Freshman Thomas Bryant unloads on senior Yogi Ferrell during a timeout in tonight’s loss to UNLV.
Indiana lost twice and won once in Maui, and all three games were hard to watch. Turnovers plagued the offense, and familiar defensive failures (not guarding high screens worth a damn chief among them) allowed offenses operate comfortably.
Some angry fans want Tom Crean fired today, while others think he’s a genius who can fix what has gone wrong. All want answers.
For fans who look to the basketball program as a tether to their alma mater, it’s especially galling to watch Indiana founder in areas where competence was always a given. The only sure thing in this era of Indiana Basketball seems to be underachievement.
Expectations are driven by those within the program to a level players are unable or unwilling to meet. The resulting frustration for fans is driving calls for boycotts and an immediate change in leadership.
And it’s only November.
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The passion is thick as ever for Indiana basketball, even if the quality of play has declined to the point where the description of IU as elite is as timely as Bill Walton’s wardrobe or a Dr. Bop & the Headliners set list.
Let’s get the talk of firing Crean out of the way immediately. Firing Crean prior to the end of the season would be an act of madness, and athletic director Fred Glass is not mad.
Crean’s Indiana program continues along the same course that has become routine through 7.2 seasons, and many believe that is not enough to justify the trust or salary invested in him, but to fire a head coach at midseason almost never ends well.
Two things can happen – the first is the team tanks under the interim guy, which no one wants. The other possibility might be even more harmful to the overall health of a program – the interim coach lights a fire under the team and they play their asses off.
That’s bad because the interim guy becomes the only palatable candidate for the full-time job when there might be a dozen better coaches out there.
Indiana is way too important a program for Glass to indulge in Steinbrenner-esque petulance. Even if he has decided to replace Crean as his head hits the pillow tonight, he knows that there must be a process where the next generational hire is made. For perspective, Branch McCracken and Bob Knight define generational hires.
Because today is November 26th, it’s quite possible Crean and the Hoosiers get this figured out and find a way to reach their goals. Remember when Michigan State lost last year to Texas Southern and Purdue lost to North Florida and Gardner-Webb. Both teams rebounded, refocused, and overcame.
There will be four months of highs and lows ahead, and depending upon the ratio Indiana will either continue with Crean as the head coach or not
Regardless of what happens four months from now after all is said and done, decisions need to be made by a circumspect and sober leader paid to determine what is best for the university, brand, revenue, and welfare of the student-athletes – not in that order. Anger is an indulgence of the powerless, and Glass has power.
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My advice is to relax and enjoy the ride. if you are outraged by what you perceive to be a lack of coaching acumen from Crean, take pride in the effort of the players. If the players appear to check out, listen to the band and watch the cheerleaders. if the band and cheerleaders mail it in, dream of a strom and bucket (or six) at Nick’s.
Answers will come soon enough, but until we know them for an absolute certainty, do yourself a favor and embrace the possibility for meaningful improvement, regardless of the odds.
You are right Kent Fred Glass isn’t mad, that would require some sort of intelligence. I said to Fire Crean last year while you still had some talent, now this dumpster fire will play out Crean will be canned and IU will be left with 2 pathetic Missouri recruits. Surely getting 2 recruits from Missouri was a giant red flag, but yours and Alex Bozich and Jeff Rabjohns and Terry Hutchens propaganda had all the lemmings believing in a final four year, lmfao. If i were coach here is what i would do.. First of all no individuality allowed, standard haircuts, no facial hair. Yogi would be benched period for the season. You and your love affair with Fred Glass is really something Kent, he a buddy of yours well tell him he sucks ok. Thanks for ruining the one thing a lot of people look forward to every winter in lovely Indiana come mid Febuary. Gonna be a fun season
At no point have I spewed propaganda on behalf of Indiana Basketball. I never predicting anything but another year similar to the last two. This team is very similar to 2013-2014, with Thomas Bryant in place of Noah Vonleh. The players are two years stronger. That’s it.
Glass is a rare AD who is most concerned with the welfare of the student-athletes. The only move I fault him for is the extension that put into play the buyouts that have made change more painful.
Replacing a coach is a two prong act. The first is securing the replacement (or having a firm notion that he will accept the job. The other is the easy part. Glass needs to hire the next generational coach at IU, and that requires great timing. Firing Crean for the sake of firing him is bad business. Replacing Crean with yet another version of himself is equally foolish. Trust Fred to get this right.
