General Coach Candidate News

[Rico 3,552]

1 hour ago, Uspshoosier said:

Winning anything at Northwestern should probably be bonus points.    They have only been to 2 tournaments in their history and he was the coach that got them into the tourney.   Not saying IU should even remotely go after him but winning at Northwestern cannot be easy 

It is truly hard to believe that Collins is above .500 at Northwestern in his time there.  Chris has put the Wildcats on the map.

[Hornsby 3,870]

Hoosier Hysterics trying to quell fan disappointment today in their intro. I mean, we all get it. Woody honestly deserves another year based on his results. Just most fans have lost the faith and actually watch the product.

Here’s my attempt of hope.

Hubert Davis Is basically the 53 year old Mike Woodson with less experience. If he can load his roster and be a top 5 team as a mediocre coach Woody could too. Theoretically. But look what they did in player retainment and the transfer portal. Woody has a bunch of work to do. Also needs to see what kind of guards he needs and needs to loosen the reins on offense. It’s an UPHILL battle but I guess we have a Jim Carey’s chance if he can actually identify and land the talent.




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People might have a little more hope if " help is on the way" but it would need to be major help given the system Woodson runs.

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[HoosierTrav 8,336]

33 minutes ago, Scotty R said:

We finished second last year

I think USPS mentioned that we both tied for 2nd. 

[Hoosierfan2017 24,880]

30 minutes ago, Ngw7183 said:

Yeah, for all you guys who said go small that game and not Sparks

go look at what happened when he did in that game. There is your answer. Maybe fans don’t know all. 

Yeah, we killed it with Sparks on the floor, such as when the lead ballooned to 23 points while he was out there. Our center grabbed 2 rebounds in 29 minutes. 

IU can’t play big, IU can’t play small. IU can’t play at all. 

[Rico 3,552]

3 minutes ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

Yeah, we killed it with Sparks on the floor, such as when the lead ballooned to 23 points while he was out there. Our center grabbed 2 rebounds in 29 minutes. 

IU can’t play big, IU can’t play small. IU can’t play at all. 

You ever think about changing your avitar?  ...asking for a friend.

[Hoosierfan2017 24,880]

6 minutes ago, Rico said:

You ever think about changing your avitar?  ...asking for a friend.

I imagine my avatar being Woody’s reaction when he and Buckner finessed Dolson into giving Woody the job. 

[Chris007 62,512]

42 minutes ago, Ngw7183 said:

Yeah, for all you guys who said go small that game and not Sparks

go look at what happened when he did in that game. There is your answer. Maybe fans don’t know all. 

I would have gone Gunn or Walker.

This seems to back up my point

 

[Hoosier987 2,765]

2 minutes ago, Chris007 said:

I would have gone Gunn or Walker.

This seems to back up my point

 

My god. That is bad.

[IndyResident16 567]

3 hours ago, Chris007 said:

How do you give someone a million-dollar raise for doing a good job, then less than a year later fire them for not doing a good job and give them a 12 million-dollar buyout? If that is the case someone else would need to be fired also. 

Dolson should have been fired after Tom Allen’s $30mil raise. What did he think someone was going to come poach Woody? Will he ever learn?

[Hovadipo 61,437]

1 minute ago, lillurk said:

Thanks, I waited awhile to post after you cooked someone else for a “wall of text” over the weekend

Two totally different situations! That wasn't a length-of-post issue, I just don't care to read letters to the AD (copied from another site, at that) that he most definitely will not see.

[TheWatShot 15,488]

I think if May came here and wasn't successful, it would say more about our program than it would about May. 

 

 

[Hornsby 3,870]

I imagine my avatar being Woody’s reaction when he and Buckner finessed Dolson into giving Woody the job. 

Not only did quinn get him the job they pay him a huge salary to boot. If this was his dream they probably could have paid him half what they do cause nobody else wanted him. Quinn really got dolson to drink the Kool aid.

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[8bucks 7,552]

54 minutes ago, lillurk said:

I hope to watch the track record get longer, but what’s there is already really impressive, and makes me think he could jump somewhere like Louisville, Michigan, etc. and succeed quickly and for awhile. Let’s hope he does so at IU eventually. (Cc @DLG3)

Good summary but the length of success is still a concern.  Ideally, I would like to see him have success that includes a couple of recruiting cycles.  While they are not reliant on one guy, did he just catch a break and get a couple of recruits that were way under the radar or developed later than their peers?  If he can repeat that with a new batch it would say a lot about his ability to build a program for sustained success.  Hopefully, he has another deep run, builds a strong class or recruits for next year and can wait a little bit for this job to open up.

