU can absolutely become a good program again and a decent one at that quick. But it's not going to happen in a 1-2 year span. You're not ever going to erase a 30 year down period overnight. And with each lost season and each passing coach the desperation grows bigger and bigger every single year.

Not anywhere close. Kentucky is an actual top 5 job and just got Mark Pope after being turned down by the some of the biggest names in college basketball.

Maybe since you said it this time it won't fall on deaf ears. I doubt it though.

I consider his experience at Minnesota at such a young age more of a positive than anything on Calhoun or McCollum's resume.

He's 10-1 atop the best mid-major conference in the country about to be nationally ranked. 3 of his 4 losses have been by a combined 9 points. New Mexico's Net is 45 and they have a solid 8-2 Q1/Q2 record. He's doing much more than "ok" at New Mexico. The coach he replaced was 52-47 in the 4 years prior. Again, I'm not going to hold his lone year at FIU...at the age of 29 against him nor his time at Minnesota coaching in his early 30's where he at least had some decent success. Nonsense to think at 42 Pitino Jr has flatlined as a coach. Ridiculous actually.

Because I would never turn down a $1-2 million/yr pay bump from my current employer?

Nah, he's proven time and time again he can't coach at the P5 level. I'm not going to hold Pitino Jr's tenure at Minnesota at the ages of 30-38 against him in the sense that he doesn't deserve a P5 job again. He gained valuable experience at a tough place to win and is re-inventing himself down at New Mexico and has done a phenomenal job. He'll be coaching at the P5 level somewhere next year.

I mean when Brad Stevens inevitably says no and Dusty May signs his extension here in the next couple of weeks, guys like Ben McCollum and Jerrod Calhoun not only become realistic candidates but likely options. Not sure why those guys are a definitive yes and Pitino Jr an emphatic no? Of those three, only one has coached at the Power 5 level (with some moderate success) and taken a team to the NCAAT. Hint, it's not Calhoun or McCollum. I don't think Richard Pitino Jr is going to be the coach here but to act like he's not worthy of discussion is asinine.