IUFB HC Candidates

[Walking Boot of Doom 18,170]

You enjoy watching this team? Why exactly?

I don't enjoy watching a team go out there and embarrass themselves. Eeking out wins against garbage teams. Then playing good teams tough but then failing to execute in the fourth and getting blown out.

Because I've watched much worse go on in Memorial Stadium. This team is electric, as was last season's, and the season before. It's not clean or pretty, but damn they're fun to watch when they're clicking.

Maybe I just have realistic expectations for the pace at which a gutter program can progress in 5 years and can see that this team isn't producing the results, but is building momentum. That's not something we've seen before.

You realize we got to watch arguably the 2nd greatest running back to ever come through IU last year, right? And if Howard were healthy, we'd be watching another with immense potential. When you have players being looked at for a Heisman, that's fun.

Have you also noticed the defense forcing fumbles, recovering fumbles, and getting interceptions??? Holy hell they are doing something right! The D line has been getting to the quarterback!

There are legitimate improvements all over the place with some glaring deficiencies left to fix. But hell, at least things are being fixed, and the past few teams have legitimately believed in themselves. That's a crazy thought. We have a psycho sophomore QB in Diamont who actually believed he and some backup RBs could beat the defending champ, and #1 team in the nation in OSU, and nearly did! That is exciting and fun.

[Walking Boot of Doom 18,170]

It blows my mind how anyone can think a coach deserves an extension when he's won 32% of his games in nearly five seasons at a Big Ten school with Big Ten resources. How many successful coaches did that for five years and suddenly became good? At some point you have to call a spade a spade.

Want an example of when it took a good coach 5 years to get a dumpster fire in a power house conference to even resemble a real team? Cutclife at Duke. After going 15-33 in his first four years, he snuck them into a bowl game with 6 wins and lost. The following year? 10-4. Then 9-4. Currently 6-1.

Not saying K-Dub will be able to pull off the same success, but I'll definitely argue we'd be jumping the gun when we have visible improvements that just require you to look beyond the W column.

[upperarlington 408]

Cutcliffe is always the example I use when looking at IU football, it's gonna take some time. We were a dumpster fire. 5 years and revolving door again to get a retread or the flavor of the month MAC coach.

[Naturalhoosier 15,434]

Cutcliffe is always the example I use when looking at IU football, it's gonna take some time. We were a dumpster fire. 5 years and revolving door again to get a retread or the flavor of the month MAC coach.

I know I was close to the edge after the Rutgers debacle but after a step back, I know that even if missing a bowl this year would be 1 step forward, 2 steps back for IUFB.  I agree Phil, an ax after this season would lead to a rinse/repeat scenario that has been IUFB since the 90s.

[akhosrof 1,168]

Duke is the exception, not the standard. Duke also got a lucky draw in an absolutely pathetic ACC Coastal division. Maybe if IU was in the B1G West, but we're in the big boys division.

Two problems I have with CKW:

1. What is his recruiting strategy? Is it sustainable long-term to recruit NC-GA-FL and expect kids from SEC territory to come to Bloomington, IN?

I would rather have a coach who makes legitimate inroads with high schools in IN, OH and MI. Especially playing in the B1G East our recruiting should be picking UP. We should have no problem getting OSU, UM, MSU leftovers who want to play against the guys who they played with in HS.

Either CKW is really bad at recruiting the Midwest and he is left with having to resort to recruiting the south, or he is not even trying to recruit the Midwest. We've let three top instate QB prospects slip through our grasp. Sure, they may be legitimate reasons in each case, but where there's smoke there's fire.

This is IU's best chance at being competitive IMO. Which is why I believe we need a guy with true IN/OH roots like Pelini or Campbell from Toledo, Rod Carey. This is the direction I believe Hoeppner was taking the program.

2. We keep hearing the same exact post game press conference: "need to keep our pedal on the metal and stay aggressive at the end of the game." We heard this last week for the MSU loss and in the wins versus SIU, WKU and Wake. I am happy CKW is taking responsibility for poor coaching, but shouldn't we be seeing improvement?

Believe me, I want CKW to succeed. I want us to win the UMD and Purdue games to go bowling. The boys deserve it they've played their hearts out this season! The defense is improving. Much better effort this season. I love the takeaways, pass rush and aggressiveness against the run. My main fear is we take this explosive offense for granted. We fire CKW and our offense sucks and we no longer have the firepower to keep up with the big boys in the division.

