Assistant coaches

[EasyEJay]

2 hours ago, ronzo4IU said:

Jeez, give the guy a break, he couldn't get into Mikes office and was working off a card table in the hallway.

let me guess this was a Jeff Rabjohns "Inside the locker room" story LOL why do so many take these stories as the gospel? 

I refuse to believe that he didn't have access to his office at IU from day 1.  But if he didn't? That's on Scott Dolson. Woodson is gone and a new coach has been hired stop tippy toeing around the situation. If Woodson wouldn't get out hire movers and send to his place in ATL he was there more anyway . 

[BluegrassHoosier859]

10 hours ago, Brass Cannon said:

Making decisions quickly and decisively and not being a victim of escalation of commitment.  45 days to assemble a staff is ridiculous.  Dolson should have been all over DeVries.  
 

I manage an onsite vendor at my job and if they aren’t filling open positions I’m asking them what’s the hold up.  
 

And obviously the retread of holding onto coaches clearly after they have hit lame duck status.  
 

Look at Cig he moves fast and doesn’t waste time. We won the rose bowl and signed the bulk of our class nucleus all in the same week.  While preparing to obliterate Oregon at the same time.  
 

Our basketball program can’t seem to do anything quickly.  Which might work if we were doing things well.  But instead we get a mediocre effort 3 weeks late. 

Mike Wiemuth brought up a good point on the latest X's and Joes pod. Devries had prior connections with 2 of top assistants and recruiters in the country in Preston Murphy (Alabama) and Moikubu (sp?. Texas Tech). He went hard after those guys, both of which were apparently interested and still playing until losing in the elite 8, but ultimately ended up getting pay rises to stay at their current jobs. 

Imagine the outrage this fanbase would have if he hadnt pursued those 2 guys who he had connections with and both happen to be of the top assistants in the country. This upcoming season is definitely a put up or shut up season for Devries but I do think there were a lot of circumstances that didnt go his/IU's way last off season while assembling a staff and roster.

[Hovadipo]

50 minutes ago, EasyEJay said:

let me guess this was a Jeff Rabjohns "Inside the locker room" story LOL why do so many take these stories as the gospel? 

I refuse to believe that he didn't have access to his office at IU from day 1.  But if he didn't? That's on Scott Dolson. Woodson is gone and a new coach has been hired stop tippy toeing around the situation. If Woodson wouldn't get out hire movers and send to his place in ATL he was there more anyway . 

Pretty certain DDV said this publicly. Clown show.

[str8baller]

10 hours ago, Brass Cannon said:

And obviously the retread of holding onto coaches clearly after they have hit lame duck status.  

This has been my gripe for 20 years. In a zero sum game you need to be cut throat. IU always plays the nice guy that never gets the girl.  
 

In other words, you need to be willing to fire your current coach when the one you want becomes available, NOT when you think the loser you have has been treated fairly. IU is always playing by some unwritten set of Marquess of Queensberry rules (e.g. “everyone gets 4 years,” “let’s hire a minority candidate even if he is on probation,” etc…) while everybody else is playing a game of cutthroat. 

[Uspshoosier]

1 hour ago, EasyEJay said:

If Woodson wouldn't get out hire movers and send to his place in ATL he was there more anyway . 

Can’t do that when Woodson “stepped down on his own”   They couldn’t really kick him out until his official last day for the optics of him stepping away instead of getting forced to which we all know he was forced.  Woodson last FU to Indiana for making him step down.   They definitely bent over backwards for the optics of his removal.  Yes in an early interview DeVries mentioned he and Norton were working out of the players lounge and didn’t have access to the office yet 

[AZ Hoosier]

4 hours ago, Uspshoosier said:

Can’t do that when Woodson “stepped down on his own”   They couldn’t really kick him out until his official last day for the optics of him stepping away instead of getting forced to which we all know he was forced.  Woodson last FU to Indiana for making him step down.   They definitely bent over backwards for the optics of his removal.  Yes in an early interview DeVries mentioned he and Norton were working out of the players lounge and didn’t have access to the office yet 

The hell they couldn't. Dump his s#!t in boxes and stack it next to the dumpster.

Woodson was a loathsome individual on just about every level — petty, vindictive, arrogant and unqualified. But then, to quote Tom Crean, "It's Indiana".

[Home Jersey]

2 hours ago, BluegrassHoosier859 said:

Mike Wiemuth brought up a good point on the latest X's and Joes pod. Devries had prior connections with 2 of top assistants and recruiters in the country in Preston Murphy (Alabama) and Moikubu (sp?. Texas Tech). He went hard after those guys, both of which were apparently interested and still playing until losing in the elite 8, but ultimately ended up getting pay rises to stay at their current jobs. 