[IUFAN1976 4,320]

1 hour ago, Chris007 said:

I would have gone Gunn or Walker.

This seems to back up my point

 

That’s just tells me what I already know, we didn’t need Sparks.  After we got Ware, our whole focus should have been a point guard and shooting guard and they would have started with XJ and Galloway coming off the bench.  Pretty bad.  Also, quit thinking you have to play big.  Doesn’t Illinois play smaller too.  I guess Woody thinks he’s smarter that the data!  

[Trish 14,477]

1 hour ago, TheWatShot said:

I think if May came here and wasn't successful, it would say more about our program than it would about May. 

 

 

Fully agree. I would trust May, Hurley, and Stevens to turn this thing around and if they somehow couldn’t do it, then move Indiana to the MAC. 

[monskisprodigy 2,300]

10 minutes ago, IUFAN1976 said:

That’s just tells me what I already know, we didn’t need Sparks.  After we got Ware, our whole focus should have been a point guard and shooting guard and they would have started with XJ and Galloway coming off the bench.  Pretty bad.  Also, quit thinking you have to play big.  Doesn’t Illinois play smaller too.  I guess Woody thinks he’s smarter that the data!  

I think Sparks on the bench as your true limited minutes/back up center is fine. In games where both Reneau and Ware find themselves in foul trouble, you have to be able to toss someone in there with some size. Cant roll out Walker at the 5 against teams with any size and expect that to go well. IMO, From a roster make-up perspective, he fills a bench spot that you need.

Now...the open scholarship continues to be a head scratcher, but I think it has been hashed out on here several times, that this staff did aggressively go after guards, but they either wanted guarantees we couldn't give them, or were turned off by Galloway and X coming back. 

 

[Home Jersey 16,033]

Let's just assume we bring Woody back for year 4...

Losing XJ, Walker, Ware. Fair to assume at least 1 of Banks/Gunn/Leal transfer (I won't speculate for now). Bringing in McNeeley (lets hope he stays committed). So could be 3-5 spots to fill? This is removing Mgbako from the equation. I think he's a huge factor in how optimistic you can be about a year 4 of Woody. Very curious how he's feeling about the whole year. Would be sort of shocked if he sticks around, but if you're Woody, I think you've got to make him your top priority and basically be re-recruiting him right now. So, 3-5 spots to fill with Mgbako, 4-6 without him. 

A core of Reneau, Galloway, Cupps, Sparks ... does not excite me really. You'd need to do A LOT of portal shopping. That's why I think it's so important to return a sophomore Mgbako who hopefully makes a similar improvement to Reneau. If you add Mgbako to that core, plus McNeeley and Queen, now we're talking... The #10 and #11 player in the country is a good enough haul to keep me interested. But that still does not address what we all know has been the biggest, of several, issues this year. 

Davis looks like a good player, probably different position than Jakai (who knows if he ever plays again?). I would be happy if we took him, considering how badly we need any guards at all right now. I would like if we could land 3 guards, at least 2 proven commodities from the portal. I hope Queen/Reneau/Sparks would be good enough rim protection that we don't pursue yet another big. 

Roster construction has been the most glaring issue. Style of play is another one. But they're entirely different levels of issues. Roster construction is basically a chokehold around your season from the start. Style of play is where you can adapt. Last year Woody showed he could put together some pretty decent game plans. He's not a perfect coach by any means. There's only a handful of truly great ones.

This year is probably a wash... and it would definitely be in Dolson's own self-interest to call it a "bogey" for Woody, unless there is a slam dunk home run available. If we can make this season remotely competitive while developing that core and we open the NIL bag up to land real guards, I'll have some optimism that we can be good, or even great, next year. Just don't think it all falls perfectly into place like that. 

I can't stand to watch much more of this basketball and see limited opportunities for the program to continue gaining momentum with Woody at the helm. I'm not calling for his job right now because there is a lot of season left and it's more likely than not IMO he coaches us next year than not. But if the season continues this trend and recruiting picture is bleak, hard not to view next year as a lame duck season. That's really tough to swallow halfway into the current season. Would love to eat my words and start seeing some wins so we can have more faith in our ability to have a successful offseason. Otherwise you're swimming in very precarious waters.

TLDR: if there's going to be a year 4 with Woody, we need to start building momentum... now. Win some games, return Mgbako, land McNeeley, Queen and open up the bag for the best guards you can find in the portal. Obviously that would be best case scenario for IU, but if we can't win some games this year to help build momentum heading into the offseason, tough to see the portal/spring going well and thus another long season likely laying ahead. Have to act swiftly to prevent that (the staff/team and Dolson, respectively). 