Crean should have been fired last spring but Fred glass is not intelligent enough to figure that one out. All we did was delay the inevitable. Nothing was going to change other then maybe a few more wins given the talent we had. However, it appears we may actually be worse than last year but when you play zero defense I guess that is not hard. This is a horribly coach basketball team and to think anything is going to change Kent is really naive. Crean is what he is and a good basketball coach is not one of those things.
You actually trust fred glass to get this right? Now that is really scary. As far as the decision kent, it is pretty apparent crean needs to be fired after the season. He is not going to turn this around.
You might be right on both counts, but predicting the future with certainty is not one of my gifts (or I wouldn’t be sitting here with blond hair – the result of a lost bet on the Colts record for 2015. I believe that Fred has gotten a bunch of stuff right, and that hiring a generational coach – as will be required when Crean is fired – requires great timing, and that great timing has not spun his way. As much as you and many others believe Crean is a dolt, there are other coaches out there who are worse, and many who are very similar. Hiring one of those because of impatience would be the worst sin Glass could commit. This is a hire that must be exactly what Indiana needs.
Kent,
There is only one rational decision Glass should make at season’s end…send Crean packing. I do agree that Crean should be allowed to continue to coach the remainder of what will surely be an up and down season. Nearly all of Crean’s teams have been up and down. They win 2 lose 1, win 1 lose one, win 3 lose 2. etc, etc, etc. There seems to be no sustainable success EVER. Except for his paycheck, now that is definitely sustained success there.
I’m completely sick of this garbage Crean calls basketball. Who the hell is teaching defense down there. Apparently NO ONE is my guess. I don’t think he or anyone on his staff knows how. I have not be a Crean fan since the day he was hired. I’ve never thought of him as a good coach, I thought he was a terrible hire then and even more so now. I was listening to the radio the other day and a song came on that was an oldie, but a real goodie. I loved that song and not just me but over time it has become a classic. Then the DJ shocked me by saying the song was the only hit this group ever had. For 40 years this song was a great song but the only hit this group ever wrote. Again, I was shocked. It suddenly occurred to me this was a great analogy of Tom Crean’s coaching resume. He is a one hit wonder…He took Marquette to the final 4 and that was his one hit. He had one of the best all time basketball players on that Marquette squad in Duane Wade, but nevertheless, he did go to the final 4. BUT, that was his one hit..He has lived off that one hit and obviously fooled many into thinking he could do it again. .Like that band who had the one hit, Crean has never replicated and seriously doubt he ever could again.!
Jerry P.
If you can’t win with Zeller and Oladipo, you will never win.
In total agreement that Tom Crean should not be fired mid-season. We end up once again with Mike Davis roaming the sideline…..terrible decision and we are all still suffering from that debacle. Getting recruits from Missouri and Colorado….while missing on in state talent like Calib Swanigan or Zak Irvin or DeShaun Thomas….unacceptable. Tom’s real problem. He wants to be friends with his players. He cannot or will not hold anyone accountable on the court or off the court. When you watch the best of the best in coaching (Izzo, Coach K, Pitino) on the sidelines…they get in their players faces when they don’t perform. They get the kids to get their heads on straight and give them some tough love. Just like the real world will after basketball is over. Crean cannot do it. Rather he would prefer to get on the microphone and go down twenty different tangents that have nothing to do with holding anyone accountable. I cannot watch or listen to the guy anymore. He’s almost as bad as having to listen to Bill Walton call the games in Maui.
Perhaps the only way to get through to IU Trustees and McRobbie about Glass and Crean is to angrily call for regime change in November. Glass is a lawyer (and it shows at times like this) and if this were labor law, there is no performance based reason to fire Crean. He is consistent: lose some early, eke out a .500 season in Big 10, fold like a lawn chair in first 1-2 games of Big 10 tournament, get the legacy pass into NCAAs, lose in round 1-2, recruit kids from out of state, dodge arrests, rinse and repeat.
He is praised as such by Glass. Why can him now?
We were ranked #14 coming in. On Wednesday we will be .500, with zero quality wins and two horrible losses. He is churning players, recruiting questionable characters, and never fielding a mature team. We are now arguably the #4 team in Indiana behind Butler, ND, and Purdue, all of whom “do it right” in comparison. We are clearly in the second tier in the Big 10, about to be surpassed by Northwestern.
All of this is OK with Glass, who stuck us with a huge balloon payment on an Edsel. Therefore you CANNOT allow Glass to select the next coach of Indiana basketball. Glass either is not objective, is too close to Crean, or does not have the stones to yank the band aid.
