Fire Darian DeVries? Lol

[Hoosierfan2017]

10 hours ago, Home Jersey said:

People who are quick to completely dismiss comments from former players about what it's like to play at IU are not ready for this conversation lol 

Some guys want the status without the expectations. They want to be big man on campus without getting any pushback for stinking it up on the court. You see it in the NBA all the time. Guys who just want to get paid and get shots without having any expectation of winning.

Other guys handle the expectations, block out the noise, and win. IU football and IU basketball players are at polar opposite ends of the spectrum, and they likely have very different views of IU fans. 

[Home Jersey]

4 minutes ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

Some guys want the status without the expectations. They want to be big man on campus without getting any pushback for stinking it up on the court. You see it in the NBA all the time. Guys who just want to get paid and get shots without having any expectation of winning.

Other guys handle the expectations, block out the noise, and win. IU football and IU basketball players are at polar opposite ends of the spectrum, and they likely have very different views of IU fans. 

Theres been no noise to block out for IUFB. Cig could've won 8 games last year and 10 this year and we'd all be smitten. Of course we love winners. How does the fanbase treat anything less than instant success? Apathy is preferable to tantrums, at least.

[Stuhoo]

12 minutes ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

Some guys want the status without the expectations. They want to be big man on campus without getting any pushback for stinking it up on the court. You see it in the NBA all the time. Guys who just want to get paid and get shots without having any expectation of winning.

Other guys handle the expectations, block out the noise, and win. IU football and IU basketball players are at polar opposite ends of the spectrum, and they likely have very different views of IU fans. 

^^Too absolutist and broad for me.^^

Far more likely that there are some IU football players that are jackasses, and some current IU basketball players that have truly outstanding attitudes by any measure. 

Moreover, the talent pool and availabilty of talent, both physically and mentally, that fits key roles is world's different on a 103 player football roster vs a (currently healthy) 11 man basketball roster. The 11 guys we've got include significant gaps in skillsets needed for consistent winning. That, and the entirety of the situation is on the staff. But it's FAR too soon to declaratively state that the staff cannot make corrections and succeed greatly.

There are so many examples of new staffs making post-first year corrections and succeeding greatly (Todd Golden, Jay Wright, among many others) and of course, many, many examples of first year underperforming coaches that never figure it out.

For me? This is where I'm at: I personally think that this thread is fine for message board fodder, but it is drastically premature and kind of silly for anyone to draw a conclusion at this point.

[Hoosierfan2017]

1 minute ago, Home Jersey said:

Theres been no noise to block out for IUFB. Cig could've won 8 games last year and 10 this year and we'd all be smitten. Of course we love winners. How does the fanbase treat anything less than instant success? Apathy is preferable to tantrums, at least.

When Coach Cig took over IUFB, the stadium would be half full at best for games. Instead of whining about how bad our fans are, he built a juggernaut that led to a 95/5 IU peach bowl crowd and then IU fans outnumbering Miami fans in the national championship in Miami’s own stadium. Instead of doing the same thing, Mike Woodson paid guys to trash the fanbase.

IU fans are some of the best in the country and I’m just sick of mediocre former players who accomplished nothing at IU trashing the fanbase. Sure there are bad parts, some people go overboard on social media, but that’s in no way unique to IU or worse than what they’d get at other schools with expectations. The quickest way to shut people up is to win, but blaming other people is easier to do. 

[bigrod]

On 1/17/2026 at 5:32 PM, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Wish we would have landed 1 of the 5 star fresh.  But I think we don’t appeal in any way right now. 
 

Money, and probably overseas money is the only hope of an immediate turnaround. But who is our scout to be trusted?  Because we don’t have one. We brought over 2 unplayable ones already.  

I didn't want to believe you, Wayne, but you more or less called this. I was hopeful we had a coach that was somehow smart enough to make it work. I know the season isn't over yet, and I know they aren't firing DeVries after one season, but it has been disappointing, to say the least. 

