by Kent Sterling
The time has come for Indiana University to thank Tom Crean for his seven years of hard work in returning a sense of self-respect to the basketball program.
Indiana Basketball needs a leader that will define its culture and bring hope for success each season, and Tom Crean is not it.
It’s not that Crean isn’t a good person, or an ineffective representative of Indiana University. There are many good things about Crean, traits you would seek in a coach that can lead an athletic program. Players get grades and degrees. They work hard too. Check and check.
But if Indiana is going to be one of the top programs in college basketball, it needs to be one of the best in the Big Ten first – and it is not.
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Two weeks ago, I wrote a post about the metrics Indiana University should use to evaluate the position of head basketball coach at Indiana. Here is how Crean stacks up:
1 – Comparison with other coaches in the Big Ten – In a head-to-head battle between IU’s coach and every other coach in the Big Ten, who’s better? In a conference with Bo Ryan, Mark Turgeon, Tom Izzo, Thad Matta, Matt Painter, John Beilein, and seven others, lodging near the top of the list is tough but necessary or Indiana is doomed to mediocrity.
Which of those first six would you rather have than Crean? Ryan? Of course. Izzo? Without hesitation I would make that swap. Matta? Not a big fan, but based on results, that’s a no-brainer. Painter seems a better fit at Purdue, but the Hoosiers could use their own version of Painter. Beilein is a hell of a coach. Turgeon is the one guy I would pass on in favor of Crean.
Crean didn’t rank among the top 50 in college hoops by a panel of ESPN experts a year ago. Would he move up because of a 20-14 overall record, 9-9 in the Big Ten, and a first round bow out in the NCAA Tourney as the first double digit seed in IU history?
2 – Ability to recruit Indiana – I’m sorry to those who see Indiana as a national program who should be able to recruit the finest talent in the country, that’s not who IU has shown itself to be – not today, not ever. When Indiana is best, it chooses players from among the best in its home state, and augments with those from neighboring states (illinois and Ohio). If kids from Indiana choose to leave the state to play, why would a rational kid from California, Texas, Florida, or Massachusetts choose to come to Bloomington. This isn’t Kentucky, and it shouldn’t be. During eras when Indiana kids excel, there is plenty of talent to stock a potential champion.
Gary Harris, Ryan Cline, Zak Irvin, Kyle Guy, Branden Dawson, Deshaun Thomas, Trey Lyles, Trevon Bluiett, and many others have chosen to go elsewhere, and the incoming class features two players from Missouri. Crean was able to get Cody Zeller, Yogi Ferrell, and James Blackmon Jr.
3 – Ability to out-coach fans – In Indiana, this is harder than in most places. One of the cruelest legacies of Bob Knight’s 29 years in Bloomington was his generosity with a vast curriculum of basketball knowledge. Indiana fans know more about defense than the majority of high school coaches outside Indiana, and a desire to see fundamentals executed properly is strong. If a coach can’t strategize and teach basketball well enough to satisfy fans, he is doomed.
Indiana defenders closed out with their hands down, were beaten to the rim in transition, and appeared baffled by their own efforts at playing zone. There were countless possessions where two IU players were in zone while the other three were in man-to-man. There is no doubt Crean knows a lot about basketball, but somehow the lessons were lost in translation to the players – and thus to the fans.
4 – Academics & graduation – Many from outside Indiana believe the blather from IU fans about grades and degrees to be hubristic claptrap that is waived as long as Indiana wins. Not for those who enjoyed the years when banners were hung while classes were attended. College basketball cannot be a minor league feeder system for the NBA regardless of banners, not at Indiana. Indiana University is a school first, a basketball program second, and players need to reflect that standard. Winning without a culture it validates is hollow, and Indiana fans won’t tolerate it.
Here, Crean scores. The APR at Indiana has been perfect for years, and most players graduate in three years. During a time when the only compensation for the works that brings in millions of dollars to the NCAA, conferences, schools, and athletic departments is an education, that needs to be a priority. At Indiana under Crean it has been.
