Scott Dolson Thread

[Home Jersey]

Scott hired the best football coach in IU history and hired a basketball coach with the best mind we've had since Sampson. Given how Sampson's tenure turned out, DDV is probably the best basketball hire we've made since Knight. Future of IU athletics is bright. It's going to be fun to be an IU fan again. 

[68Hoosier]

10 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

Scott hired the best football coach in IU history and hired a basketball coach with the best mind we've had since Sampson. Given how Sampson's tenure turned out, DDV is probably the best basketball hire we've made since Knight. Future of IU athletics is bright. It's going to be fun to be an IU fan again. 

Things are looking up for sure.  I hope the BB team exceeds my expectations!  

[Old Friend]

The best thing he did was get out ahead of the NIL era.  I heard this morning there will be > $250 million in dead money paid to coaches (James Franklin, Brian Kelley, etc) as contract buyouts.  That's crazy.

In college football, no team can win consistently without an elite coach.  There might be a dozen of them nationwide and we have one of them who is happy at Indiana.  Scott being ahead of things and finding that coach before everyone else found out they had to changed the game and everything about athletics at Indiana.   Basketball will benefit from football's success AND get better on its own.

We're sitting in a really good spot and Indiana is most definitely here to stay.  We have perfect alignment - for the first time since Ralph Floyd and John Ryan - between coaches, athletic director, and school president.  That's rare and we get to enjoy it.

[akumanina]

He almost single-handedly saved the IU athletics. He's arguably the most important figure in IU sports by bringing in coach Cig and coach DeVries. Something that had never been done by any former AD. 

[8bucks]

45 minutes ago, akumanina said:

He almost single-handedly saved the IU athletics. He's arguably the most important figure in IU sports by bringing in coach Cig and coach DeVries. Something that had never been done by any former AD. 

Plus he was previously in a fund raising role which certainly helps, we hope, in this NIL world. 

[Pagoda]

Credit where credit is due. And a lot of credit is due here.

I think we've got to congratulate Scott Dolson, the AD who played a huge role in this College Football National Championship.

- He raised $15M to move on from Tom (yea he did give him an extension in 2021, but who wouldn't?)
- He identified Cig
- He convinced Cig to come here
- He led an unprecedented and enormous increase in football resources
- He kept Cig at Indiana despite several traditional powerhouses wanting him badly.  In fact, of all the coaches in the coaching carousel this season, Cig took his name off the market the fastest (~48 hours)  
- IU is the National Champion in the biggest college sport and this is the greatest turnaround in college sports history

Great job Scott!

[Home Jersey]

2 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

Credit where credit is due. And a lot of credit is due here.

I think we've got to congratulate Scott Dolson, the AD who played a huge role in this College Football National Championship.

- He raised $15M to move on from Tom (yea he did give him an extension in 2021, but who wouldn't?)
- He identified Cig
- He convinced Cig to come here
- He led an unprecedented and enormous increase in football resources
- He kept Cig at Indiana despite several traditional powerhouses wanting him badly.  In fact, of all the coaches in the coaching carousel this season, Cig took his name off the market the fastest   
- IU are National Champions in the biggest college sport and this is the greatest turnaround in college sports history

Great job Scott!

Given the effects a good football program can have on the entire University, truly nothing else matters about Dolson's tenure. He picked the right North Star for the athletic department to pursue and everything has fallen perfectly into place around that. We need to sustain this success (and I'm certain we will with this staff) for a few more years and then the transformative impact across IU will be obvious. Tip of the cap to Scott.

[Pagoda]

Scott got an invite to this White House roundtable on college sports.

It’s probably doesn’t matter much, but  I guess it’s kinda interesting we were included.  IU has some clout.

 

[Hoosier987]

57 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

Scott got an invite to this White House roundtable on college sports.

It’s probably doesn’t matter much, but  I guess it’s kinda interesting we were included.  IU has some clout.

 

We have definite clout. Scott is very well respected AD

[str8baller]

56 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

Scott got an invite to this White House roundtable on college sports.

It’s probably doesn’t matter much, but  I guess it’s kinda interesting we were included.  IU has some clout.

 

Yep. Win a football title at Indiana and become bullet proof. I really want basketball to be better, but he could burn it to the ground and put out the ashes with raw sewage from West Lafayette and it wouldn’t matter. 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

1 hour ago, Pagoda said:

Scott got an invite to this White House roundtable on college sports.

