General Coach Candidate News

[JPCIVOP 699]

Just now, Trish said:

He’s been extremely disappointing since winning the championship in 2019. I find that extremely concerning and the fact that he doesn’t believe in this new era of NIL,transfers, etc,.  I don’t see him being a fit at Indiana in 2025-2026. 
 

He’s likely done coaching unless he wants to go D2 or D3 which I could see him enjoying more. 

Someone else made the point earlier that it would be interesting to know whether Bennett doesn't believe in NIL & Transfers or whether it's a question of UVA's institutional support and its place in the ACC. Not to shade Mike Woodson, but I think Bennett with a GM could be just as successful attracting talent, and would be much more successful coaching up a team. 

[Hoosierfan2017 25,088]

3 minutes ago, Alford Bailey said:

He made $3.5 million as coach

I think that was when he first started in 2013 and they signed him to a 6 year, $22 million deal. Woj reported back in 2021 when IU tried hiring him that he was making in the high-six million to low-seven million range.

In any event, he’s making enough money with Boston that IU can’t just throw money at him to get him here. He’s made it obvious he doesn’t want to be the IU coach yet I don’t think the thirsting will ever completely disappear. 

[bigrod 3,203]

1 hour ago, Chris007 said:

And some messages I have gotten. It's Feb. 20. No one knows what is going on. The one thing I love this time is we have good backup options. We have a long way to go and it's going to be a roller coaster, that is for sure

I have no inside information, and I think Stevens was always a long shot. But, I can't help but think, if you did have an agreement with him but wanted to move the attention away for a while, this is playing out pretty well for you.

USPS, you can now post your disclaimer :)

[DSUMMITT 450]

10 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Psssshh. A much more stubborn Bob Knight forgave IU for firing … Bob Knight. His sister got fired 20 years ago.

And Tony Bennett basketball is not hard to watch because the defense is so incredibly suffocating.

Bennett has 17 years as a head coach. 
His teams have been to the NCAA tournament for 12. Won 25 or more games eight out of 17 for a win % of 71.9. And he did most of that at a school with high admission standards and nowhere near the resources of IU.

Anyone that couldn’t get behind him needs to re-examine what actually would make them happy.

 

I gotta agree with this - CB won 6 regular season conference titles from 2013 to 2023 - a time period when often the ACC was considered the best conference. This was going against UNC and Duke when some consider their talent pools the highest they've ever been during that period. A clean coach who wins with less talent.

I wasn't entirely happy with his last second retirement to insure that his guy got a chance - but I get it.

[Stuhoo 89,990]

7 minutes ago, Trish said:

He’s been extremely disappointing since winning the championship in 2019. 

This is what “extremely disappointing” looks like for Bennett? In other words, his worst stretch at a school with crap NIL would be the best IU has been since Calbert Cheaney was wearing the stripes:

[JSHoosier 22,240]

I'm skeptical he'd come out of retirement but Bennett would 100% be a homerun hire.

[Coach Robby 545]

Tony Bennett? No thanks, we already have plenty of scoring droughts in our games now....

[MonteMarcaccini 207]

26 minutes ago, IUGRAD06 said:

Think it was just an event but someone said someone was coming in to help with the coaching search.  

Seems plausible, maybe he is going the Eddie Fogler route and consulting AD’s on hires. Would be a great resource and maybe the more he learns about the job, he may just want to throw his own name in.  Probably some reasons his teams declined post covid at UVA which could be overcome here.  Not entertaining by winning 27+ games a year is not a bad option.

The pause in this story is our donors don’t seem to keep a lid on anything.  Can’t imagine Bennett was in town and these guys weren’t spreading the news.

[CSP 12,128]

Bennett would have to convince me he's "hungry", of course, that would apply to a fair amount of these candidates. 

[Kentuckysucks 4,332]

1 minute ago, Certified Sunshine Pumper said:

Bennett would have to convince me he's "hungry", of course, that would apply to a fair amount of these candidates. 

If we go the boring route definitely hire McCollum instead.  He’s hungry and a lot younger.  I want no part of Bennett.

[AZ Hoosier 11,021]

59 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

SIAP but what’s the rumor with Ballo?

 

28 minutes ago, bird4par said:

Pulled a Rodman.

He wore a wedding dress to North Korea? Wow... must have missed that... /s

[Trish 14,502]

14 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

This is what “extremely disappointing” looks like for Bennett? In other words, his worst stretch at a school with crap NIL would be the best IU has been since Calbert Cheaney was wearing the stripes:

That’s not good enough at Indiana. Otherwise Crean would be here. 

[Kentuckysucks 4,332]

2 minutes ago, Trish said:

That’s not good enough at Indiana. Otherwise Crean would be here. 

Crean was fired because he kept missing the tournament.

[Trish 14,502]

“I think I was equipped to do the job here the old way,” Bennett said. “That’s who I am, and that’s how it was.” 

He’s not getting back into D1 high major basketball. Players are about to be paid “officially” here starting next season, he doesn’t want any part of that including the portal. 