You watch, Glass will have stuck us with all the buyout, and none of the momentum for a new hire. The cupboard will be looking as bare in 4 months as it did 8 YEARS AGO! Are we better off than we were 8 years ago?
Plus, and Kent you know who I am talking about, there are people who dealt with him at Marquette that not only have nothing good to say, they see him as one of the worst people of any coaches of any sport they have interacted with anywhere. So any ” nice guy recruiting good kids ” meme is BS to me.
I have to think Tom Crean and his family will be happier once this is over. That is good for everyone.
Agree with everything, but Glass needs to either be allowed to hire the next coach or he should be fired. Any assembly of trustees, boosters, former players, and big brains will produce what committees often produce – a safe and mediocre solution. Glass is a bold leader who should be allowed to fish Ahab-like for the great whale. Give Glass all the bait he needs, allow him to hook the absolute right guy, and enjoy the next 25 years of hoops dreams in Bloomington.
Stop it already Glass is not a good leader he’s a clown who gave one of the worst 10 year extensions in the history of IU…..to come out and say “tom Crean is not the problem but part of the solution” is not leadership. Tom Cream IS THE PROBLEM what are you doing still blaming the players.
I still remember the Illinois game they lost on an out of bounds play under the basket, Crean had Zeller playing man to man away from the basket. This time He had Yogi, the smallest player on the team,, being guarded by a UNLV player a foot taller taking the ball out of bounds with 3.8 seconds to go. He could not get it in play in 5 seconds. What the hell does Crean teach at practice? Another thing FREE THROWS nobody should be allowed to leave practice until they hit 10 in a row, that’s the way Knight did it., and we won most every close game because they could shoot free throws. If we continue to let Crean coach we will never win anything.
Say what you will about Crean – and there is plenty to say – but IU’s free throw woes yesterday are not for a lack of diligence. Crean’s IU teams usually make right around 72%-74% from the line. This year, IU is 10% beneath that level. In 2012-2013, IU made more free throws than any team in the country while placing 11th in FT %. That was under Crean too.
Deployment of players like Yogi inbounding yesterday is a problem, but responsibility for success or failure from the line belongs to the players – not Crean.
NOT TRUE free throws are completely mental. If the players are not tough mentally (obviously IU is not a mentally tough team) that falls on the head coach.
They are mental for those with the gift of being able to repeat physical activity precise time after time. For those who can, there is a physical element to foul shooting that mental toughness can never overcome.
Mike it’s pointless to point out all the mistakes Crean makes because frankly there are just too many. I mean for Kent Sterling and others to say “well what coach are you going to get” here is my reply. Anyone is better than Cretan. What are they doing out there on the court. Its obvious now that Crean had nothing to do with the success of Cody Zeller, cause Zeller knew how to play from the get go, Cream sure is hell didn’t coach him up in 2 months, and look at the players now. Who are the 2 most fundamentally sound players on the team? I would argue zeisloft and beinfeldt. hmmmmmmm why would that be, maybe cause they had coaches who knew what they were doing. Beinfeldt is the only player that uses a shot fake. This is really bad, I predict someone will leave the program at semester.
Saying that Zeisloft is a fundamentally sound defender is a Skip Bayless-esque madman argument.
Nobody is a fundamentally sound player on IU but at least Zeisloft knows his role, doesn’t dribble into traffic, turn it over 5 times a game, take running hook shots (see troy and yogi), drive the baseline only to leave his feet and throw some ridiculous pass.
IU has, and has had for some time, a management problem. Multiple bad decisions regarding the head coach left the program floundering with inadequate guidance. No ability to manage RMK and transition plan prior to action. Mike Davis did not have the skill set. Sampson was on probation and was a completely unnecessary risk. Crean was an over reaction to “cleanliness” over competency. The financial chaos of it all lead to paralysis in the ability to maintain standards (just like Crean won’t use the bench to demand behavioral change, IU finds itself financially (and PR) impotent to make change).
The problem is not directly the coach. It is an incompetent administration that lost the program. And it currently has no ability to understand its situation or how to manage it. The appropriate changes to correct the course do not begin or end with a new head coach. I have no belief that any meaningful change is coming. Mediocrity is a pretty high bar for the University in its current iteration.
There have been problems through a generation, but the question that needs to be asked is whether Fred Glass is a among that long line of feeble administrators or if he might be a driving force in the solution.
