AH1971

I think Pearl is smart enough to understand that handing the reigns over to his son at Indiana for a first time HC job is absolutely playing with fire.

Not using it against him, just believe he needs to show more before being offered the job. There's been plenty of coaches that have built solid programs at the lower level that have gone on flash in the pan type runs in the tournament that have absolutely tanked once hired up a level. See Andy Enfield, see Shaka Smart at Texas FAU has some extremely bad, head-scratching losses and not even leading a conference that honestly isn't very good. He's got solid P5 transfers + a diamond in the rough in Davis. I'm not sure I buy the lack of talent narrative. He's absolutely done a phenomenal job putting this core together and riding them out the last couple seasons, but I don't believe it's a guarantee that it translates at a gig like Indiana. May's ability to game plan and implement X's and O's is the least of my concerns if we're being serious. I want to know how he faces adversity in Year 1 when he doesn't have the most talented team on the court or how he fares in Year 2 when IU inevitably goes on a 3 game conference losing streak in late January and the groans get louder. He's never had to deal with expectations at FAU. Being able to handle that kind of pressure at a school like Indiana isn't for everyone.

I still think there is a world where you can get both. Pearl for 6-7 years with May coming in after having coached for several seasons in a P5 conference seems like the ideal situation. I think the timing is right here. Pearl leaving Auburn opens up the door for his son to take over on steady ground and I'd be shocked if Laranaga doesn't hang it up after this season at Miami. Let May coach in Miami and get a taste of real big boy basketball and bring him back for the final home stretch at his alma mater.

Almost an uncontested election at this point

I think Butler playing in back to back title games removes a lot of doubt from any flukiness. If May goes on another deep tourney run with this same core, It’ll surely eliminate the majority of my doubts.

Not necessarily a red flag, but it should be a cause for concern all things considered. Still, I maintain that FAU is a 1st round buzzer beater away from May’s name not even being on the table, not to mention the huge break they received with FDU taking out Purdue the round prior. His trajectory checks all the boxes as do other intangibles, I’m just not sold on his abilities just quite yet.

The jump from C-USA to the Atlantic (after Houston, Cincy, and UCF bolted) doesn’t compare to the jump from the Atlantic to the B10. I think the drastic decline in defensive efficiency in one year with the same core is alarming. I’d have concerns with May going up against the likes of Izzo, Painter, Underwood, etc on top of the big dogs when it comes to recruiting.

So what’s going to happen when he plays a B10 schedule?

Shrews is going to be a good one once he picks a spot and settles down. He’s definitely still in the move up the ladder stage.

I’d say his success at multiple stops spanning 4 decades is a much bigger draw.

If he gets Mullins and Sisley, to go along with Markus Burton, those offensive numbers will change dramatically. A lot of young guys trying to score in a brand new system is never easy.

All very true. I think the same could be said about Archie Miller. I think most thought he was a shoe in for Ohio State job but OSU kind of dragged their feet in moving on from Matta. Had they mutually parted ways a few months earlier, Archie probably takes the OSU job instead.

You’re definitely misinterpreting my comments regarding Dusty May. He could absolutely kill it here. But at the same time he could absolutely bomb and do it quickly. I don’t think he’s the guaranteed grand slam that you think he is.

Archie’s aggregate KenPom rankings are much better than May at FAU. Not comparable. FAU’s Def efficiency numbers have plummeted since last season, all the way down to 100. That’s very concerning for an experienced team who brought back nearly their entire team. Look, I don’t mind Dusty May. Like Archie, May checks a bunch of the on paper boxes. I’m more concerned with how a coach like Dusty May handles adversity at this level on top of managing enormous program expectations. To me that’s a bigger draw than X’s and O’s. Admittedly I didn’t know much about Archie prior to him being hired, but it was apparent very quickly that his personality and reserved demeanor was always going to make him a tough fit. I get a little sense of that with Dusty May.

“Everybody wins at Dayton” is a lot different than what Archie did at Dayton. 4 straight NCAAT appearances as an AT-LARGE. I think that’s a fact that shouldn’t be glossed over. Dayton has historically been a good program, but rarely if ever were they at-large good. Obviously Anthony Grant has had some good years since, but Archie had the Flyers rolling for a long time and proved it was no fluke.

Anyone else think Chris Mack could be a viable candidate? Would anyone be in favor of him? I'm not going to pretend to know why it didn't work out at Louisville, but his record at Xavier speaks for itself. He was actually my preferred candidate to replace Crean.

So because it took him a whopping 3 years to be ranked in the top 10, at Auburn of all places, he's a no go? Wow. Now do USI, Milwaukee, and Tennessee.

Student-athletes are now allowed to sign and work with agents, so the need for some under the table funny business no longer exists.

I'd have to say you're naive if you don't think IU has skirted the rules as it pertains to NIL and how it's presented to prospective recruits. Is it really a big deal if EVERYBODY is doing it?

This has been echoed to me in the past by Knight's first ever recruit at Indiana.

Could be a perfect time to leave Auburn (while they're on top) and allow his son to get his feet wet. A 6 to 8 year window of Pearl leading IU, only to hand it off to Dusty May who by that time has hopefully had multiple years of experience coaching P5 basketball seems like a transition everyone could get on board with.

But none of that points to Pearl being a scumbag. Ratting out a rival team (40 years ago) or hosting a recruit at a family bbq or having a rogue assistant accepting bribes to influence current players to a certain agency upon graduation doesn't warrant the scumbag slander.

IU can (and probably will) do a lot worse than Pearl, all things considered. I understand the hesitation with someone like Pearl, most likely due to age, but some of these character assassinations of Pearl are not only wild, just outright untrue. I get that Dusty May is the likely and preferred candidate, and while I would agree he has a ton of upside and could do great things at this university, he's nowhere near the sure thing that Bruce Pearl would be. Given IU's current position and mere treading of water for the last two decades, I'm not sure IU can afford anything but a sure thing at this point. 6 to 8 solid years of Pearl is the remedy this program needs in my honest opinion. You need a guy who can come in and be competitive from day 1. You need a guy who can change the culture of the program and do it almost overnight. You need somebody to build a foundation that IU hasn't had since Knight was fired almost 25 years ago. I trust Pearl to do that over May.

Can you elaborate more on point 4 please? As someone who lived in Evansville during the Pearl/USI years and has personally engaged with Pearl on multiple occasions, "bad person" wouldn't even be in the top 10,000 words used to describe Bruce Pearl. He's a genuine, passionate guy who cares deeply for his craft.

Here's what I want to know from an administrative standpoint: Are they simply keeping Woodson for a 4th year because the optics of firing an alum after 3 years signal too quick of a trigger and are simply delaying the inevitable? OR Do they actually think Woodson not only deserves a 4th year, but actually think he's the guy going forward? Obviously I don't have a voice or the money to make a difference, but if I'm one that does, I don't give a single dime to the athletic department until that question is answered.