However, CKW has to earn his extension. We can't give him an extension for four/five wins this season, and expect a different result the next four years. Especially with the conference schedule going to nine games, that's insanity. This is an extension or fire offseason, or there will be adverse effect on recruiting that will set back this program at least another two years.

[Alford Bailey 12,386]

Fast paced offense "fun to watch" crap.  I couldn't possibly care less about "fun to watch" unless the results are Ws.  He's paid for Ws, if he's not doing that he doesn't deserve an extension.

I wouldnt say "fun to watch" more like "funny to watch". How we gonna blow it this game type stuff.

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

Because I've watched much worse go on in Memorial Stadium. This team is electric, as was last season's, and the season before. It's not clean or pretty, but damn they're fun to watch when they're clicking.

Maybe I just have realistic expectations for the pace at which a gutter program can progress in 5 years and can see that this team isn't producing the results, but is building momentum. That's not something we've seen before.

You realize we got to watch arguably the 2nd greatest running back to ever come through IU last year, right? And if Howard were healthy, we'd be watching another with immense potential. When you have players being looked at for a Heisman, that's fun.

Have you also noticed the defense forcing fumbles, recovering fumbles, and getting interceptions??? Holy hell they are doing something right! The D line has been getting to the quarterback!

There are legitimate improvements all over the place with some glaring deficiencies left to fix. But hell, at least things are being fixed, and the past few teams have legitimately believed in themselves. That's a crazy thought. We have a psycho sophomore QB in Diamont who actually believed he and some backup RBs could beat the defending champ, and #1 team in the nation in OSU, and nearly did! That is exciting and fun.

Yeah, it's fun. But at what point do you feel like "fun" should give way to "results"? I mean, I've had the same attitude about things. I had the girlfriend who I didn't really dig that much but it was fun and better than being alone. And that was definitely the wrong decision at the time. Fear of change being bolstered by having a little fun shouldn't be enough. It's great watching a Heisman candidate running back compete alongside a future NFL roster QB, but don't you start to wonder why such an elite playing combo can't even hit .500? The good things are fun, but the good things also make the bad things so much more apparent and ugly. When you're a bad team already, then giving up 28 unanswered points to Rutgers in the last 18 minutes of a game is no big. When you're a team made up of genuinely good players who should be better than that, it's not so great.

 

I mean, you want to see a coach who has brought a team up from the gutter, stocked it with serious professional quality athletes who are tons of fun to watch and can manage real high scoring shoot-out games just... unfortunately don't have much of a defense and can't win the games they need to. Who put some of the greatest players the school has ever seen through the paces and helped them develop into studs. Who makes legitimate improvements but leave glaring deficiencies. Who people keep saying "just one more year and he'll have us as real contenders again".

 

Then just head over to Assembly Hall. I've got just the man you wanted to see. Let's keep him forever, since before him we burned through a couple of coaches who couldn't do it and I just don't trust we can ever get it right.

[Walking Boot of Doom 18,170]

Yeah, it's fun. But at what point do you feel like "fun" should give way to "results"? I mean, I've had the same attitude about things. I had the girlfriend who I didn't really dig that much but it was fun and better than being alone. And that was definitely the wrong decision at the time. Fear of change being bolstered by having a little fun shouldn't be enough. It's great watching a Heisman candidate running back compete alongside a future NFL roster QB, but don't you start to wonder why such an elite playing combo can't even hit .500? The good things are fun, but the good things also make the bad things so much more apparent and ugly. When you're a bad team already, then giving up 28 unanswered points to Rutgers in the last 18 minutes of a game is no big. When you're a team made up of genuinely good players who should be better than that, it's not so great.

I mean, you want to see a coach who has brought a team up from the gutter, stocked it with serious professional quality athletes who are tons of fun to watch and can manage real high scoring shoot-out games just... unfortunately don't have much of a defense and can't win the games they need to. Who put some of the greatest players the school has ever seen through the paces and helped them develop into studs. Who makes legitimate improvements but leave glaring deficiencies. Who people keep saying "just one more year and he'll have us as real contenders again".

Then just head over to Assembly Hall. I've got just the man you wanted to see. Let's keep him forever, since before him we burned through a couple of coaches who couldn't do it and I just don't trust we can ever get it right.

Yeah girlfriends and college basketball aren't great comparisons for developing a college football team and bringing them out of the gutter.

It takes time. Girlfriends and college basketball teams can have success changed with one commitment.