Just a quick question Kent, if you know: Why did Fred Glass make the gradually declining buyout in Crean’s contract fall on July 16 each year? That seems like a guarantee of a lost year if you wait to fire a dead duck coach in July, or a waste of several million dollars on a failed coach if you fire him in March or April.
It actually falls on July 1, which syncs it with the beginning of the NBA calendar. Not sure that was the point – might be the IU athletic calendar new year. Not sure.
i don’t think starting a new regime on July 1 is necessarily a negative. Hire the right guy, and plenty can get done before freshman report.
Nice to hear from the great Philboyd Studge. I had the same question. Could it be there is a 90 days notice deal, as in on March 30 we tell you you are not coming back as of July 1/16? If not, Glass balls can fit in a thimble and there is no way he can be given the keys to the new hire.
Kent, I respectfully think Glass is a great guy from all accounts and has been an able caretaker and steward of IU athletics, but not any sort of change agent or leader.
I like Kevin Wilson, but did Captain Ahab spear Kevin Wilson off the bow of the Pequod? I like Coach Wilson and I am a fan and believe we should retain him regardless of outcome tomorrow v Purdue. But hiring a decorated top program career assistant in his mid 40s with zero head coaching experience is the committee mans safe move, not a dramatic choice. Hiring a 30 year old Urban Meyer type or disgraced Bowden/Leach/Sarkesian type is a bold “take-some-heat” move. Tracy Smith got away on his watch. Is Glass too PC to hire a Calipari or Pitino or Petrino? I think so.
Where has Fred Glass demonstrated an ability to make a generational hire?
The gutsy move would be to hire Louisvilles AD.
Tom Zurich is a mean-spirited control freak who I would rather not see at IU. Tracy Smith went to AZ State. Keeping him would have been like Iowa keeping a basketball coach from accepting the gig at Kentucky. That’s an impossible standard.
Hiring a generational coach for basketball will be the mandate when Fred decides to move on from Tom. Indiana has never has a generational football coach. I would guess that has more to do with the job that the succession of ADs who have failed.
The extension was an overreaction to unfounded fears that Crean might bolt. One thing you cannot fault Crean for is his ability to gouge an employer already paying him handsomely for additional years and cash.
You mean a control freak like that one coach that hung 3 banners at Assembly Hall? What do you want Kent a winner or a nice type B personality guy, good lord. Think Saban is a control freak? How about Vince Lombardi. You make no sense. I want to win ok. As long as the coach has good values and won’t get hookers for his recruits or forge grades who cares if he’s a control freak, you journalism majors are something
You write about being a control freak like it’s a harbinger of champions. Coaches who are control freaks can be a good thing – ADs who are control freaks – you can have those guys/girls.
Kent, that’s where we will have to agree to disagree.
If I am a Trustee, there is no way I am going to support Fred Glass, who overreacted to fears that Crean might bolt by giving him a ridiculous and non-market extension. Fred Glass panicked. Why should Fred Glass get another chance to make a panic move?
Fred Glass should not be hiring the next Head Basketball Coach at Indiana University.
Trustees have to be on record in hiring the highest paid employee in the state of Indiana.
Need to allow your athletic director to direct athletics. The first move the trustees will make will be to call a search firm, and that will lead to a list of mediocre clients/coaches. The last three committee hires have been Davis, Sampson, Crean.
No, the first move of the Trustees should be to hire a new Athletic Director. Perhaps I was unclear. Quite literally, I could have had as much success as Fred Glass has the past 5-6 years.
Yes, but you are a very smart guy with great instincts about people.
Indiana had one chance to do it right in 2000 and they failed.After firing Coach Knight…and it probably was time for a change..they had no choice but to name Mike Davis interim coach.However after that season even had IU won the National Championship…Davis had to go.He had no experince has a head coach.Indiana should have at that time named Steve Alford head coach no matter how much money he would have demanded.He is a Knight prodigy and a legend himself in the Hoosier state.It would have lessoned the blow from faithful Knight followers and after 1-2 off season’s…Coach Alford would have had Indiana right back being a Top 10 team season in and season out.The board of directors at Indiana failed the state of Indiana and the entire basketball nation with stupidity of choices that were made.Indiana has suffered much since and will for many years to come.Glass is no more versed to be an AD has Davis was a coach.It’s time to clean house at IU…name Dan Dakich has AD and Steve Alford has coach.Both are Indiana born and bred.Wake up Indiana you are the laughing stock of the entire basketball nation.