You're right, there is no momentum going into next season. I'm willing to somewhat give the staff a pass on this season, even though many others made it work with the same time restrictions. But if next season isn't head and shoulders above this one, we'll probably be forever duking it out with the bottom half of the conference, hoping to get a break to make it into the tournament. 

I haven't been high on the administrative decisions over the past years, but if they are going to invest in the future, they are right to do it in football. Much higher revenue sport. I'll forever blame them for not being proactive and going hard after Dusty, but it is what it is now. There's no reason we can't be at least respectable in basketball with our resources.

[Home Jersey]

3 minutes ago, Hoosierfan2017 said:

When Coach Cig took over IUFB, the stadium would be half full at best for games. Instead of whining about how bad our fans are, he built a juggernaut that led to a 95/5 IU peach bowl crowd and then IU fans outnumbering Miami fans in the national championship in Miami’s own stadium. Instead of doing the same thing, Mike Woodson paid guys to trash the fanbase.

IU fans are some of the best in the country and I’m just sick of mediocre former players who accomplished nothing at IU trashing the fanbase. Sure there are bad parts, some people go overboard on social media, but that’s in no way unique to IU or worse than what they’d get at other schools with expectations. The quickest way to shut people up is to win, but blaming other people is easier to do. 

All the blame belongs to the coaches and the AD. Fans who go overboard just aren't helping anything and make it a crappy experience for the targeted players. That contributes to stupid narratives about something being "wrong" with the fanbase. At our best, the IU fan base is amazing and we saw that in the CFP. The few bad apples make it a problem for the rest. Typical. No issue with people airing out their frustration on a message board. 

[Pagoda]

Our fans are fine.  They're a net positive.  They still support the program pretty well despite all the decades of struggles.  The crowds are still decent and will cheer anything positive.  They're usually desperate to cheer for something.  And the fans still produce revenue via gameday sales and donations that fund the program and the staff/players enormous salaries.

In the real world, our coaches and players are treated like royalty around Bloomington.  I've seen it for years.  Even in Woody's lowest moments he could walk down Kirkwood and no one would say a bad thing to him.  Midwest nice.  Nothing like UK or some of the nasty pro sports markets like Philly, Boston, and NY.  And our media only asks softball questions.  IUBB people have a great life here.

Since our fans still care, they do notice things.  We've had a lot of struggles, and frustrated players and staff will sometimes lash out when IUBB supporters notice they're struggling.  I've just got no sympathy for that.  It's a cop out, it's a lack of accountability/ownership, and it's a lack of gratitude towards the group of people who fund and support what you do.

We absolutely have some overboard fans and that stinks.  But IUBB has a fanbase of something like 2M people, and a group that big will have some bad apples.  Some may not even be IU fans, just trolls.  At the end of the day, if someone within IUBB can't appreciate the IU fanbase and/or handle what IUBBFan42069 and RMK768187 say online, they have basically zero chance of succeeding in CBB.

Anyways, hopefully CDD can get this thing turned around over the next year.

 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

10 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

Our fans are fine.  They're a net positive.  They still support the program pretty well despite all the decades of struggles.  The crowds are still decent and will cheer anything positive.  They're usually desperate to cheer for something.  And the fans still produce revenue via gameday sales and donations that fund the program and the staff/players enormous salaries.

In the real world, our coaches and players are treated like royalty around Bloomington.  I've seen it for years.  Even in Woody's lowest moments he could walk down Kirkwood and no one would say a bad thing to him.  Midwest nice.  Nothing like UK or some of the nasty pro sports markets like Philly, Boston, and NY.  And our media only asks softball questions.  IUBB people have a great life here.

Since our fans still care, they do notice things.  We've had a lot of struggles, and frustrated players and staff will sometimes lash out when IUBB supporters notice they're struggling.  I've just got no sympathy for that.  It's a cop out, it's a lack of accountability/ownership, and it's a lack of gratitude towards the group of people who fund and support what you do.