5 – Winning – Amassing victories is a result, not a trait. If the first four criteria are met, winning should be a given. There are fans who work backwards though. They want the wins, and have no interest in the methodology behind them. These are the people who still believe Kelvin Sampson was a good hire. Without winning, all the magnificent culture in the world is meaningless. Sad, but true. If a coach can manage to fulfill #2 and #3, he is going to win at Indiana, and he will be evaluated as a winner in #1. The kids earn #4 as compensation for their effort, even though they might see it as a penance while at IU.
Let’s give Crean a pass for his first two years in Bloomington as the program was rebuilt following the Sampson scandal. The following five found Indiana atop the Big Ten regular season standings once – a season that ended with a loss in the Sweet 16 to Syracuse. In those five seasons, IU’s Big Ten record is 44-46.
Whether you like or loathe Crean, and I like him, 44-46 tells the story of a program mired in mediocrity.
Without taking into account the arrests and suspensions that caused many to question Crean’s ability to bring discipline into the lives of those he leads, Indiana’s path forward needs a fresh approach by a leader who can rally and unite the Indiana fan base. Add the arrests and galling recent admissions of low expectations, and the course is crystal clear.
All 13 scholarship players are scheduled to return, and at least two recruits are coming to Bloomington. That means two current players will be “Creaned”. Yes, the practice of oversigning and bouncing players currently on scholarship is actually named for Tom Crean. That’s not a good thing.
Back to those low expectations for a second. Here is what Crean said following the Hoosiers loss Friday, “They have persevered through adversity, persevered through different trials, and they did some things that not a whole lot of people expected them to do. Unofficially picked 11th in the league and they get into the NCAA Tournament with a 10th seed as the youngest team.”
That is a nauseatingly self-congratulatory appraisal of a mediocre season, and if there was any doubt Crean needed to go before Friday, it evaporated after hearing that. If Crean doesn’t hold himself accountable for failure, how can he claim to lead young men toward maturity?
Whether athletic director Fred Glass wants to wait until July 1 to save $5-million on the buyout, that’s up to him, but Crean returning for another season is likely to cause an unpleasant situation to turn downright ugly. The death spiral has started, and nothing can stop it.
Recruiting will be adversely affected as all coaches recruiting against Indiana will tell recruits that Crean is soon to be gone. Once that happens, future success is impossible – unless success is defined as finishing tied for seventh when picked to finish 11th.
Claiming victory after a season that ended by losing 10 of its final 15 games is weak, and Indiana Basketball deserves better than weak.
(Kent Sterling hosts a radio show afternoons from 3p-6p on CBS Sports 1430 in Indianapolis.)
I think you hit it on the head. I actually think he may resign as I wrote in my blog. This should be an interesting week – or the first week of July may be interesting. With Bradley canning their coach, the smell of blood is in the air.
I’ve been saying this to IU fans for a while now…IU needs to define what it wants it’s basketball program to be. If it’s fine being just another program, then you stay the course. If it wants to be one of the very best again, it’s time for a new path.
We can no longer say, “At least he’s better than Mike Davis”.
All we can say now is “At least his press conference is better than Mike Davis’ press conference”.
He is arrogant, hopeless, and helpless. His teams have gotten worse toward the end of the year in 6/7 of his seasons at IU. He is the worst teacher of zone defense in college basketball, but he insists on playing zone. His teams can’t play any single defense well, but he insists on changing Ds in the middle of play. He is a sore loser and eccentric recruiter (think Bawa, Priller, April). But he can clap.
Can Clappy Clapper clap?
Yes, Clappy Clapper can!!
Will Clappy Caller Clap?
Yes, Clappy Clapper will!!
Clap, Clappy Clapper, clap!!
If Crean leaves, who is a viable replacement? Indiana fans need to get over the pipe dream that Brad Stevens is leaving Boston to come coach IU. Billy Donovan is not coming either. I just don’t see anyone that is a long-term solution at this point.
Actually you have a good point. You don’t see anyone that is a long-term solution. But, AD Glass really is the person who must look for very good candidates. One should always check one’s parachute before jumping. No doubt about it.
But, that doesn’t mean don’t look for the candidate and don’t consider improving one’s lot. I may be one of the few persons that actually believe that AD Glass will pull a rabbit out of his hat. And, I also believe that no matter who IU gets…it will be a risk, regardless.