It’s probably doesn’t matter much, but  I guess it’s kinda interesting we were included.  IU has some clout.

 

Very fascinating.  Huge money industry functioning like the Wild West.  Curious to see what thoughts come out of this. 

[BA47591]

Once you get passed the first 2 months of DDs tenure, I believe he's done quite well. I think we're in the process of rectifying shortcomings as we speak. He's probably going to win 20 games with this roster. Imagine what he will do next year with a well crafted roster. I would've preferred these things had been in place last March but now DD knows exactly what to go get and the people are being put in place to get the job done. 

[IU Prof]

Just think how legendary Dolson would have been if he'd have been able to hire Cignetti and May in the same academic year...

[newcastle12]

19 minutes ago, IU Prof said:

Just think how legendary Dolson would have been if he'd have been able to hire Cignetti and May in the same academic year...

What has possibly given you the impression May wanted to be here?

[RoadRage]

32 minutes ago, newcastle12 said:

What has possibly given you the impression May wanted to be here?

May has never said anything to lead me to believe he would not have been interested in the Indiana job in 2024 had it been offered. What has you convinced he had no interest in the Indiana job before accepting the Michigan job?

[Shooter]

10 hours ago, newcastle12 said:

What has possibly given you the impression May wanted to be here?

You mean other than him being an Indiana native, Indiana University graduate, who considered other similar Midwest programs before ultimately accepting a job in our conference?

[Muskie plays the four]

1 hour ago, Shooter said:

You mean other than him being an Indiana native, Indiana University graduate, who considered other similar Midwest programs before ultimately accepting a job in our conference?

Some of the immediate family didn't want him at IU. They like their anonymity being out and about. Super happy he is at Michigan.  

[str8baller]

13 hours ago, IU Prof said:

Just think how legendary Dolson would have been if he'd have been able to hire Cignetti and May in the same academic year...

When Barry Alvarez was at UW he had almost complete control because he had successfully hired for the football program time and again and basketball was in a similar spot. Things like hockey and volleyball were in good spots too. Technically, he answered to the president, but he had the complete confidence of the donors and alumni and so there was very little control anyone could exert over him as far as athletics went. 
 

Dolson can get to that level if he figures basketball out. 

[Pagoda]

1 hour ago, str8baller said:

When Barry Alvarez was at UW he had almost complete control because he had successfully hired for the football program time and again and basketball was in a similar spot. Things like hockey and volleyball were in good spots too. Technically, he answered to the president, but he had the complete confidence of the donors and alumni and so there was very little control anyone could exert over him as far as athletics went. 

Dolson can get to that level if he figures basketball out. 

Yea, with IUFB's success I think Scott is getting close to that level of power and trust, but not quite.

I was very happy when he managed to fire Woody midseason (which was not easy), that signaled he wrestled MBB control from Quinn and certain donors.  Then it was clear the last bball hire was basically his call because only a few people knew who it was gonna be -- Scott, Pam, and IIRC Decker, who was the "analyst" involved.  That seemed to be it, there were like no leaks.

But, as you note MBB is not figured out.  It's not over, but as we all know too well it's been a slow start for CDD and there are some legitimate concerns with him.  I'm still surprised how un-Cig-like the whole thing was.  CDD has a much different demeanor and we didn't go with someone who would bring staff/players off the bat.  I'm sure there were reasons, it just surprised me given the template from across the parking lot.

But, as I constantly say, we'll see, it's still possible CDD figures it out.  The good news our athletic dept's financial condition has improved immensely the past two years, which is going to make working on the MBB issues much easier.  Perhaps someday we figure it out.

[Uspshoosier]

22 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

we didn't go with someone who would bring staff/players off the bat.  I'm sure there were reasons

I think the staff thing has been explained.  Frazier an ex Illinois player had no desire to come to IU and coach and Hansberry one of the players you would want just followed him to Virginia Tech since he brought him to West  Virginia.  Barnett a former IU player probably would have followed as an assistant however he got the head coaching job at Oral Roberts.  Ostrum had already failed as an assistant at IU so probably smart to bring him along.   Players was a mix bag.   Powell went to North Carolina and plays some, Hansberry is solid at Tech however most of the rest went down a level