Imagine the outrage this fanbase would have if he hadnt pursued those 2 guys who he had connections with and both happen to be of the top assistants in the country. This upcoming season is definitely a put up or shut up season for Devries but I do think there were a lot of circumstances that didnt go his/IU's way last off season while assembling a staff and roster.

I don't think there would've been any outrage at all for him not pursuing those guys actually. I think there was way more outrage over the season we just had (which was in part because he swung and missed on his top assistant choices).

The best ability is availability. I'd have thought the expectation between Dolson and DDV would be that he comes with his staff and hits the ground running. But things didn't work out that way. All we can do is move forward. Hopefully year 2 is much better in many different ways. 

[HoosierHoopster]

51 minutes ago, AZ Hoosier said:

The hell they couldn't. Dump his S#!t in boxes and stack it next to the dumpster.

Woodson was a loathsome individual on just about every level — petty, vindictive, arrogant and unqualified. But then, to quote Tom Crean, "It's Indiana".

I tend to agree. IU didn't have to (and imo should not have) bent over backwards for "optics" on timing of Woodson supposedly stepping down. Doing so predictably and did seriously hamstring the incoming coach to IU's detriment. Fully predictable, another bad decision with clear consequences. 

[BluegrassHoosier859]

39 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

I don't think there would've been any outrage at all for him not pursuing those guys actually. I think there was way more outrage over the season we just had (which was in part because he swung and missed on his top assistant choices).

The best ability is availability. I'd have thought the expectation between Dolson and DDV would be that he comes with his staff and hits the ground running. But things didn't work out that way. All we can do is more forward. Hopefully year 2 is much better in many different ways. 

More outrage over the season we just had is obvious. 

A lot of our fan base believed Brad Stephens was going to be our coach. Of course those same people that think since we are Indiana we can get whoever we want no matter what wouldve been pissed to not go after 2 of the top assistants in the country that Devries had ties to.  And we have a lot of those fans out there.

Him not bringing staff from WVU has been discussed at length and there are valid and obvious reasons why none came with him. I'm sure all of this was discussed and Dolson was aware before the hire was made. You are right though him having a staff in place and ready to rock as soon as he got to Bloomington would have been ideal.

[str8baller]

1 hour ago, AZ Hoosier said:

The hell they couldn't. Dump his S#!t in boxes and stack it next to the dumpster.

Woodson was a loathsome individual on just about every level — petty, vindictive, arrogant and unqualified. But then, to quote Tom Crean, "It's Indiana".

I don’t know anything about the back room booster dealings, but it has been reported that Woodson was really close with at least one big benefactor.  When everybody was gloating about how much money Woody had to spend his final year, I warned that the money could easily go away especially if mismanaged.  
 

I suspect any grace given to Woody by Dolson was out of respect to a booster or two who Woody is still close with. 

[Home Jersey]

4 minutes ago, BluegrassHoosier859 said:

More outrage over the season we just had is obvious. 

A lot of our fan base believed Brad Stephens was going to be our coach. Of course those same people that think since we are Indiana we can get whoever we want no matter what wouldve been pissed to not go after 2 of the top assistants in the country that Devries had ties to.  And we have a lot of those fans out there.

Him not bringing staff from WVU has been discussed at length and there are valid and obvious reasons why none came with him. I'm sure all of this was discussed and Dolson was aware before the hire was made. You are right though him having a staff in place and ready to rock as soon as he got to Bloomington would have been ideal.

The coach doesn't need to placate the segment of the fan base that was convinced Stevens was coming lol. Who cares what they think? 

He didn't have to bring his WVU staff. Just come fully staffed with guys in his network. Maybe he thought his first two choices were definitely on board to join him and was caught off guard when they weren't? Either way, took too long to staff up when he wasn't in March Madness, we should've been in position for the portal and we weren't. Is what it is. Onward and upward.

[BluegrassHoosier859]

2 minutes ago, Home Jersey said:

The coach doesn't need to placate the segment of the fan base that was convinced Stevens was coming lol. Who cares what they think? 

He didn't have to bring his WVU staff. Just come fully staffed with guys in his network. Maybe he thought his first two choices were definitely on board to join him and was caught off guard when they weren't? Either way, took too long to staff up when he wasn't in March Madness, we should've been in position for the portal and we weren't. Is what it is. Onward and upward.

