Juwan Moye

Your thinking aligns with most I think: we take the big swings for sure and “make them say no”. But assuming they say no, what then? That’s where I think, given the last decade and the IU basketball brand, they have to err on the side of a proven commodity versus an up and comer. I don’t know if our fan base can handle 4 more years of mediocrity. That’s why I think Dolson ends up going for a proven, consistent winner.

We’d be happy with him for sure but I think the skepticism arises since he turned down both UK and UofL last season. Maybe he has a special place in his heart for us but that seems unlikely, similar to the Brad Stevens stuff. (Although Brad’s still in until he’s out)

If we could realistically get the top coach in the sport, which Id argue is Nate Oats, then yeah we’d all want that. I think what you’re seeing is that some of us realize many of these coaches won’t be realistic for us. Example: we’d be happy with Beard but he’s controversial and apparently our current admin wouldn’t even consider him. I’m not saying that’s right or wrong but when you’re looking at the top of the sport, who is actually realistic hire that puts us in that top 6-7 you mention?

Oh, no one has to convince me that May can coach. I’d be happy with him for sure. I just put myself in Dolsons shoes and recognize there’s more risk there than with some other realistic hires. May obviously has a ton of upside though and could be a long-term solution.

Fair question. His portal haul this year was very good, apparently UCLA committed to NIL a bit more this offseason.

You don’t seem to realize that you’re the delusional one here. You ignore facts being presented to you and counter with your feelings. Feel away, you just haven’t presented anything that’s actually worthy of discussion.

That he’s only coached at this level for one season. I’m a May fan but, if you’re Dolson, you have to recognize there’s still some risk there.

This is why I think the most logical play is the proven commodity. The “home run swing” was Archie, it failed. As a leader of the program Dolson has a real risk of fan apathy if he doesn’t get this hire right. We already have plenty of apathy with Woodson at the helm and thankfully that’s somewhat lifted with the forced retirement. But winning the press conference won’t fix apathy, winning games will. So prioritize making sure we’ll win games at this level, and get the program on the right track. That should be priority #1.

The Crean highs without the lows would be a very good result given what we’ve endured for the last decade. Given todays NIL landscape, and that IU is much better than UCLA in that regard, that should be the base expectation for a Cronin type hire.

I’m a May fan, got into it with Tyme who was trying to say Woodson was a better coach which… yeah good call Tyme. But top-20 is a REALLY high bar. May’s results so far have been great no doubt, but I think sustained excellence is required when you’re talking at that level.

Cronin has a 70% win percentage in conference play as well since he took over at UCLA. People trying to knock the guy on his coaching chops are absurd.

Cronin is objectively a top-20 coach in the sport. Not sure what expectations are here. The only other realistic candidates who seem to be in that vein are Beard. May is still not quite there but may be in the near future.

That’s where I’m at with Cronin. Yes, there are more exciting candidates but he’d be someone that basically guarantees we’re in the tourney every year, consistently make sweet 16s, and may occasionally make a real run. We’d all be VERY happy if his first 5 years at IU looked like his first 5 at UCLA.

Brads in until he’s out.

“What do you mean they don’t shoot the 3, don’t guard the 3, and even though they’re always bigger can’t rebound either!?”

Back the damn truck up for Oats. I may be happier with an Oats hire than a Stevens hire.

I’d hope we have our sights aimed higher for that much money.

Cronins buyout is pretty big though. $16m prior to March, 31st. $10m after that. Not sure he warrants that but will be curious to watch how it all plays out.

Nate Oats would be my #1 option if landing him is realistic. I thought his buyout was insane though.

You’d hope we’d land a more proven commodity. IU basketball should have far more pull than IU football did.

He’s a top 15-20 coach in the sport. So no, he’s not the top option, or one of the top-3, but again we’d be silly to not be happy with him. He doesn’t “excite” me to the original point but acting like he’s not a good coach, or even calling him an average coach, is factually incorrect.

If Crean had made a Final Four he'd have been given A LOT more leeway. That said, I was curious about your claim and Cronin's 6 years have absolutely been better than Crean. Here's how the first 6 years of Cronin compare to the last 6 of UCLA when looking at KenPom ratings as well as how the season finished.

In 4 seasons: 1 final 4 2 sweet 16s I remove the Covid year, he’d have made the tourney then.

I don’t care about his Midwest ties, look at his coaching record. I’m not saying he should be our top candidate, or even top 3, but we’d be silly to not be happy with him as our coach if he can replicate what he’s done at UCLA.

Cronin has had a really good run as well and is one of the top coaches in the sport. Certainly better than our last two coaches by a significant amount.