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

Yeah girlfriends and college basketball aren't great comparisons for developing a college football team and bringing them out of the gutter.

It takes time. Girlfriends and college basketball teams can have success changed with one commitment.

We've been a 5 win football team for 10 years. How many decades should it take to get that 6th win*?

 

Like, at what point will fun not be enough for you and you'll expect some actual results? And like, should we have given Lynch some more time? He was getting similar results, had a bad year due to some injuries but was slowly building on his success. Was 4 years enough of a chance or should we have given him another 4?

 

*Except of course, Bill Lynch's Insight Bowl

[Walking Boot of Doom 18,170]

We've been a 5 win football team for 10 years. How many decades should it take to get that 6th win*?

 

Like, at what point will fun not be enough for you and you'll expect some actual results? And like, should we have given Lynch some more time? He was getting similar results, had a bad year due to some injuries but was slowly building on his success. Was 4 years enough of a chance or should we have given him another 4?

 

*Except of course, Bill Lynch's Insight Bowl

10 years with how many coaches? We're only looking at Wilson's body of work. If you want to only look at wins and losses, then yes, Wilson and Lynch had similar results. That's just not going to cut it. Beggars cannot be choosers, and I feel that Wilson deserves a bit more time.

 

We're not going to agree. Doesn't really matter though, I've made my points.

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

10 years with how many coaches? We're only looking at Wilson's body of work. If you want to only look at wins and losses, then yes, Wilson and Lynch had similar results. That's just not going to cut it. Beggars cannot be choosers, and I feel that Wilson deserves a bit more time.

 

We're not going to agree. Doesn't really matter though, I've made my points.

So, Lynch did deserve more time? Or could beggars be choosers then but not now? 

 

He had similar results, increasing success recruiting, a bad season because of injuries, and a bowl game. Sounds like he actually did better than Wilson in his 4 years here. But for some reason, we're all happy Lynch is gone, but think Wilson is the savior of this team. It's just a crazy amount of rationalization that has to be done to say that Lynch was clearly a bad coach and we could do better but Wilson is a good coach who needs more time and the best we're going to do.

 

I mean, I guess if we keep him then we'll see how much of our offense is him and how much is Nate Sudfeld. 

[ThompsonHoosier 3,414]

So, Lynch did deserve more time? Or could beggars be choosers then but not now? 

 

He had similar results, increasing success recruiting, a bad season because of injuries, and a bowl game. Sounds like he actually did better than Wilson in his 4 years here. But for some reason, we're all happy Lynch is gone, but think Wilson is the savior of this team. It's just a crazy amount of rationalization that has to be done to say that Lynch was clearly a bad coach and we could do better but Wilson is a good coach who needs more time and the best we're going to do.

 

I mean, I guess if we keep him then we'll see how much of our offense is him and how much is Nate Sudfeld. 

Lynch did not have increasing success recruiting...towards his last years we were competing with MAC schools for recruits and losing a lot of those battles!

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

Lynch did not have increasing success recruiting...towards his last years we were competing with MAC schools for recruits and losing a lot of those battles!

What do you expect for, what is it everyone here calls us? A gutter team?

 

His classes were consistently ranked around 70th. Don't you think he deserves some more time to finish making this team a winner? I don't want to start firing coaches just because they have a few bad seasons. Then it's just rinse and repeat.

[HoosierReb01 7,511]

Duke is the exception, not the standard. Duke also got a lucky draw in an absolutely pathetic ACC Coastal division. Maybe if IU was in the B1G West, but we're in the big boys division.

Two problems I have with CKW:

1. What is his recruiting strategy? Is it sustainable long-term to recruit NC-GA-FL and expect kids from SEC territory to come to Bloomington, IN?

I would rather have a coach who makes legitimate inroads with high schools in IN, OH and MI. Especially playing in the B1G East our recruiting should be picking UP. We should have no problem getting OSU, UM, MSU leftovers who want to play against the guys who they played with in HS.

Either CKW is really bad at recruiting the Midwest and he is left with having to resort to recruiting the south, or he is not even trying to recruit the Midwest. We've let three top instate QB prospects slip through our grasp. Sure, they may be legitimate reasons in each case, but where there's smoke there's fire.

This is IU's best chance at being competitive IMO. Which is why I believe we need a guy with true IN/OH roots like Pelini or Campbell from Toledo, Rod Carey. This is the direction I believe Hoeppner was taking the program.

