Pagoda

Cig has done it. I was looking at next season and getting worried we may lose some games and maybe only get to 7 or 8 wins. Then I had this wave of guilt that I was letting Cig down with my self-imposed limitations that should not be part of our new football culture! I snapped out of it and started thinking about another playoff run…

Yes. I really just want a coach that sees fans for what they are and understands how to manage them. Fans can create an atmosphere that helps the team win and they give money, they're extremely valuable. But sometimes fans can get lazy or upset/negative, and they need to be managed. I want a coach that doesn't take fan emotions personally and does not get flustered, especially with online chatter. Part of being a coach at a big program is managing the fans, it's not that hard, they want to like the coach. Take our boy Cig for example. The students were leaving at half time as usual. Cig didn't like it. Cig sent the students an email asking them to stay and explained it helps the team. The students stayed all game. Then Cig send a follow-up email thanking them. Perfect! We also had an issue with fans getting into the stadium on time. Cig had Dolson send an email to ticket holders. The problem improved. Perfect! Those are great examples of working the fanbase. The other scenario is when the results suck. The coach can get quite a bit of leeway by taking responsibility, stating what happened is unacceptable, and promising improvement and detailing how that improvement will occur. Basically, 100% exact opposite of what Mike Woodson did on senior night last year. I didn't watch what Cronin said exactly, but it's reasonable to explain to fans they are hurting the team and ask them to stop. The trick is the coach cannot getting flustered/angry, they need to see themselves as the coach/leader of the fans just as they are the coach/leader of the players. The fans are fundamentally an asset a coach needs to be able to maximize.

Every 4-5 days the Beard topic comes up. It's like clockwork.

I don't know the exact reason, that could be it. Someone told me in Waco he built a huge house (are those called compounds down there? zing!) where they have broader/extended family living with them. They seem entrenched in that town and school in a way we can't replicate. If Brad had three other votes to deal with, Scott may have 10+! Admittedly there are no public details on his house, so I have to trust the person I heard this from. He would be a very good hire -- he knows how to win big. Fit just doesn't seem likely.

Yep. UK made a huge run at him and he passed. If he went with us that would be surprising, we are similar to UK, just in a college town and we have our teeth. But, who knows, maybe the Indiana angle matters.

It will be interesting if SDB, Tyme, and others like them stick around once the new staff comes in. Will their sources and reason to post go away with Woody’s staff? I hope so.

It would be insane and about a 0.1% chance of happening. Entertaining though. He fully jumped the shark today.

We’ve got a shot at an him I suspect.

Perhaps, you could be right. He would have got better players here, so a bit hard to know…

I know some IU media folks so I know what these two think on Stevens specifically. But as I always say, I so want them to be wrong.

Not how I read it. These guys don’t believe the Stevens rumors. But I so want BTB posters to be right.

#1 is more or less Purdue. They may have a little more than 50% of our NIL, 2/3 at most though. And yea maybe Matt isn’t top 2 or 3, but he is up there. I’d take #1 and pray a great coach can get players at a discount.

This article is Niziolek and Osterman.

IndyStar poo poo’d the rumors in their article this morning (Niziolek and Osterman), they wrote, “The overwhelming majority of noise and fury filtering through the IU basketball ecosystem right now is, to use an industry term, crap.” That said, I am hoping the BTB posters claiming to be in the know are right…

Whoever our new coach is should look into these kids… notably the top one…

Haralson should check out whoever our new coach is and see if he likes him…

I can’t help but really enjoy following these Brad predictions. I don’t think we get him, but seeing if these predictions come true is pretty interesting. In would love for the people who cover IU to get a whiff of these rumors. They wouldn’t write about it, but I’d like them to just hear it.

It’s a discussion on who is making this hire, not exactly about firing Mike. Seems close enough for this thread.

I love to hear that as much as possible. I have confidence in him too.

I get what you’re saying. You may be right and it’s fair to have concerns the meddling won’t stop. I can’t look at the last 25 years and be super confident lol. The Woody firing was a bit alarming for sure. Scott and Pam need to step up, hopefully with some self aware trustees/donors. So far it sounds like Scott is in charge, but it’s possible the meddlers may try to step in again (cringe). If that happens we are in deep sh1t. Of course there is also risk Scott hires the wrong person on his own. Perilous times!

I’m not sure on the specifics. I only know Quinn was pushing for Mike as far back as 2017. Exactly what was agreed to I don’t know.

I really hope our org chart is fixed with Quinn on the way out and he and his pals also discredited. No more meddling. Scott makes the athletics calls, of course Pam works with Scott, but she also has to provide cover for him when trustees and donors can’t helped themselves and start yapping. She has to tell them to F off. Hopefully the next BoT Chair understands how this should work and contributes to everything running like a proper organization. We really want to Scott in charge of the whole athletic dept. That way if results are good or bad, it’s clear who is responsible and we can change out Scott if he doesn’t meet the goals he agrees to with Pam and the Board. Management 101. We had serious upper level meddling with the AD’s job in 2001, 2006, 2021, and 2024. It has killed our bball program, the meddlers are either clueless on how to hire/fire coaches or they’re outrageously conflicted.

I don't think that's quite how this is playing out. - First off, I don't get the frustration with Scott. Last year he was the only person at IU that wanted to move on from Woody. The BoT, the key donors, and Pam didn't want to move on. Scott was the one guy at IU on our side, he would have fit in well in the Fire Mike Woodson thread. - If we miss on Dusty, it's going to be blamed on Quinn and Ferguson. There is a whole IndyStar article, among other reports, detailing how those two protected Woody last year. That will be referenced. And everyone knows Quinn effectively hired Woody to begin with. - The BoT controls approvals for big hires like a new coach. In reality, Scott can't just do whatever he wants because he is Woody's boss. And it sucks, but Scott also has to factor in when our biggest donor likes Woody, we need those many millions of dollars for the athletic dept and to be a bball NIL powerhouse into the future. - Maybe there is room for criticism on how Woody is being let go. I don't know. While the letter is annoying, Woody still has a lot of powerful friends at IU, and Scott still managed to shitcan him midseason. Things behind the scenes are very political and Scott will need people onside for the next hire, so maybe consider Scott has to work that bigger picture angle. Plus of course Woody is a total @$$ to deal with which makes this separation 100x harder. - I doubt this next bball hire makes or breaks Scott's job. His job rides on football, which is 3x+ bigger than bball and drives basically the entire athletic dept. If football does well, Scott probably survives a bad bball hire. The tens of millions of extra dollars Scott is bringing in from football is what IU really notices and cares about. If football declines, a good bball hire may not save Scott. But let's hope it doesn't come down to this... - The next bball hire is all Scott as far as I'm concerned. Scott is the guy to blame good or bad. He seems to be leading this process thanks to the political capital and influence from building up football, plus it helps Quinn and the donors were proven to be 100% wrong on Woody and clearly incompetent. Scott isn't perfect, but I defend him on here because big picture he has done some very good things while having to work with a lot of difficult people at IU. And when I look around IU and the athletic dept, when it comes to making hires, he is quite literally all we've got. Hopefully he gets this bball hire right. And of course, it is a free country, so if anyone wants to dislike Scott, that's up to you. This is just how I look at it.

True. And the mismanagement, negligence, and poor decisions really go back to 2000. I will spare the forum a list of those transgressions. After a quarter century of this nonsense from IU, it's amazing we have any fans left.

I feel the same. If this hire is a flop I’m happy to just focus on football like I have for over a year now. We have real coaches and leaders there worth supporting, plus it’s by far the biggest college sport as we know. Soccer, baseball, WBB are cool too.