When Mike Woodson was hired four years ago, most of the Indiana faithful rejoiced. After a tough conclusion to the Tom Crean Era and four seasons without an NIT tournament under Archie Miller, one of their own was coming back to Bloomington to bring the program back to national prominence.
For a while, the program was headed in the right direction. Woodson took the Hoosiers to the NCAA Tournament in his first two seasons, and even won a couple of games in March, but the last two seasons have been a train wreck – especially given the financial support Woodson was given to compete in the new NIL world.
Woodson wasn’t the right guy from the start, but athletic director Scott Dolson didn’t have much of a choice. Money talks and guys like former IU great Quinn Buckner and other big-time boosters including Cook Group Chairman Steve Ferguson wanted the then-63-year-old Woodson even though he had never coached a day in the college ranks.
Former NBA guys just don’t work in college. There are plenty of examples that proved disastrous, from Chris Mullin (St. John’s) to Patrick Ewing (Georgetown) to Juwan Howard (Michigan) to Jerry Stackhouse (Vanderbilt). I could go on and on, but the list is too lengthy.
Today’s college basketball is a different game. The rules are different and the hours are really, really long. Sources close to the situation told Hoops HQ that Woodson wasn’t much of a worker. That unwillingness to put in the necessary time ultimately caught up with him. Woodson also didn’t forge relationships with many media members. One prominent AAU coach told me that Woodson still didn’t know who he was despite having met him countless times.
Dolson was forced to put out a statement after last season indicating that Woodson would return for a fourth season. It was a surprising move, but a few old-school boosters bankrolled the program to the tune of $5 million plus so Woodson could get one more crack at it.
But Woodson didn’t adapt. He had all the money he needed to sign high-quality transfers, but his roster construction was antiquated, featuring two old-school post players in holdover Malik Reneau and Arizona transfer Oumar Ballo alongside a bunch of non-shooters. It often looked as though Woodson was coaching the Atlanta Hawks back in 2005 with the lack of shooting and spacing on the court.
Even worse, the team has not played with any energy. At 66, Woodson was unable or unwilling to connect with the students and fans. Sure, he brought back some of the former Indiana players, but it was primarily from his generation. He didn’t connect at all with most of those who played after the 1970’s and 1980s.
Indiana started the season 13-3 and 4-1 in Big Ten play, but its resume was light. The Hoosiers hadn’t beaten a lock NCAA Tournament team during that stretch and the perimeter shooting woes carried over from last season despite adding Myles Rice (Washington State), Luke Goode (Illinois) and Kanaan Carlyle (Stanford) via the portal.
The slide began on Jan. 11 with a blowout loss on the road against an Iowa team that has struggled. Then came a brutal 25-point home setback to Illinois. After an overtime win at Ohio State, the Hoosiers dropped four straight against Northwestern, Maryland, Purdue and Wisconsin.
It wasn’t just that the Hoosiers lost. It was how they lost. Three embarrassing blowouts to Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin and then close setbacks to Northwestern, Maryland and Purdue in which the execution was pitiful. It looked as though the players hadn’t been coached.
When students at Assembly Hall chanted “Fire Woodson” while Indiana allowed Illinois to put up 60 second-half points on the Hoosiers, they were stating the obvious. It was only a question of when.
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The Illini have been slow to replace their losses in the transfer portal, but the program got a major commitment on Tuesday and another might be coming soon.
Sources told me that all the boosters, including Buckner, finally came around in the last week to the reality that moving on from Woodson was the right decision. His contract has two years left at a total of $8 million, but that payoff can be spread out over eight years, which is extremely favorable to the university.
The only question was whether Woodson will go quietly or not because he feels as though he’s been wronged and treated unfairly. Ultimately, it’s being termed a retirement and Woodson intends (for now) to finish the season.
This gives Dolson some time to get out in front of the coaching search, to cross Celtics boss Brad Stevens and others such as Bulls coach Billy Donovan, Baylor’s Scott Drew, Auburn’s Bruce Pearl and Iowa State’s TJ Otzelberger off the list.
I’m told there could be interest from St. John’s coach and Hall of Famer Rick Pitino, but he’s in his 70s and it’s unclear whether Dolson would go in that direction – and also whether Pitino would actually leave New York for Bloomington. On Saturday, an obvious target comes to Assembly Hall in Michigan’s Dusty May, who was a former Bob Knight manager at Indiana. But May took the job in Ann Arbor a year ago and might not like living in the fishbowl that is Bloomington, preferring instead to work in the shadows of football at Michigan.
Ole Miss coach Chris Beard is an intriguing name. He would probably walk from Oxford to Bloomington for the chance to coach Indiana. He has some baggage, but that is more a matter of public perception given that the domestic violence charges that led to his dismissal at Texas were later dropped. Beard worked for IU legend Bob Knight at Texas Tech and has proven to be one of the best in the business, having taken Texas Tech to the national championship game and Ole Miss to national relevance in just his second season at the helm.
IU legend Steve Alford has been passed over before and will likely be passed over again. UCLA coach Mick Cronin is an acquired taste, but has Midwest roots and has had success at both Cincinnati and in Westwood.
Dolson nailed his last big-time hire when he brought football coach Curt Cignetti from the mid-major ranks and saw him take the Hoosiers to the College Football Playoff in his first season. Is there a basketball equivalent? Maybe, but there’s no doubt that finding a successor to Woodson will be far more difficult for Dolson, not to mention a lot more important. No matter what happens on the football field, Indiana will always be a basketball school. The fans’ expectations are high, but it has been a long time since the program matched them.