[Ghost of Rick Majerus 2,016]

I can't help but laugh at some of these responses. Tony Bennett and Scott Drew would be fantastic hires. They would turn this bus around. Both have won championships at schools that nobody would consider blue bloods. Yet some of you guys are saying pass?!?!? Are you serious?

Our program has been as mediocre as they come for the past 25 years. We would have killed to have the success that Baylor and Virginia have had. 

[CSP 12,128]

2 minutes ago, Ghost of Rick Majerus said:

I can't help but laugh at some of these responses. Tony Bennett and Scott Drew would be fantastic hires. They would turn this bus around. Both have won championships at schools that nobody would consider blue bloods. Yet some of you guys are saying pass?!?!? Are you serious?

Our program has been as mediocre as they come for the past 25 years. We would have killed to have the success that Baylor and Virginia have had. 

Passing on Scott Drew would be absolutely wild. 

I dont really know that TB would be on my list at all, unless he was on the phone begging for an interview. 

If we have to "ask" someone, not sure they're the guy for the job. 

[lillurk 5,151]

13 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

This is what “extremely disappointing” looks like for Bennett? In other words, his worst stretch at a school with crap NIL would be the best IU has been since Calbert Cheaney was wearing the stripes:

DeCourcey and some other national writer both wrote up TB-to-IU stories in relatively short time recently and I saw a keen observer who said hmmmmm: that seems like it might reflect real interest from Tony’s side.

I don’t love how he left the team this fall, even assuming he was trying to get his assistant the job. If he can convince Dolson he’s passionate enough to do it, he can probably be great at IU, though I have some concerns.

The defense is excellent. It would be what everyone thought we were getting by hiring Archie.

The offense doesn’t worry me much; his best teams, culminating in the title team, were frankly awesome at running efficient offense. It wasn’t always what I’d like to see, but when he had talent, he had great offenses. After the title, he hasn’t had the dynamic guard/wing talent he did during the peak. As I say all the time, talent is never the issue at IU. You can chalk up the lack of talent after the title to a few things: natural erosion from a team built for that period, COVID-era recruiting weirdness, UVa’s strict academic standards making transfer-ins tough (a la UM), a dearth of NIL there(?).

But other than the above, what would really worry me is pace. Not because I don’t want to watch slower games (though I’d rather watch faster ones) but because slow teams are more susceptible to upset losses. If you have more talent, then you want more possessions to fade the random noise. (E.g. I can get lucky and win a one shot 3-pt contest vs. Steph Curry if he misses and I hit, but I’ll never beat him across more than like a best-of-5). He was consistently among the slowest in basketball at UVa. 

I will add that slow defensive possessions are good; but on offense, earlier shots tend to be higher %age looks.

[Hoosierfan2017 25,088]

22 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

Psssshh. A much more stubborn Bob Knight forgave IU for firing … Bob Knight. His sister got fired 20 years ago.

And Tony Bennett basketball is not hard to watch because the defense is so incredibly suffocating.

Bennett has 17 years as a head coach. 
His teams have been to the NCAA tournament for 12. Won 25 or more games eight out of 17 for a win % of 71.9. And he did most of that at a school with high admission standards and nowhere near the resources of IU.

Anyone that couldn’t get behind him needs to re-examine what actually would make them happy.

 

Yeah, idk what people are expecting out of the hire if they wouldn’t be happy with Bennett. UVA has an acceptance rate under 20%. I’m sure athletes get some wiggle room, but he wasn’t working with the same talent pool that he would at IU. NIL and the transfer portal exacerbated that. His experience at IU would be vastly different from his time at UVA.

Maybe he’s still mad about IU firing his sister 20 years ago, but the people involved with that decision are all gone. Would be silly to turn the job down now for that reason. 

[Papacap 2,026]

7 minutes ago, Ghost of Rick Majerus said:

I can't help but laugh at some of these responses. Tony Bennett and Scott Drew would be fantastic hires. They would turn this bus around. Both have won championships at schools that nobody would consider blue bloods. Yet some of you guys are saying pass?!?!? Are you serious?

Our program has been as mediocre as they come for the past 25 years. We would have killed to have the success that Baylor and Virginia have had. 

Some posters here are like cousin Eddie. He’s waiting for a management position. 

[Hardwood83 5,077]

1 hour ago, Eagle’s Rug said:

Nothing new.  70% of the article is rehashing past hiring disasters.

True, but as GI Joe taught us "knowing is half the battle." Recognizing the retarded mistakes IU has made in the recent past so as not to repeat them. The easiest route (Davis) is seldom the right choice. Past behavior IS a good indication of future behavior (Sampson.) Personality & fit are essential (Miller.) Hiring your incompetent buddy is sure to fail (Woodson.) There are several aspects, but ultimately it's not that complicated. Create a concise list of criteria, identify the best coach that meets them, and hire him. If your 1st choice refuses, then move to the next one.