We absolutely have some overboard fans and calling them out is pretty fair.  But IUBB has a fanbase of something like 2M people, and a group that big will have some bad apples.  At the end of the day, if someone within IUBB can't appreciate the IU fanbase and/or handle what IUBBFan42069 and RMK768187 say online, they have basically zero chance of succeeding in CBB.

Anyways, hopefully CDD can get this thing turned around over the next year.

 

Absolutely nailed it.  
 

Woodson cared way too much about those outlier fans and thus allowed it to enter the locker room through his players and staff.  Absolute worst thing to do.  Some of those people are awful.  But why would you waste your time with that nonsense. 
 

The majority of the fanbase just reacts to results and on court efforts.  The solution is easy to find. 
 

I genuinely think a top 25 level team that makes the tournament a HIGH percentage of the time will be enough for this fanbase now.  Our “standards” as a fanbase are not anywhere close to where they’ve been.  Despite all this, we still can’t reach these standards with a budget that indicates we should. 

[IUCrazy2]

6 hours ago, str8baller said:

I’ve been reading comments all week about what a wonderful special place IU is to play and how the fans are some of the best in the world.  
 

Of course, those comments were coming from football players. Who should we listen to: national champion football players or a bunch of Woody cast-offs? 

Each of them is probably being truthful.  Losing sucks and winning makes everything better.  Even when the football team was losing it was probably better for those guys because the expectations were so low and only the diehards really paid attention to the program.  Nobody was tweeting Kellen Lewis to tell him about every missed play.  People were writing TJD to let him know how much he blows.

I don't buy that fans dictate whether a team can win, but I do think our crazier fans have been used by media to get clicks and that the picture they paint probably makes this place look kind of unattractive to players and their families.  Apathy is the best way to express our disappointment anymore, not anger.  Writers don't have much to go on when the story is "Team sucks, fans didn't show up."

[str8baller]

4 hours ago, Pagoda said:

They're usually desperate to cheer for something.  And the fans still produce revenue

Over lunch I spoke with a friend of mine that has a company that makes sports products. Most of you have either seen or own their stuff. He was saying that IU stuff was flying off the shelves and has been the last few weeks. The only thing comparable he says is NFL stuff, which is the 800lb gorilla in the room of any American sports discussion.  
 

Whether it is Devries or the next guy, the coach that gets IU basketball back to championship status will live like a king and be paid similarly. If it isn’t obvious from my posting, I think my number 1 pet peeve with IU are the people—fellow fans, coaches, and admin—who blame the fans. I’d love to see UNC and UK fans go 3 out of 10 years making the tourney and see what their attendance looks like. I’d love to see KU and Duke go to one (fluke) Final Four in 25 years and see their NIL.  UCLA has some of the most fickle fans around and they’ve fallen bass-akward into 4 final fours this century.   
 

But…what are you gonna do? Me…I’ll probably watch us at Rutgers tonight. 

[bigrod]

4 hours ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Absolutely nailed it.  
 

Woodson cared way too much about those outlier fans and thus allowed it to enter the locker room through his players and staff.  Absolute worst thing to do.  Some of those people are awful.  But why would you waste your time with that nonsense. 
 

The majority of the fanbase just reacts to results and on court efforts.  The solution is easy to find. 
 

I genuinely think a top 25 level team that makes the tournament a HIGH percentage of the time will be enough for this fanbase now.  Our “standards” as a fanbase are not anywhere close to where they’ve been.  Despite all this, we still can’t reach these standards with a budget that indicates we should. 

Looking at the remaining schedule and how they are currently playing, I can't see this team finishing much over .500.

[jermhoosierfan]

16 minutes ago, str8baller said:

Over lunch I spoke with a friend of mine that has a company that makes sports products. Most of you have either seen or own their stuff. He was saying that IU stuff was flying off the shelves and has been the last few weeks. The only thing comparable he says is NFL stuff, which is the 800lb gorilla in the room of any American sports discussion.  
 

