IU’s basketball culture is dead (and the case for why our next coach should be given 6+ seasons)

[Golfman25]

13 minutes ago, Asha’man said:

Rabby speculated we should start hearing stuff on transfer outs next week. 

Don’t know why a kid who has decided to leave would wait to announce.   Want to get your name in front of as many opportunities as possible.  
 

Now, if they haven’t had their meetings yet, Houston we have a problem.  Would seem like we are playing from behind, again.  

[Asha’man]

43 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

Don’t know why a kid who has decided to leave would wait to announce.   Want to get your name in front of as many opportunities as possible.  
 

Now, if they haven’t had their meetings yet, Houston we have a problem.  Would seem like we are playing from behind, again.  

I think the players were gone for spring break this week. So meetings next week. Announcements after that is what he was getting at. 
 

He also gave his opinion and made it clear it’s his opinion. Basically Sisley back, maybe Dorn and Acimovic and the rest will transfer out. Add in the 3 freshmen to those 3, giving us 6. But we shall see what unfolds. 

[Uspshoosier]

On 3/20/2026 at 6:41 PM, WayneFleekHoosier said:

Crean was the best of the last 3

The best of the 3 still only had 3 winning conference records in 9 years.  Just a brutal  stretch in conference for the last 18 years 

[Asha’man]

Just now, Uspshoosier said:

The best of the 3 still only had 3 winning conference records in 9 years.  Just a brutal  stretch in conference for the last 18 years 

Crazy how mismanaged this program has been. 

[Golfman25]

14 minutes ago, Asha’man said:

I think the players were gone for spring break this week. So meetings next week. Announcements after that is what he was getting at. 
 

He also gave his opinion and made it clear it’s his opinion. Basically Sisley back, maybe Dorn and Acimovic and the rest will transfer out. Add in the 3 freshmen to those 3, giving us 6. But we shall see what unfolds. 

I guess spring break makes sense.  

[Asha’man]

5 minutes ago, Golfman25 said:

I guess spring break makes sense.  

I am curious if any of the freshmen are going to be good enough to be productive bench players next year. 

[Shooter]

1 hour ago, Asha’man said:

I am curious if any of the freshmen are going to be good enough to be productive bench players next year. 

I'm not an expert. But from what I've read, I expect Moody to be in the rotation. The other two are high major athletes, but may need time to put on weight.

Then again, it's always a crapshoot projecting freshmen. I'm sure Illinois fans weren't expecting Wagler to be their best player

[newcastle12]

On 3/20/2026 at 10:04 PM, AH1971 said:

Nonsense. Mo Creek was from the DMV area, not the Midwest, so have zero idea why that would have any bearing on Midwest area kids or AAU coaches? Crean landed high profile DMV area players like Troy Williams and Robert Johnson after Creek and fellow east coast 5* Noah Vonleh and Thomas Bryant long after Creek’s departure. Had no trouble bringing in James Blackmon or Hanner Perea who were both highly rated as well. Recruiting was the least of Crean’s problems. 
 

Was Crean’s in-game coaching the best? No. Did he still win multiple B10 titles and advance to the second weekend multiple times? Yes. This idea that Crean was tailing off at the end is pure lunacy. He literally won the B10 the year before he was fired and had a team ranked as high a #3 in the country the year he was fired with wins over Kansas and North Carolina, the latter who would go on to win the title that year. Hell Crean had a ranked team the week prior to OG blowing out his knee. The wheels fell off after that and the end of the year slide was disappointing, but let’s not act like Crean fell into some deep abyss at the end of his tenure. He had a ranked team who lost its best player to a freak injury.

I thought firing Crean for Archie was dumb, I did not think firing Crean for a better coach was.

IU isn't capable of assessing or hiring a basketball coach, and now has proven that 3 times since Crean.  The program is done.  It's not coming back.

[Five Prime]

On 3/20/2026 at 8:19 AM, Home Jersey said:

Making the field of 68 is not a very lofty expectation and that's really all the fans have asked for over the past decade with just two postseason trips to show for it. The expectations are very fair for a program that spends like we do.

We give all our coaches 4 year minimums. It's hardly a career defining risk. It's a great pay day and the last guy spent more time golfing than doing his job lol. 

 No it's not. Crean was run out of town despite having big 10 champs and sweet 16 appearances. 

[Home Jersey]

7 minutes ago, Five Prime said:

 No it's not. Crean was run out of town despite having big 10 champs and sweet 16 appearances. 

Run out of town after... 9 years and 4 tournament appearances and one winning conference record in the last 4 years? Haha

[Home Jersey]

Gosh the IU fanbase is so rabid and demanding in 2026, if you just act like Tom Crean's stretch from 2008-2011 never happened, the problem will be clear as day. 

[AH1971]

20 hours ago, Jeff Flabjohns said:

No use arguing with the guy. 

He spent all last year blaming us, and fans at large, that pushing out Woody was why no good coach would come here. 

During the first half of last year, he compared Dusty repeatedly to Crean because of their perceived common faults. Cited FT shooting, blowing late leads, and “incompetent in game management”.

Became awfully quiet on both these fronts once Dusty continued to kill it and Woody’s tenure ended in a toxic whimper coupled with us upgrading at coach. 

Dusty May would’ve been in Bloomington if we let Woodson go after year 3. He was as obvious of a great coach as there’s been in years.
Pushing out bad coaches ‘early’ doesn’t prevent great ones from being available to you at IU. 

Yep the list goes on. Dusty May, Brad Stevens, Billy Donovan, Bruce Pearl, Scott Drew. All guys that would crawl to Bloomington.

