Ben McCollum

[Stuhoo 85,382]

36 minutes ago, Lebowski said:

Good coaching doesn't need a majority of the team to be multi-year players. They just need buy-in and the right guys on the team. They build chemistry in the locker room. They get every bit of talent out of their players regardless the talent level. And they win. They always win. 

You will see a common theme in my belief that McCollum would be the wrong choice for the IU job - and it's not coaching or a referendum on whether McCollum is a good coach (hint - he is).

It is that he has never been at, managed, or had any leadership role in a large organization. Not as a player, as an assistant coach, nor as a head coach. The Indiana job is far, far more than a floor coaching job. It is a recruiting job, a staff management job, an NIL/budgeting job, a fundraising job, a high-level- national talent evaluation and acquisition job, a media relations job, and finally, a coaching job - against the best of the best.

McCollum may be that guy but there is no resume for many of those criteria, and I am confident that there are other very good options that are also very good coaches that would far better satisfy many of those criteria. That being said, McCollum is a lottery ticket that could equate to 25 years of awesomeness!

[Lebowski 2,988]

1 hour ago, Stuhoo said:

You will see a common theme in my belief that McCollum would be the wrong choice for the IU job - and it's not coaching or a referendum on whether McCollum is a good coach (hint - he is).

It is that he has never been at, managed, or had any leadership role in a large organization. Not as a player, as an assistant coach, nor as a head coach. The Indiana job is far, far more than a floor coaching job. It is a recruiting job, a staff management job, an NIL/budgeting job, a fundraising job, a high-level- national talent evaluation and acquisition job, a media relations job, and finally, a coaching job - against the best of the best.

McCollum may be that guy but there is no resume for many of those criteria, and I am confident that there are other very good options that are also very good coaches that would far better satisfy many of those criteria.

I completely understand your concerns. I also don't have any worry about those kind of things (except maybe the NIL aspect). I'm not too worried about it because all of those things on your list is part of being a head coach at the college level. The "high-level" stuff doesn't concern me. Because when a coach wins, the talent gravitates to the coach, not the other way around. (Winning takes care of a lot of your concerns to be frank. The fundraising, the NIL, etc. etc.) He knows what kind of talent he wants and what kind of assistants coaching his team. Good coaches have been doing this since the begging of sport. I know D2 isn't really the type of national attention you're talking about but he's been able to handle the 'national' media relations at least 4 times and doing just fine this year.

Dolson should go after a coach like Rick Pitino first and foremost but I will be absolutely comfortable if IUBB hires this guy. This kind of hire isn't really taking a chance in my opinion. Whoever hires him, because a blue blood or P4 will, will be getting a really good coach. Coaching matters. If McCollum ends up being a bust and it doesn't work, I will gladly eat crow.

[Stuhoo 85,382]

1 minute ago, Lebowski said:

I completely understand your concerns. I also don't have any worry about those kind of things (except maybe the NIL aspect). I'm not too worried about it because all of those things on your list is part of being a head coach at the college level. The "high-level" stuff doesn't concern me. Because when a coach wins, the talent gravitates to the coach, not the other way around. (Winning takes care of a lot of your concerns to be frank. The fundraising, the NIL, etc. etc.) He knows what kind of talent he wants and what kind of assistants coaching his team. Good coaches have been doing this since the begging of sport. I know D2 isn't really the type of national attention you're talking about but he's been able to handle the 'national' media relations at least 4 times and doing just fine this year.

Dolson should got after a coach like Rick Pitino first and foremost but I will be absolutely comfortable if IUBB hires this guy. This kind of hire isn't really taking a chance in my opinion. Whoever hires him, because a blue blood or P4 will, will be getting a really good coach. Coaching matters. If McCollum ends up being a bust and it doesn't work, I will gladly eat crow.

So riddle me this (not that this is the choice for IU, but it could be):

• If IU had a choice of McCollum or Otz, who would you hire?
• If IU had a choice of Drew or McCollum, who would you hire?
• If IU had a choice of Devries or McCollum, who would you hire? 