But Kent Sterling is right. It is time to pull the plug if there is a much better candidate for head coach that is interested. Staying the course with Crean is not an option anymore.
Gregg Marshall, Archie Miller, Bryce Drew — Long shots, but worth the $$ = Billy Donovan, Mark Few, Brad Stevens.
I would take any coach left in the tournament, PERIOD. They are all superior to Tommy.
I agree. If there is no long term answer to replace crean then you should keep him until there is. Has anyone heard any rumors about IU reaching out to any coaches thru back channels?
No, but I’m sure it has happened. Fred is too smart not to constantly assess potential replacements for THE job at IU.
Excellent post, Kent. When I look at Indiana’s high school basketball talent, Mr. Crean’s inability to keep the bulk of those kids in-state has been an issue and has resulted in mediocrity. I’m concerned that the current generation of in-state athletes may not see IU as a destination anymore. The last Final Four appearance was over 10 years ago, but with the exception of the Zeller group, the program is middling.
Greg–How about him recruiting Patterson & Hollowell and giving short shift to Dante-Rivera? What a disaster that was. I thought it was strange that D-R wanted nothing to do with Hollowell until I first saw Hollowell play….then it was obvious why….
Then he recruits a guy like April and plays him 10 minutes all year, blowing his RS…..now we have April and Priller and are over-signed by two. His recruiting is as manic as his sideline show. Only one person needs to be Creaned now–CTC.
Don’t forget Remy Abell getting Creaned dude totally locks up Hunter (a first round NBA pick, Hunter).
Would we have been better with Abell and w/o Blackman? I saw Blackman play in an AS game in Columbus in the summer and was very wary of the “cool” attitude he displayed. First time I’d seen him but did not make a good first impression. I’m not surprised that he basically quit on the team the last 6-7 games.
I’m no honk for IU, but I disagree with your assessment of Blackmon. I don’t believe he quit. He might have hit the freshman wall, but I saw effort throughout.
After watching basketball for an entire weekend I have come to this conclusion, not only does IU have a bad coach they have one of the WORST coaches in the nation, yea that’s right in the nation. It’s so obvious with the breakdown in fundamentals, taking players out, no scores after a timeout; when is the last time IU got a really nice set play off a timeout under our basket, I can’t remember. And the defense isn’t even close compared to the teams left in the field. It’s really bad I mean really bad.
What a load of fun watching Crean get raped 10 times in a row by that asshole Bo Ryan…watching him go against Ryan or Izzo is like watching Ali fight Snoop Dog….
Oh yea and for all those fans that said how great we played against Wichita State, remember those guys hit 2-19 on wide open threes, if they hit anything like they did yesterday IU loses by 20.
And IU was something like 12/23 on 3s…..if we played them 10 more times we wouldn’t come any closer….Crean just knows how to lose games….he can do it on O, on D, and from the bench. He can lose standing up, sitting down, or standing on his head. And he’s so arrogant that he refuses to learn anything from anybody. At least with Mike Davis, you knew he was a moron and you really couldn’t expect better….
And Mike Davis took us to a championship game think if Crean had done that in 2012, there would be a bronze statue of him (paid of course by Fred Glass) outside Assembly Hall.
Yogi left, yogi right, yogi up the middle, watch ME as I clap, clap, clap while my little Yogi dribbles!
Kent,
I am curious, since I have never met the man: Every blog you post about Crean that is very critical (rightly so, I might add) you always seem to mention that.. “and I like Tom Crean”. Why do you like him? For a coach that always seems to have excuses, never has admitted that maybe he didn’t coach a good game in a presser, chases off seemingly good kids on an annual basis, brings that ms patient into a presser in an obvious publicity stunt, I am just curious. He just comes across more politician or evangelical preacher – i.e. full of sh*&^. Please don’t reference the APR/graduation rate – that credit goes to Marni Mooney and whatever jock sports management program they have these guys in. Thanks.
Yes, Kent likes Tom Crean and Fred Glass. Doesn’t give specifics on Fred Glass, just say he does a good job managing the AD. Did anybody see the letter to the editor in Sunday’s Star, an older lady was astonished that IU with such a large and good law school couldn’t write a contract that was more advantageous to the University as opposed as one sided to Crean. She said what was the Board of Trustees thinking. Keep up the good work Fred Glass!