Really? We’re the laughing stock of the entire basketball nation? How so?
That is not true we can still get it right, but Glass better impress me with his hire and not deflect to some committee so in 5 years he can say well it wasn’t me a committee hired the new coach.
If Fred uses a committee, it won’t be because it’s his idea.
Yea that’s what Fred will tell you Kent.
Anyone who thinks Crean can coach immediately loses all credibility. When a team plays atrocious defense and doesn’t block out when “attempting” to rebound year after year regardless of personnel, it’s not the players, it’s the clapper.
Three years ago I wrote Glass to tell him Crean could not coach. He had the best players in the country and yet it was obvious watching them that they had no coaching. His reply was that IU had had 2 academic all Americans and that they had tied for the Big 10 , the usual gibberish. Then the next year I wrote him again with an “I told you so” approach. His reply was that coach Crean was on track to meet his goals for the program. I gave up,on writing him as I could see that he was no more qualified for his job than Crean was. When I watched their complete lack of defense in Maui, it made me sick. Where the hell is Bob Knight when we need him? I agreed he needed to go because he had lost his ability to recruit good big men. But little did I know that it would be the beginning of such a long drown spell..
iu basketball is an embarrassment to all hoosier fans.
Is July 1 the fiscal end of the year? That would make since
Yes. Sure is.
I believe that Coach Crean needs to be let go. But it must be done in a rational manner. I do trust Glass to cut Crean when it is good for Indiana University Athletics. That may mean in a year and a half…when the buyout goes to $1 million. Unless, of course, there are grounds within the contract for negotiating a settlement. Bearing in mind that if Crean gets another coaching job then that future salary reduces the buyout.
Glass obviously felt justified giving Crean a huge buyout. Why? It may have been because the jury was still out on the football program hire…Coach Wilson. Having the two major sports with new head coaches may not have appealed to Glass. And, the number 1 ranking all year long with Zeller and Dipo here sure was sexy. Fans were in the seats in Assembly Hall. Donors likely were gifting the university just fine. And kids were graduating. And the extremely high turnover of Crean’s predecessors may have impacted negatively the search after the Sampson/Davis/RMK turnover fiascos.
Things may be different now. The setting is different. It is clear what product Crean puts on the floor. Great offense against some teams; we get too many turnovers, a defense that is not a high priority…etc. And the basketball program is becoming controversial again. (ie..not winning enough, and problems off court.) Both football and basketball coach positions are, actually, going to benefit from the stability of Crean’s extension and the upcoming one due Wilson.
But, in a year and a half, if things are the same, Crean will be gone. If Glass so chooses to use a consultant to assist in the search process, that is fine with me. It does not mean Glass abdicates control and decision making. It means that the discussion is kept secret if Glass and or the coach prospects want it that way.
Go IU! Adios Tom Crean.
The key to replacing anyone is making certain the replacement is an upgrade – and that means an elite coach, or potentially elite coach. Fred should always have a couple of names in a drawer.
Kent,
What is your take on how Fred Glass really feels about Crean? As I read various IU fan sites, I am amazed at how many fans believe everything Fred says publicly. I always argue that an AD has to say certain things publicly and should be taken with a grain of salt. Curious what is your take about where Fred might stand on the state of IU basketball? Surely he is aware of fan displeasure.
Fred Glass is a very smart man who will get it right (even if he has to use a committee). Kent Sterling.
Fred is certainly aware, but has a genuine respect and fondness for Crean. The number of times and passion in his performance in private conversations has sold me on that.
So sad to see the great tradition of Indiana basketball settle for mediocrity. That’s what a mediocre coach like Crean delivers, mediocrity. But what’s worse is that IU basketball is now more about money than winning. The best way to replace Crean is for Indiana fans to stay out of the seats. Sellouts season after season only ensures mediocrity will continue. It has worked for the Cubs. Where is the motivation to change when the money flows like a river?
Funny reading this a year later….all these fools that wanted Crean ran out. Ended up knocking off kentucky and making it to the sweet 16. Knocked off 2 top 5 teams already this year. But, yeah, Crean shouldn’t be there. These commenters are the same people that blindly keep rebuilding all the bridges ol bobby has been burning down for years. Get some dignity and move on.
Not me. I’m holding my ground in the face of pretty good play thus far this season. Kind of depends upon what the level of expectation is – sweet 16s enough? Then Crean works.