If it were 72 year old Pitino, 65 year old Pearl, or McCollum? I'm with you and choosing the 43 year old lottery ticket.

[Ryno6284 3,515]

2 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

So riddle me this (not that this is the choice for IU, but it could be):

• If IU had a choice of McCollum or Otz, who would you hire?
• If IU had a choice of Drew or McCollum, who would you hire?
• If IU had a choice of Devries or McCollum, who would you hire? 

If it were 72 year old Pitino, 65 year old Pearl, or McCollum? I'm with you and choosing the 43 year old lottery ticket.

First two, I’m going with McCollum. McCollum v Devries is a toss up for me, maybe leaning Ben. Win, win either way!

[Lebowski 2,988]

17 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

So riddle me this (not that this is the choice for IU, but it could be):

• If IU had a choice of McCollum or Otz, who would you hire?
• If IU had a choice of Drew or McCollum, who would you hire?
• If IU had a choice of Devries or McCollum, who would you hire? 

If it were 72 year old Pitino, 65 year old Pearl, or McCollum? I'm with you and choosing the 43 year old lottery ticket.

My number one and only criteria of hiring the next IUBB coach is hiring a coach who has championship experience. 

So that means...

McCollum over Otz
Drew over McCollum
McCollum over Devries

Pitino over Pearl and McCollum.

I personally avoid Pearl as much as possible because of personal experience when I was on the USI campus when he won the 95 natty. But that doesn't mean I won't support IUBB if he's the next coach. 

[Magnanimous 4,796]

28 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

So riddle me this (not that this is the choice for IU, but it could be):

• If IU had a choice of McCollum or Otz, who would you hire?
• If IU had a choice of Drew or McCollum, who would you hire?
• If IU had a choice of Devries or McCollum, who would you hire? 

If it were 72 year old Pitino, 65 year old Pearl, or McCollum? I'm with you and choosing the 43 year old lottery ticket.

(Close enough)

[Stuhoo 85,382]

4 minutes ago, Magnanimous said:

(Close enough)

 

(me yelling) THAT'S NOT THE SAME NAME!

 

[ALASKA HOOSIER 11,302]

1 hour ago, Lebowski said:

My number one and only criteria of hiring the next IUBB coach is hiring a coach who has championship experience. 

So that means...

McCollum over Otz
Drew over McCollum
McCollum over Devries

Pitino over Pearl and McCollum.

I personally avoid Pearl as much as possible because of personal experience when I was on the USI campus when he won the 95 natty. But that doesn't mean I won't support IUBB if he's the next coach. 

Hey, i was at USI then as well!

[Lebowski 2,988]

54 minutes ago, ALASKA HOOSIER said:

Hey, i was at USI then as well!

It was a very short lived stint. I transferred out of there the following year. USI's current coach Stan Gouard was an absolute beast. He was fun to watch back in the day. But man, Pearl was toxic. And it was all still kind of fresh when I was on campus. I think I recall IU kind of being involved with that mess as well. I could be wrong. It's all documented about him being blackballed and that being the reason he was coaching at USI. Took him close to a decade to get out of Evansville. To be fair, I do recall him being jovial walking around campus. Like he was just thankful to have a coaching job, if that makes sense. I suppose I wouldn't mind if Pearl ended up at IU now that I think about it. 

[ALASKA HOOSIER 11,302]

11 minutes ago, Lebowski said:

It was a very short lived stint. I transferred out of there the following year. USI's current coach Stan Gouard was an absolute beast. He was fun to watch back in the day. But man, Pearl was toxic. And it was all still kind of fresh when I was on campus. I think I recall IU kind of being involved with that mess as well. I could be wrong. It's all documented about him being blackballed and that being the reason he was coaching at USI. Took him close to a decade to get out of Evansville. To be fair, I do recall him being jovial walking around campus. Like he was just thankful to have a coaching job, if that makes sense. I suppose I wouldn't mind if Pearl ended up at IU now that I think about it. 

I transferred out to IU that year but concur with what you were saying about Pearl. I met him a couple of times with the players. I think i remember Tommy Lasorda visiting there and i got to meet him but that was a long time ago