One would think that the BofT would have reviewed the fricking contract themselves, and the extension, given that Crean is the highest paid state employee…..sounds like negligence on their part if they didn’t know what’s in it….
I do like Fred. He’s a good guy – smart guy. I have lunch with him now and again at Nick’s, and I enjoy our conversations. What he’s done at IU is solid work on behalf of the athletes he makes sure enjoy a fruitful experience at IU. People tend to judge him based upon the extension he negotiated with Crean, which featured the oddly inflated buyout. Some aren’t pleased with the Kevin Wilson hire, but I like Wilson and think he’ll succeed.
I think he’s done well OTHER than the Crean extension, but that was a huge blunder. I had doubts about it at the time but assumed he saw things in Crean that weren’t obvious to others. Now I believe he was simply foolish and negligent, as the warning signs were all around and he ignored them.
Negligent is a bit harsh, maybe. Wrong works. A mistake was made, but one year in, it didn’t look too bad.
He’s a nice guy. I’ve enjoyed our conversations. Maybe he isn’t a nice guy to all, but I can only report on his behavior with me.
Yea why do you like Fred Glass Kent??????
I’m not sure what’s not to like. Athletes at Indiana have all the resources needed to succeed both academically and athletically. Fred goes about his business with enthusiasm and with his goals aligned toward the benefit of the kids. Is he perfect? No. No one is.
This is an excellent idea! If we get rid of Crean, we’ll never lose again! All our players will sport 4.0 grade point averages and graduate in three years, we’ll never oversign and every player will be from Indiana. EVERY SINGLE ONE. The head coach and every assistant will be from Indiana and will have never crossed the border into a neighboring state. There will never again be a single off-court embarrassing incident.
Honestly, this is a f***ing joke. I love IU and the team, but the fanbase is the biggest bunch of entitled pricks I know of. Same bunch of as***les who still think Knight is a god. And we’ll hear the same sh*t whenever the next coach doesn’t win enough. Just give Calipari $50 million a year to come and stroke the IU fans and be done with it.
F***ing fair weather hor***hit fans. Unreal. F**k off and good night.
Such a well spoken individual you are! I had to use my dictionary and thesaurus to understand the depth of your intellect. You must not be an IU grad considering the abstruse nature of your linguistic skills.
Now that’s a comment bringing a little passion. Love it.
Is this Joani or Jim?
Fair weather f***s
It’s a difficult thing to have reached this point, and I suppose the griping and negative comments are to be expected. I’d simply remind everyone to just take a deep breath and let it all go. There’s no point in rehashing the frustrations one has with players, of Tom Crean, or of anything more of the sort. My advice is to move on with some dignity, focus on a positive new beginning for the whole program.
Don’t make the transition a more difficult process that might turn off a potential recruit or for an incoming coach that can make things better for IU. Just don’t do that to yourselves, or you’ll find out you’ve added to the problems and they will just continue if you stay with the negative mindset. Just wipe the slate clean in a positive line of thinking and good things will come.
It’s time for a change, Kent has said so in this article, and he’s right. Kent finally came around and gave Crean as fair a chance as can possibly be made. Indiana, as a whole, did the right thing in trying to stay the course as long as humanly possible with Crean. Don’t beat yourselves up about it, nor castigate others that you think may have stood their ground too long for him. Just move on now with some grace and pride.
So again, good luck on the coaching move, good luck on the recruiting trail. Stay positive and get some good vibes going so as to welcome in a new era in the right way.
Best wishes, as always.
Tom Crean had (6)Top 60 rated recruits (Ferrell,Blackmon,Perea,Williams, Johnson and Robinson) on his roster this year.No other Big 10 team was close to this many Top 60 recruits. It all comes down to Tom Crean not knowing the game. He had plenty of talent and this why he has not overachieved in any of the (7) seasons that he has coached at IU.
I wish Crean would go because then IU could take Steve Alford off UCLA’s hands. Steve is destined for IU, so I don’t trust he’ll stick around Westwood.
Next coach, Bobby Hurley!
forget Alford and Stevens, what are you smoking?