Delusional.

[Jeff Flabjohns]

46 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

Yep the list goes on. Dusty May, Brad Stevens, Billy Donovan, Bruce Pearl, Scott Drew. All guys that would crawl to Bloomington.

Delusional.

Besides May those names ARE delusional. Almost no brand in this day and age can pull a sitting natty winning coach. Kentucky just went through this. They were unlikely to go to any University, especially with NIL where more teams are equivalent. Did some fans want us to make the call? Sure, but no school is good enough to move for those names. I’m sorry this hurt your feelings.

May would have been here if we acted like any other serious program and discarded Woodson after year 3. IU guy making the move up to P4. Instead we were stuck with bottom quartile coaches for 8 years.

Good to great coaches are not scared away by a ‘toxic’ fanbase/admin that wants to cut bait on a subpar coach early. These coaches know their worth and are supremely confident in their abilities when promised top-tier fan engagement and resources. Like CIG!

Keep blaming the fans. Every other school serious about basketball (P4 conference, tradition, massive/invested fanbase, top-20 NIL) knows the value of having the right guy. Coaching acumen, relationship building, talent evaluation all matter more than ever. 3 years is enough to know if your current guy has what it takes. 
 

[Jeff Flabjohns]

I don’t know why I take the bait. Guy is never changing his opinion, he’ll just double down further when he’s proven wrong again and again. 

[AH1971]

1 hour ago, Jeff Flabjohns said:

Besides May those names ARE delusional. Almost no brand in this day and age can pull a sitting natty winning coach. Kentucky just went through this. They were unlikely to go to any University, especially with NIL where more teams are equivalent. Did some fans want us to make the call? Sure, but no school is good enough to move for those names. I’m sorry this hurt your feelings.

May would have been here if we acted like any other serious program and discarded Woodson after year 3. IU guy making the move up to P4. Instead we were stuck with bottom quartile coaches for 8 years.

Good to great coaches are not scared away by a ‘toxic’ fanbase/admin that wants to cut bait on a subpar coach early. These coaches know their worth and are supremely confident in their abilities when promised top-tier fan engagement and resources. Like CIG!

Keep blaming the fans. Every other school serious about basketball (P4 conference, tradition, massive/invested fanbase, top-20 NIL) knows the value of having the right guy. Coaching acumen, relationship building, talent evaluation all matter more than ever. 3 years is enough to know if your current guy has what it takes. 
 

May could have had the job THIS year had he wanted it or simply waited out the Woodson experiment that everyone knew was on borrowed time. He chose to go to Michigan that shares every resource IU has and likely then some without a delusional or toxic fan base. Have heard from a very reliable source that he had no desire to put his immediate and extended family through a potentially very ugly scene had things not worked out here, as many still live in the area. 

[Pagoda]

11 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

May could have had the job THIS year had he wanted it or simply waited out the Woodson experiment that everyone knew was on borrowed time. He chose to go to Michigan that shares every resource IU has and likely then some without a delusional or toxic fan base. Have heard from a very reliable source that he had no desire to put his immediate and extended family through a potentially very ugly scene had things not worked out here, as many still live in the area. 

He wasn’t going to leave Michigan after a year and restart.  That’s a very important detail.

I know from a great source he would have taken the IU job in 2024.

Nothing ugly happens in Bloomington.  This isn’t South American soccer.

You know, if IU fans are as bad as you say, I don’t know why you don’t cut ties with IU sports.  Why associate with such terrible toxic people?

[Golfman25]

17 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

May could have had the job THIS year had he wanted it or simply waited out the Woodson experiment that everyone knew was on borrowed time. He chose to go to Michigan that shares every resource IU has and likely then some without a delusional or toxic fan base. Have heard from a very reliable source that he had no desire to put his immediate and extended family through a potentially very ugly scene had things not worked out here, as many still live in the area. 

Of course the opposite of that is if he did here what he’s doing at Michigan, there would be streets and buildings named after him, keys to the city, statues, etc.  : /

[AH1971]

2 minutes ago, Pagoda said:

He wasn’t going to leave Michigan after a year and restart.  That’s a very important detail.

I know from a great source he would have taken the IU job in 2024.

Nothing ugly happens in Bloomington.  This isn’t South American soccer.

You know, if IU fans are as bad as you say, I don’t know why you don’t cut ties with IU sports.  Why associate with such terrible toxic people?

Of course not, he’s at a better job, as would have been the case with IU and Michigan being open at the same time two years ago.

I’ve been an IU fan longer than you’ve been alive. Not something you can just walk away from.

[Jeff Flabjohns]

25 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

May could have had the job THIS year had he wanted it or simply waited out the Woodson experiment that everyone knew was on borrowed time. He chose to go to Michigan that shares every resource IU has and likely then some without a delusional or toxic fan base. Have heard from a very reliable source that he had no desire to put his immediate and extended family through a potentially very ugly scene had things not worked out here, as many still live in the area. 

I’d have questioned his judgement if he left Michigan after one year (and the success they had and NIL improvements that afforded him) to come to IU. Duh?

This is about 2024. 
 

Again, Good to great coaches are not scared away by a ‘toxic’ fanbase/admin that wants to cut bait on a subpar coach early. These coaches know their worth and are supremely confident in their abilities when promisedtop-tier fan engagement and resources. Like CIG!

Keep blaming the fans. 

[TheWatShot]

27 minutes ago, AH1971 said:

Have heard from a very reliable source that he had no desire to put his immediate and extended family through a potentially very ugly scene had things not worked out here, as many still live in the area. 

Internet fan-fiction at its best.