Whether it is Devries or the next guy, the coach that gets IU basketball back to championship status will live like a king and be paid similarly. If it isn’t obvious from my posting, I think my number 1 pet peeve with IU are the people—fellow fans, coaches, and admin—who blame the fans. I’d love to see UNC and UK fans go 3 out of 10 years making the tourney and see what their attendance looks like. I’d love to see KU and Duke go to one (fluke) Final Four in 25 years and see their NIL.  UCLA has some of the most fickle fans around and they’ve fallen bass-akward into 4 final fours this century.   
 

But…what are you gonna do? Me…I’ll probably watch us at Rutgers tonight. 

UK kicked Gillispie out the door after 2 years when he had a 22 - 14 season record and 8 - 8 in the SEC.  The AD said that he "not a good fit".  The administration at IU didn't want a coach to be bigger than the university and knocked it down a few pegs.  Now with an AD and a President who wants them to be good, it is a matter of time to get it back up there.  I personally think that CDD will do much better in the portal this next summer and will learn what he is needing to win in the B1G.  If not, he will be out in a couple of years.  I like the guy and think he is a good X & O's dude, and I would love to see him succeed and be a legend.  If he doesn't, go find the guy who will.

[ronzo4IU]

I think he learned a big lesson about playing in the Big10…but If DD can’t over spend this off season I don’t think next year will look much better.  He need big bags of money.

[Golfman25]

15 minutes ago, ronzo4IU said:

I think he learned a big lesson about playing in the Big10…but If DD can’t over spend this off season I don’t think next year will look much better.  He need big bags of money.

But here's the thing.  Why would any competent coach need to "learn a lesson" about playing in the Big10?  It would seem to me, if you didn't already know, then step one would be watch a few games and get a feel for your competition.  

I watched an interview with Aiden Fischer the other day.  They talked about Cig recruiting him to IU.  He says Cig went over the schedule and told him exactly why they would win each game.  :)  

[Kentuckysucks]

45 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

But here's the thing.  Why would any competent coach need to "learn a lesson" about playing in the Big10?  It would seem to me, if you didn't already know, then step one would be watch a few games and get a feel for your competition.  

I watched an interview with Aiden Fischer the other day.  They talked about Cig recruiting him to IU.  He says Cig went over the schedule and told him exactly why they would win each game.  :)  

DeVries grew up in Iowa watching the Hawkeyes and probably a lot of IU.  If he didn't know what kind of roster he needed I just don't know what to say.

[ronzo4IU]

1 hour ago, Golfman25 said:

But here's the thing.  Why would any competent coach need to "learn a lesson" about playing in the Big10?  It would seem to me, if you didn't already know, then step one would be watch a few games and get a feel for your competition.  

I watched an interview with Aiden Fischer the other day.  They talked about Cig recruiting him to IU.  He says Cig went over the schedule and told him exactly why they would win each game.  :)  

I concur. Then the only thing to deduct from it all is that he just was not able to get the post players he needed for one reason or another.  

[WayneFleekHoosier]

35 minutes ago, Kentuckysucks said:

DeVries grew up in Iowa watching the Hawkeyes and probably a lot of IU.  If he didn't know what kind of roster he needed I just don't know what to say.

How do I get someone to hire me to be an asset in the transfer portal?  I want accountability and can build a tournament team with 10-12 million.  Moves were made where the level didn’t match time and time again with This off season.  I couldn’t believe it was happening in real time. 

[IUHoosierJoe]

28 minutes ago, WayneFleekHoosier said:

How do I get someone to hire me to be an asset in the transfer portal?  I want accountability and can build a tournament team with 10-12 million.  Moves were made where the level didn’t match time and time again with This off season.  I couldn’t believe it was happening in real time. 

You might find out it isn’t as easy as just deciding who you want and they automatically come here. 

[WayneFleekHoosier]

2 minutes ago, IUHoosierJoe said:

You might find out it isn’t as easy as just deciding who you want and they automatically come here. 

I’m sure that’s the case but if I know what I get to spend per position, let me bang.  

[WayneFleekHoosier]

Just now, WayneFleekHoosier said:

I’m sure that’s the case but if I know what I get to spend per position, let me bang.  

Per team rather.