Pagoda

$15M buyout, moving on Allen deserves some credit.

Scott fired Allen, identified Cignetti, and Scott and Pam worked together to close Cignetti. They work together pretty well and I don’t think it would play out that way — they’re likely in the same page already.

Scott got a raise and an extension in May. He built up football. He cannot be fired by Quinn, who is also a lame duck. Scott has a lot of say.

Probably not giving him $6M again after they just saw $6M didn't do much. And the question really is are they going to be upset if Scott wants a coaching change? As in are they going to reduce donations? That would be their play if they were upset with Scott's decision. I doubt they do that.

One other thing I heard from my OSU friends is they have on/off issues with their DL coach too. I guess he is revered and can clash with the DC. Kinda funny. Unfortunately, their team is clicking right now.

The Cooks and Simons aren't dumb. So far this season, we have been irrelevant, which isn't what their top-5 NIL was for. And Scott Dolson matters more than both of them. Again, he did something with football that seemed impossible. He is influential. He will consult with Cook/Simon, and likely get them on board. Even if they don't totally agree, I doubt the people with their name on Assembly Hall (Simon) and the ones who run our only collective now (Cook) are going to abandon Indiana basketball to defend Mike Woodson. I bet they like Scott a lot more the Woody. The above assumes we limp into the tourney and lose the first week. We'll see, there is always a chance this team clicks despite the odds.

Here is the case he will be fired after this season: - Quinn's Chairmanship is over this summer, and he is likely leaving the board. Yes he is around this spring, but he is a lame duck and that matters. What is he really going to do? - Scott got an extension and a raise in May. He is responsible for the incredible turnaround in FB, the sport that really matters and drives the entire success of the athletic dept. He has a lot more influence now. He can't be fired by Quinn, Quinn isn't even his boss. - Cook and Simon upped the NIL, but that likely came with expectations to compete for the conference and make the second week of the tourney. I think they like Woody, but they're not a Quinn or Ferguson level allies, and I doubt they enjoyed being down 40 to Louisville or potentially inching into the tourney and not really being competitive. Basically, their NIL has been wasted to date. Keep in mind Cook and Simon also probably like Scott and respect what he has done with FB. Cook and Simon aren't mindless Woody supporters, they know IUBB is irrelevant right now. - HS recruiting has been very poor for two years. Woody had one good portal when he had bags of cash to spend. - Donations and attendance are down. Probably doesn't move the needle much, but it's another negative sign. - All these bad stories about Woody, well if you know anyone around the program, they'll confirm the stories are more or less true, and there are probably many more we don't know about. However, people around the program know all the stories. This reinforces he isn't the guy. I can't see the future, but if Woody doesn't compete for the conference and win some tourney games, IU would have spent top-5 NIL for basically no return. And last year was bad too. That's probably enough to allow Scott to make a change. Woody does still have conference play left to make a case to keep his job. It's not likely, but it's possible it happens. We have a $6M roster and quite a bit of talent despite the coaching deficiencies.

I think we will improve and win something like 11 games and inch into the tournament. Just too much talent in our roster even though we have serious coaching issues.

Yea. Our fanbase expectations aren’t that high. We jumped three spots in KenPom to #54. NET was #64 before this game. I’d guess we’ll get into the 50’s after it updates. Decent win today, it’s hard not to win some with a $6M roster, but we are still a ways off.

When they play in their smaller arena on campus, Rec Hall, it’s way better than Bryce Jordan too.

I fear we will find the zone of pain this year. The team isn't achieving much for the NIL spent, but we make the tourney and Mike sticks around and ruins another season(s) of IUBB.

We are an awesome fanbase. Anyone who cries about it being toxic are morons and should be booted from the program.

Penn State still controls the tickets and the gameday operations (today is a "white out"). The NET classifies this game as a home game for Penn State. I would guess it's around 20% IU fans -- amazing venue, but our team is so-so. 20% would still be a great showing. Whoever is going -- enjoy the experience of the Palestra.

The players will get paid with rev share (school pays players directly) and NIL starting next season. The rev share is capped, so the differentiator is still NIL which isn’t capped, and NIL can only come from donors, so we still need them. Basically, our athletic dept revenue is #25-30 in the country. We need everything we can get to keep getting more competitive with the schools with big FB programs.

Yea, our fanbase expectations aren’t very high. We get accused of being “toxic,” but it takes a mega meltdown like last season to actually get fans online fired up. And of course by the time that happens the media are saying the same thing. And the actual game crowds are still supportive and no one in the program is confronted in the real world.

I don't know, if he makes a S16 or E8 I think he has a pretty good case to stay. I completely get your perspective though. For me, my only priority is Woody out, I don't think anything else matters, so I get worried if we do enough to keep him around, but what we do to keep him around isn't anything special (something like don't compete for the conference title, but win a tourney game or two). Ideally he would announce his retirement and I could just pull for IU like usual. Everyone wants what's best for IUBB, but the way the program is run with all the political influences, what's best for IU gets complicated, unfortunately.

How so? I couldn’t watch so I’m curious.

He does the "I'm wise and you dumb fans don't know what you're talking about" bit that is annoying. Otherwise, he's not bad.

I'd love more intel on NIL, it's so important but it's hard to get data points and it's fluid in nature. I'd guess we're now middle of the conference, maybe just below that, which is big progress from being one of the bottom teams a little over a year ago. I'm also curious how we allocate the $22M rev share to the various sports.

I’ve got zero interest in attending an IU game right now, but it is cool families can easily afford to go. Ideally no one would go to send a message, but that’s not realistic.

Woody’s bridge:

It would be fun to have Dusty May coaching for us right now. ☹️

Didn’t go cheap on football.

He may work out very well. I like his modern system and demeanor. Most of his accomplishments are based around one tourney run though. We’ll see how he does this B1G season. I think he will do a pretty good job. I don’t care much about all the IU stuff, which are the last nine points on this list. I like it, but don’t think it’s key to winning games here. I just want Scott to consider all options and not weigh the IU connection too much. The 1,000% Grand Slam hire is in Boston. I don’t think we pry him out though.

May could work out well, I just hope we do a complete search and don’t give preference to guys with IU ties. IU ties don’t help.