General Coach Candidate News

[Certified Sunshine Pumper 10,577]

  On 3/10/2025 at 7:48 PM, EasyEJay said:

kind of a rhetorical statement,  You can choose to believe me or not but I coach HS kids its most definitely the latter 

So do I. Mine just want to win. 

[realTomCrean 2,380]

  On 3/10/2025 at 7:43 PM, EasyEJay said:

This is another thing I don't understand you think the talent needed to compete at a high level in the Big ten cares about how many D2 titles this dude won ? 

McCollum had a great video posted in here yesterday about recruiting good players w/ good personality traits. I do not care about 5 stars, we've went the MM (taco), Romeo, Ware, JBJ route. How did that go? More Gallo/Goode/Leal and less paper-tiger 5* guys. This mindset has won IU the offseason countless times in the last decade and a half, and I used to fall for it as well. Give me the in-season wins personally, but you can root for the off-season accolades if you want. Proof is in the pudding:

 .909% Win percentage (D1 only). 2013-2024 in D2 he lost a total of 24 games, now only has 3 losses in D1. 

I'm a Brad Stevens guy, but if not him or TJO, Mccollum is enticing. A coach who has won at nowhere schools, with nobody players, coupled with IU's large NIL, heritage, and notoriety spells success to me. 

.909% Win percentage (D1), 3-0 v P5

[AZ Hoosier 9,820]

  On 3/10/2025 at 7:58 PM, BA47591 said:

He's a calculated guy. He had a lot of offeres to move up. He was hot after the 38-0 D2 champion and stayed. Again, jmo, but I think he'll build Drake in his own image and move to a spot of his choice with several of his own players. He doesn't seem to be in hurry to rush things. 

So, we can't get Brad Stevens. We can't get Scott Drew. We can't get TJ Otzelberger. We won't get Beard. We won't get Brownell. And now we can't get Ben McCollum? :D 

Just tell Scott to turn off the lights when he leaves.

DWS

[realTomCrean 2,380]

  On 3/10/2025 at 7:58 PM, BA47591 said:

He's a calculated guy. He had a lot of offeres to move up. He was hot after the 38-0 D2 champion and stayed. Again, jmo, but I think he'll build Drake in his own image and move to a spot of his choice with several of his own players. He doesn't seem to be in hurry to rush things. 

I see your point, and thanks for articulating your viewpoint without being dismissive toward an opposing viewpoint. 

[Silat Player 1,323]

  On 3/10/2025 at 8:01 PM, AZ Hoosier said:

So, we can't get Brad Stevens. We can't get Scott Drew. We can't get TJ Otzelberger. We won't get Beard. We won't get Brownell. And now we can't get Ben McCollum? :D 

Just tell Scott to turn off the lights when he leaves.

DWS

I hear this guy might still be available...

[AZ Hoosier 9,820]

  On 3/10/2025 at 8:03 PM, Silat Player said:

I hear this guy might still be available...

Salvation!

Lopes Up!

[IU Prof 1,881]

  On 3/10/2025 at 7:34 PM, Certified Sunshine Pumper said:

Hmmm.. Tim Miles and John Groces only similarities to McCollum is they all coach basketball and breathe. 

Well, that and they convinced a good chunk of a B1G fan base they were the next big thing. Same with Archie, Pitino Jr., Pat Chambers, Mike Rice, etc. The list goes on and on.

And everyone of those fan bases had someone like you convinced they were smart enough to determine what separated their guy from the rest of the failed line of mid-major flame outs.

 

[lillurk 4,600]

  On 3/10/2025 at 7:34 PM, Certified Sunshine Pumper said:

Hmmm.. Tim Miles and John Groces only similarities to McCollum is they all coach basketball and breathe. 

I tend to think Miles is a pretty good coach and might’ve been pretty interesting in a better job and/or with NIL.

[DougJr74 225]

  On 3/10/2025 at 7:59 PM, Hoosierfan2017 said:

Cronin has missed the tournament one time over the past 15 seasons and has zero seasons in which he finished under .500 in his conference. You know exactly what you’re getting with him. Maybe someone argues that his ceiling isn’t high enough (I’d disagree), but his floor is far better than anything we’ve had recently. 

McCollum is completely unproven on a P5 level. He didn’t play at that level, he didn’t serve as an assistant at that level, and he hasn’t coached at that level. Hell, he only has a few games coaching against P5. I simply have zero interest in rolling the dice with someone like that. 

Maybe I’m wrong, but I really don’t think IU can take that gamble at this stage. 

I would rather take a chance on McCollum. Just my gut feeling. Thank you for your response.

[Certified Sunshine Pumper 10,577]

  On 3/10/2025 at 8:05 PM, IU Prof said:

Well, that and they convinced a good chunk of a B1G fan base they were the next big thing. Same with Archie, Pitino Jr., Pat Chambers, Mike Rice, etc. The list goes on and on.

And everyone of those fan bases had someone like you convinced they were smart enough to determine what separated their guy from the rest of the failed line of mid-major flame outs.

 

Lol yes someone like me.  I'm AD. I'm SD. 

Those coaches haven't accomplished half of what McCollum has. 

I've not once stated I know thay McCollum is separate from the midmajor bust group, lord. 

[str8baller 6,794]

  On 3/10/2025 at 7:59 PM, Hoosierfan2017 said:

Cronin has missed the tournament one time over the past 15 seasons and has zero seasons in which he finished under .500 in his conference. You know exactly what you’re getting with him. Maybe someone argues that his ceiling isn’t high enough (I’d disagree), but his floor is far better than anything we’ve had recently. 