I agree with you regarding placating to the fans. But if he wasnt going to bring his WVU staff, he had to start with his connections. 2 of his connections happen to be 2 of the top assistants in the game so you obviously have to start there. They were still playing after devries was hired and, depending what you believe, appeared to have real interest. They each got raises and stayed put leaving Devries standing there like an idiot without a plan. 

Hopefully with a full staff and time to prepare for the portal the results are much better this year. I at least feel a little better that he tried to target top assistants. Shows that he knows how important it is to have great assistants on staff which can only be a good sign.

[Home Jersey]

1 minute ago, BluegrassHoosier859 said:

I agree with you regarding placating to the fans. But if he wasnt going to bring his WVU staff, he had to start with his connections. 2 of his connections happen to be 2 of the top assistants in the game so you obviously have to start there. They were still playing after devries was hired and, depending what you believe, appeared to have real interest. They each got raises and stayed put leaving Devries standing there like an idiot without a plan. 

Hopefully with a full staff and time to prepare for the portal the results are much better this year. I at least feel a little better that he tried to target top assistants. Shows that he knows how important it is to have great assistants on staff which can only be a good sign.

Since he spent most of his career as an assistant, he better appreciate the importance of good assistants. I think the portal will go better this time around, but the lack of urgency in filling the staff feels like a very amateur-ish move from a P5 coach IMO. Even if their interest was real, he could've been lining up back up options. Drew Adams and Kenny after the portal started (?) just didn't inspire much confidence and the results were similarly lackluster.

Hopefully the continuity helps + Clark now on staff for the portal, which he wasn't last year. I think he can show a lot of growth in Y2.

[BluegrassHoosier859]

1 minute ago, Home Jersey said:

Since he spent most of his career as an assistant, he better appreciate the importance of good assistants. I think the portal will go better this time around, but the lack of urgency in filling the staff feels like a very amateur-ish move from a P5 coach IMO. Even if their interest was real, he could've been lining up back up options. Drew Adams and Kenny after the portal started (?) just didn't inspire much confidence and the results were similarly lackluster.

Hopefully the continuity helps + Clark now on staff for the portal, which he wasn't last year. I think he can show a lot of growth in Y2.

He definitely put himself in a position to grow this off season with how poor it went last time, ha. Heres to hoping

[AZ Hoosier]

28 minutes ago, str8baller said:

I don’t know anything about the back room booster dealings, but it has been reported that Woodson was really close with at least one big benefactor.  When everybody was gloating about how much money Woody had to spend his final year, I warned that the money could easily go away especially if mismanaged.  
 

I suspect any grace given to Woody by Dolson was out of respect to a booster or two who Woody is still close with. 

That's an interesting "take", and I suppose it's one worth considering. You don't want to burn any bridges, especially to significant benefactors to the program, but it's fine line between that and pimping yourself out.

But however it was spun by the Mediocre One, any one with a brain and a pair of eyes saw what was really happening. Letting Woodson dictate how it ended, to the detriment of the incoming coach, is a bad move. And we paid for that this year.

[Golfman25]

On 3/17/2026 at 11:12 PM, Mopladysman said:

Gettin rid of the fatheads

Yeah, and bring in the swim team.  : )

[Golfman25]

18 hours ago, Pagoda said:

Drew got invited to an Elite power lunch.  Wow -- huge news!  ;-)

I had to look this up.  It's a networking event.

 

18 hours ago, Pagoda said:

Drew got invited to an Elite power lunch.  Wow -- huge news!  ;-)

I had to look this up.  It's a networking event.

Yeah.  I just had an elite lunch at Taco Bell.  The power will come shortly. : ). 

[Golfman25]

6 hours ago, AH1971 said:

The same administration that hired Cignetti hired DeVries…what am I missing?

Cignetti is all over Dolson to clean chit up.   Listen to him talk about the office furniture and carpet.  

[Golfman25]

4 hours ago, Stuhoo said:

^^This^^

Doesn't mean he will succeed (or fail) at IU, but every little thing is relevant and this was part of the initial hand Devries was dealt.

You think Cig would have tolerated that.  Dolson needed to man up and move the SOB out to the parking lot.  

[Stuhoo]

9 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

You think Cig would have tolerated that.  Dolson needed to man up and move the SOB out to the parking lot.  

Every personnel situation is different. Cig replaced a "who cares" football coach with no support and few personal connections to the university. It was a clearly different situation replacing Mike Woodson with his ties to the Board of Trustees and significant boosters.

Dolson did not have the ability to "man up" and leave Woody's things in boxes in the parking lot. Sure, Dolson could have resigned if he felt strongly enough, but instead he was patient and ended up with the head coach he wanted for both slots.