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How did KC turn out to be so bad?

Not good when all these high school players take a hard look at Woody’s program and pass. I don’t blame them. I have a suspicion most of our portal gets were mostly because we paid way more than anyone else would.

Spot on. Even if the FB team won just eight games this year, I think this would still be happening. We have a FB program that is confident, unafraid, putting forward maximum effort, playing smart, and rejecting all excuses. And they're doing this at a historically very bad program. Personally that is all I can ask for, so even when they lose, I don't mind because I know it was a serious best effort worthy of support. It's almost the total opposite with the bball program. I'm not seeing basic efforts put forward in all sorts of areas, mostly with the staff, which is covered in this thread. And for me and many others this breaks the implicit pact with team and the students/alumni/fans, and thus we see a pretty empty AH and declining interest. And it's not a high bar to get the fans excited, so when they aren't, something is very wrong.

Yea, didn't buy us much fun in the Bahamas. TBD on the rest of the year, but not looking great.

Well, he is supposed to land HS recruits and he has tried. He gets one here and there. It’s still an issue.

I really believe like 15 or so coaches could do well here. It's so much easier now with NIL -- the coach doesn't need to be a recruiting savant, which mostly used to mean under the table payments, something IU didn't do much of. It's all above board now and we're a big time player. Get someone who knows the modern game/strategy and can develop players, bring them and their whole staff, give them the big checkbook, and there we go. I think Scott gets it and has a good chance to get it right. That said, if anyone is apprehensive after the last 25 years of screw-ups, I get it, and I am too to some extent.

Yea. He can't function properly as a coach with two years on his deal. Even his best pal donors aren't gonna have much of a case here barring a huge turnaround. Anyone with any sort of connections to the program is hearing this. Good point on attendance. The apathy must be noticed and probably factors in. I do think we get better and make the tourney, there is still talent on this team, but our seeding won't be great and big neutral floor games are not Woody's specialty. We'll see. What a mess.

Agree. Recruiting the '26 HS class, which is a process that starts next year, isn't really doable when those kids see the coach's contract expires in '26, meaning they only have one year with the coach and his job isn't secure to begin with. It's a terrible signal. Even the '25 portal players will struggle with this dynamic.

That was the first year of NIL. We paid them, which wasn't everything, but it helped.

No, you do defend him. We know why things happened and of course no one here can change it. I’m just pointing out why our “process” doesn’t work. IU should know better.

Agree on this point. We have always had basic issues managing the bball program, from the search committee that interviewed no one and hired MD, to Herbert/trustees pushing Kelvin, and of course Quinn. Will we ever learn?

It's not my world, it's the world of successful organizations. Here is another issue: how do you quantify whatever it is Quinn did that is supposedly good? Point us to the increased number of wins, conference titles, or tournament runs. I don't get why you feel compelled to defend Quinn. So many people put Quinn, Woody, and others ahead of the program and I don't understand why. It's a shame.

I don’t know why talking with candidates is such a challenge for IU. It’s like 1-2 days of discussions per candidate and you get to a yes or no. We just saw UK talk to three to five coaches (hard to know exactly how many) before going with Pope. This is not that difficult, yet IU struggles. The key is letting Scott lead the process. He will do it properly and not get fazed by a no.

He thought Woody was the right hire because he is his best pal and his NBA career had sputtered out. It’s also not Quinn’s job to pick the basketball coach. It’s the AD’s job. This is organization management 101, there are probably some online courses from Kelley if you need more detail. This is a case study in organizational failure. Quinn ruined four seasons and counting of IUBB.

His Chairmanship is over summer 2025. Some chatter he will retire from the board too.

Not great, though his top priority is that $4.2M salary paid biweekly.

Thanks.

Looks like you’re right. One game and redshirt is out unless there is a medical reason. So, I don’t get why someone would transfer soon.

Sit out until the portal opens. Keep their year of eligibility. Sort of like in football?

Woodson appears to have poor character. What are people supposed to say?

I do wonder if Woody having his money managed by Quinn’s wealth management firm was disclosed. Not a crime, but could be a violation of university policy. I don’t know if Woody is a client, but I would be shocked if he wasn’t. Unfortunately, this probably won’t amount to much. Our best hope is Scott gaining political power and getting Woody and his toxic cronies out of IU.

We have some dreadful “true fans” on X. They will learn the hard way that we stink in conference play.

I think Quinn fundamentally did this to help out his friend and flex his power. That said, Quinn is a partner at a wealth management firm. His role is no doubt sourcing clients. I don’t know, but I can guess who is a client there, and the firm gets a fee on all that money IU pays Woody. If so, there is the kickback. This could be a decent little story for a journalist to check into. Could be a conflict worth reporting on.

Too bad he can’t charm recruits like he can rich and powerful people.

Oh absolutely. Quinn bailed his pal out from his failed NBA career where no one would hire him as a HC for seven years. Woody makes 4x what he made in the NBA, basically $16M extra to Woody vs his NBA career. This is what Quinn cares about, he doesn’t care about the results in the court, I’m sure he rationalizes the losing by comparing Woody to Archie or something like that.