McCollum is completely unproven on a P5 level. He didn’t play at that level, he didn’t serve as an assistant at that level, and he hasn’t coached at that level. Hell, he only has a few games coaching against P5. I simply have zero interest in rolling the dice with someone like that. 

Maybe I’m wrong, but I really don’t think IU can take that gamble at this stage. 

Cronin’s floor is way higher. Otoh, questions about his personality and offense may make it seem like his ceiling is below what IU ultimately wants. McCollum is the exact other end of that spectrum. Collins probably is somewhere in the middle. 
 

If those candidates are on  the same “level” for Dolson to choose from a lot of it may boil down to how risk tolerant he is and what the behind the scenes politics look like.

[tyappleg 6,279]

  On 3/10/2025 at 7:34 PM, Artie86 said:

I'm a HS teacher and all the kids pronounce GIF as "Jiff"....lol

Good.  I feel like when I was in HS, I was alone in pronouncing it correctly.  Nice to see the kids have figured it out. Lol

[realTomCrean 2,380]

  On 3/10/2025 at 7:48 PM, EasyEJay said:

kind of a rhetorical statement,  You can choose to believe me or not but I coach HS kids its most definitely the latter 

 

  On 3/10/2025 at 7:43 PM, EasyEJay said:

This is another thing I don't understand you think the talent needed to compete at a high level in the Big ten cares about how many D2 titles this dude won ? 

And when it comes to Cig we act like he had NO Power Conference experience LOL do you think he spends times talking to recruits about his time at IUP or Elon. Or his time at NC State coaching Phillip Rivers and Russell Wilson or His time at Alabama under Saban how he recruited Mark Ingram and Julio Jones. You think recruits that come to his office see displayed his Bama title rings or his IUP conference title rings ? LOL 

So, you recruit HS kids? If so, you spend time telling them about your Great former players to entice them further? Do you show the "recruits" your illustrious hardware from conference championships? If so, have they ever said, "That's awesome coach, but why don't you have any Metropolitan Conference trophies?" Just curiosity if that's your style, as you've alluded to.

Certified Sunshine Pumper stated it well: a great HC talks about how they can develop said recruit in their game and as a man. And as a former coach, player, and parent myself, I'd have to agree with CSP - much easier to sell a recruit based on merit than a show-n-tell of "rings" as you say. 

Just an unsubstantial post from an angry, agenda-based contributor.

Would it not be easier to disagree silently, or if you have to speak up against Mccollum - use some sort of statistical/data logic instead. We all have the same end-state goal on this board: IU to hang a banner. 

[realTomCrean 2,380]

  On 3/10/2025 at 8:11 PM, str8baller said:

Cronin’s floor is way higher. Otoh, questions about his personality and offense may make it seem like his ceiling is below what IU ultimately wants. McCollum is the exact other end of that spectrum. Collins probably is somewhere in the middle. 
 

Reasonable post. I agree with all above. Cronin, lower floor. McCollum, higher ceiling. Thanks

[TTT 1,208]

https://www.google.com/gasearch?q=Josh Schertz offense&source=sh/x/gs/m2/5#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:0722f3cd,vid:B5wBkx1x3MY,st:0

Start at 27:30 for Josh Shertz interview with thoughts on St Louis basketball and some of his philosophy.

[IndianaSconnie90 660]

  On 3/10/2025 at 5:47 PM, Trish said:

Dolson has his guy, a search firm is totally normal, they've had one for each of the searches in the last 2 hires.

It's been completely silent. Utah, Miami, FSU have hired their coaches. Indiana is waiting. 

I'd love to hear the reccomendations those search firms came up with for the last 2 hires lol

[Mr. Hoosier Pride 1,317]

  On 3/10/2025 at 8:12 PM, tyappleg said:

Good.  I feel like when I was in HS, I was alone in pronouncing it correctly.  Nice to see the kids have figured it out. Lol

I must be old....when I was in HS it wasn't GIF vs JIF, it was JIF vs. Peter Pan

[sirhoosierlot 3,273]

  On 3/10/2025 at 8:05 PM, IU Prof said:

Well, that and they convinced a good chunk of a B1G fan base they were the next big thing. Same with Archie, Pitino Jr., Pat Chambers, Mike Rice, etc. The list goes on and on.

And everyone of those fan bases had someone like you convinced they were smart enough to determine what separated their guy from the rest of the failed line of mid-major flame outs.

 

None of those guys even won their conference before getting big ten jobs. Those guys got jobs because of their connections as assistants to P5 coaches. The longest tenure as a head coach before they got their B1G job was Miles with 17 years and three conference wins in NAIA and D2 respectively. The second longest tenure was Groce with 4 years experience. They aren't comparable at all.  

[jumpshot53 280]

McCollum is a fantastic coach.  He isn't going to forget how to coach no matter where he goes.   He reminds me of a young guy that quit his good job in Indy to coach basketball.  Some of us were saying the same thing about that guy that went to Butler.  He's unproven, we can do better.  Yea, great coaches make us all wish we would have acted sooner.  Someone will reap the benefits of McCollum one day.  I'm not worried for his future.

[Capt. Crimson 3,794]

  On 3/10/2025 at 7:46 PM, AZ Hoosier said:

yes

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pronunciation_of_GIF

I refuse to acknowledge Jiffers.