[Rico 3,552]

1 hour ago, Home Jersey said:

Let's just assume we bring Woody back for year 4...

Losing XJ, Walker, Ware. Fair to assume at least 1 of Banks/Gunn/Leal transfer (I won't speculate for now). Bringing in McNeeley (lets hope he stays committed). So could be 3-5 spots to fill? This is removing Mgbako from the equation. I think he's a huge factor in how optimistic you can be about a year 4 of Woody. Very curious how he's feeling about the whole year. Would be sort of shocked if he sticks around, but if you're Woody, I think you've got to make him your top priority and basically be re-recruiting him right now. So, 3-5 spots to fill with Mgbako, 4-6 without him. 

A core of Reneau, Galloway, Cupps, Sparks ... does not excite me really. You'd need to do A LOT of portal shopping. That's why I think it's so important to return a sophomore Mgbako who hopefully makes a similar improvement to Reneau. If you add Mgbako to that core, plus McNeeley and Queen, now we're talking... The #10 and #11 player in the country is a good enough haul to keep me interested. But that still does not address what we all know has been the biggest, of several, issues this year. 

Davis looks like a good player, probably different position than Jakai (who knows if he ever plays again?). I would be happy if we took him, considering how badly we need any guards at all right now. I would like if we could land 3 guards, at least 2 proven commodities from the portal. I hope Queen/Reneau/Sparks would be good enough rim protection that we don't pursue yet another big. 

Roster construction has been the most glaring issue. Style of play is another one. But they're entirely different levels of issues. Roster construction is basically a chokehold around your season from the start. Style of play is where you can adapt. Last year Woody showed he could put together some pretty decent game plans. He's not a perfect coach by any means. There's only a handful of truly great ones.

This year is probably a wash... and it would definitely be in Dolson's own self-interest to call it a "bogey" for Woody, unless there is a slam dunk home run available. If we can make this season remotely competitive while developing that core and we open the NIL bag up to land real guards, I'll have some optimism that we can be good, or even great, next year. Just don't think it all falls perfectly into place like that. 

I can't stand to watch much more of this basketball and see limited opportunities for the program to continue gaining momentum with Woody at the helm. I'm not calling for his job right now because there is a lot of season left and it's more likely than not IMO he coaches us next year than not. But if the season continues this trend and recruiting picture is bleak, hard not to view next year as a lame duck season. That's really tough to swallow halfway into the current season. Would love to eat my words and start seeing some wins so we can have more faith in our ability to have a successful offseason. Otherwise you're swimming in very precarious waters.

TLDR: if there's going to be a year 4 with Woody, we need to start building momentum... now. Win some games, return Mgbako, land McNeeley, Queen and open up the bag for the best guards you can find in the portal. Obviously that would be best case scenario for IU, but if we can't win some games this year to help build momentum heading into the offseason, tough to see the portal/spring going well and thus another long season likely laying ahead. Have to act swiftly to prevent that (the staff/team and Dolson, respectively). 

I am sorry.  Did I miss your coach candidate news in there somewhere?

[IUFAN1976 4,320]

2 hours ago, monskisprodigy said:

I think Sparks on the bench as your true limited minutes/back up center is fine. In games where both Reneau and Ware find themselves in foul trouble, you have to be able to toss someone in there with some size. Cant roll out Walker at the 5 against teams with any size and expect that to go well. IMO, From a roster make-up perspective, he fills a bench spot that you need.

Now...the open scholarship continues to be a head scratcher, but I think it has been hashed out on here several times, that this staff did aggressively go after guards, but they either wanted guarantees we couldn't give them, or were turned off by Galloway and X coming back. 

 

I say the latter 

[Chris007 62,512]

11 minutes ago, Ngw7183 said:

It wasn’t the case here. He did try Walker and Gunn with the starters. Later. It was a mess. Data says it as well. Reason why he called out Walker post game and said he didn’t play well. Sparks was way better. 

That is an old tweet and Tony and the Assembly Call boys are so far into their data at this point they can’t see the forest anymore. @RaceToTheTop had a great point that was lost the the data thread. This is as much about guys like Sparks never getting time with starters as anything. Tony is focused way too much on lineups that work when he is ignoring the fact that you don’t have data on what you don’t have data on.

this game analytics proved that. 
 

 

The tweet was Saturday morning after the game. It was a better game for Sparks but he never needs more than 6-8 minutes a game.