 

They do recruit Indiana and the Midwest. And yes, getting the instate recruits is a priority. Top of the line recruits from Indiana are also heavily recruited by Notre Dame, OSU, MSU, Michigan, just to name the closer schools where a Indiana recruit can go, while still being close to home and his family being able to travel to his games easily enough. That's not to mention the other major football schools that come after high end recruits. Those schools have success in the game to sell to recruits, trophies, history, a rabid fanbase. Its not hard to understand why its so hard for Indiana to sign them. Bring in any of the coaches you mention, and I'm betting until IU has some real success, they'll mostly go elsewhere to.

2. We keep hearing the same exact post game press conference: "need to keep our pedal on the metal and stay aggressive at the end of the game." We heard this last week for the MSU loss and in the wins versus SIU, WKU and Wake. I am happy CKW is taking responsibility for poor coaching, but shouldn't we be seeing improvement?

Believe me, I want CKW to succeed. I want us to win the UMD and Purdue games to go bowling. The boys deserve it they've played their hearts out this season! The defense is improving. Much better effort this season. I love the takeaways, pass rush and aggressiveness against the run. My main fear is we take this explosive offense for granted. We fire CKW and our offense sucks and we no longer have the firepower to keep up with the big boys in the division.

However, CKW has to earn his extension. We can't give him an extension for four/five wins this season, and expect a different result the next four years. Especially with the conference schedule going to nine games, that's insanity. This is an extension or fire offseason, or there will be adverse effect on recruiting that will set back this program at least another two years.

 

The argument against keeping CKW isn't hard to understand. In fact, its easy. My problem is, IU is not going to pony up to get a proven, successful coach in here. Most of the names I've seen thrown around in this thread, are not coaches who have had success at a B1G level. Doesn't mean they can't, but being successful in the Mac (or similar) doesn't mean they are going to do it in the B1G East. So its basically a crap shoot no matter which way we go.

All that being said, I can see giving the extension. Fred Glass might have to have balls of solid rock to do it though. Call them just fun to watch, or whatever, but they have played their asses off most of the year (20 minutes at Rutgers being the most obvious exception) and pretty much left it all on the field. I've been following IU football for around 30 years, this is as close as we have been to being relevant since Mallory's days, and I still see plenty of possibilities in what we have going on. I still say, just win, and we can quit all the speculating.

[ThompsonHoosier 3,414]

What happens if we beat Iowa at home in a couple of weeks? Will that be enough (along with another win or two and a bowl game) to give Wilson an extension? I know I'm always overly optimistic when it comes to our football team but I think we have a real shot at winning that Iowa game. I just hope we can get everyone healthy in the next few weeks. If we do that, we can still salvage the season!

[MartintheMopMan 7,765]

What happens if we beat Iowa at home in a couple of weeks? Will that be enough (along with another win or two and a bowl game) to give Wilson an extension? I know I'm always overly optimistic when it comes to our football team but I think we have a real shot at winning that Iowa game. I just hope we can get everyone healthy in the next few weeks. If we do that, we can still salvage the season!

If Coach Wilson can win either of our remaining home games and one remaining away game, I have no problem with an extension. It's a measurable and maintainable improvement over his previous seasons. That's really all I can ask for.

 

Unless, like, Jim Tressel or John Harbaugh have put out feelers to take over the job. Then I would rather go with one of them. But, Coach Wilson with success v. Unknown commodity? Seems like an easier choice.

[HoosierReb01 7,511]

What happens if we beat Iowa at home in a couple of weeks? Will that be enough (along with another win or two and a bowl game) to give Wilson an extension? I know I'm always overly optimistic when it comes to our football team but I think we have a real shot at winning that Iowa game. I just hope we can get everyone healthy in the next few weeks. If we do that, we can still salvage the season!

One nice thing, even bad IU teams seem to play Iowa tough for some reason.

[Hovadipo 56,256]

One nice thing, even bad IU teams seem to play Iowa tough for some reason.

Iowa also hurts our QB's. :(

[HoosierReb01 7,511]

Iowa also hurts our QB's. :(

And they have a hell of a defense this year. So expect some big hits. That said, let them make the mistake of trying to get square in Howard's way when he's got a head of steam.

[ThompsonHoosier 3,414]

One nice thing, even bad IU teams seem to play Iowa tough for some reason.

We haven't seen one upset this year; I think it comes in one of the next two games. Our let-down game was Rutgers, but in reality we can still finish the year strong with possibly 7 wins if everyone can stay healthy!