Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Indiana Basketball – Is impossible dream candidate Brad Stevens actually possible?

Could hopes that Brad Stevens will one day come home to coach the Hoosiers come true?

As Indiana searches for its next basketball coach, do we dare utter the name of the perfect candidate above a whisper?  You know the guy.  The one that fits.  The golden coach.

Every time the Indiana Basketball coaching job comes open, which is happening more and more often, one name tops the list of candidates above all the rest.  As quickly as his name is mentioned, he is dismissed as unrealistic.  Even when the job hasn’t been open, people acknowledge that if he ever expressed an interest, whomever the current coach is would be dispatched in his favor.

You know him.  I know him.  We all know him.  In Indiana, we just call him Brad.  Like Celine in Vegas or Elton in, well, anywhere, Brad Stevens is just Brad.

There isn’t an Indiana Basketball fan who can’t recite his story.  Raised in suburban Indianapolis, Brad and his dad made many trips to Assembly Hall to watch Bob Knight‘s teams.  He starred at Zionsville High School, played college ball at DePauw, got a cool gig at Eli Lilly, and then talked his way into an unpaid coaching job at Butler where he ascended as his mentors left  one after another for more cash.  He took the Bulldogs to back-to-back NCAA Championship games, and then left Hinkle Fieldhouse when Danny Ainge shocked Indy – and Boston – by hiring Brad to coach the Celtics.

Indiana’s job opened again today when Archie Miller was fired after four long years filled with losses to Purdue, non-winning Big 10 seasons, and bereft of invitations to the NCAA Tournament.  Archie, for all his success at Dayton, didn’t fit in Bloomington.  Maybe he’ll fit somewhere else.  I hope so.

Brad fits Indiana, despite never playing or coaching for the Hoosiers.  Basketball is the first and best loved sport in Indiana, and the people here are remarkably kind, welcoming, and generous.  Indiana University once had a brilliant basketball mind as coach.  They also had other coaches who were (and are) generous and kind.  Never has Indiana had a coach who was both at the same time.  Brad would be the first.

There are murmurs from disparate sources that Brad is actually considering a move home.  Granted, they are rooted in hopes rather than tightly sourced documentation, but they are reasons for a genuine sense of hope nonetheless.  Every story about IU and Brad begins with “A guy told me…,” so…. a guy told me earlier today that he had spoken to a very well connected guy in the world of business and college basketball a couple of weeks ago.  When asked what he thought about IU and Archie, he dispassionately said, “Archie’s gone, and don’t be surprised if Brad Stevens takes the job.”

Another guy called today and said he was told two weeks ago by a business manager that his aunt was excited that she was able to meet Brad.  She is a realtor in Bloomington and showed Brad and his family some homes.  The conversation had nothing to do with Indiana Basketball At the time it was not thought that Miller would be fired, and my friend thought nothing of it.  Just a nice anecdote, nothing more – until today.

These stories are not meant as factual evidence Brad will be the next coach in Bloomington.  They are expressions of hope because that is all that fuels Indiana Basketball passion these days.  Sure, these accounts are closer in tone and content to the infamous “Billy Donovan and his wife are in Bloomington looking at houses” than a report of an actual incident or inked affidavit.

The idea of Brad coming home to coach the Hoosiers is a beautiful dream, a plea that maybe one day IU catches a break and the timing becomes right for the perfect coach to lead this imperfect program.  At the intersections of those two stories is not a road map to Brad’s plans, but a prayer that maybe this one time the planets align for a magic moment and bring a perfect hire.

Brad to Indiana has always been a magnificent fantasy, and it will likely remain a fantasy, but somewhere just on the other side of likely lies a reality Indiana fans cling to – that Brad might decide it’s time to finally come home.

Indiana Basketball defies prudence – fires Archie Miller and eats the buyout!

What a long and arduous trip these four years have been!

I’m not stunned very often, but Archie Miller being fired today qualifies.

It seemed more likely Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson would wait for a new president prior to swallowing a $10.5 million buyout.  What if the new president values $10.5 very large over whatever success a new coach might bring?  Dolson decided such petty concerns are not befitting Indiana Basketball!

Dolson acted, and one would assume he will act again quickly to hire his man.  If he convenes a blue ribbon tribunal of wealthy gas bags to select or approve his new coach, Indiana fans could see a four-peat of nonsensical hires.

There are rumbles that Thad Matta may return to coaching at IU, but that might be indigestion after a big lunch.  Brad Stevens is always rumored because he is beloved, but that it a pipe dream.

It can’t be that IU would seek out another up-and-comer, right?

The search I most enjoyed was the one that was criticized loudly when former AD Fred Glass conducted it.  Football coach Kevin Wilson was expunged and Tom Allen elevated within an hour.  There was no kibitzing with trustees and boosters.  It was just Fred, Tom, and a new contract!

At the time, I felt cheated of the speculation, but Fred did the right thing.  Bing, bang, bong, Allen shifted offices, and the Hoosiers became a team that plays on New Years Day bowls!

Hope Dolson does the same with identical results!

Indiana Basketball – Kelvin Sampson’s return to Assembly Hall will be quiet – too quiet

Bad times in Bloomington, starring Kelvin Sampson.

Last year, a former Indiana coach made his long awaited return to Assembly Hall.  The echoes of the loving cheers are still bouncing off the walls.  Another former coach will return this Friday.  If fans were allowed in the building, the noise would be as loud, but the tone quite different.

You can question the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee’s decision to leave Louisville off its bracket of 68 teams, but never doubt its sense of humor.

As if IU fans didn’t already have a heaping helping of woe on their plate, that august committee slotted former Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson and his two-seed Houston Cougars in Bloomington for a first round NCAA Tournament game against Cleveland State this Friday.

What a shame Indiana University has decided not to allow fans inside Assembly Hall for this weekend’s first round games.  An opportunity this perfect to vent so rarely comes along.

We’ve all heard the Jerry Tarkanian quote, “The NCAA is so mad at Kentucky they’re going to give Cleveland State another year of probation.”  How about a mutation of that quote to, ‘IU fans are so pissed off at Archie Miller, they booed Kelvin Sampson off the floor.’

That’s what could have happened to Sampson – whose indifference to NCAA rules he had already violated at Oklahoma sent the Hoosiers into a 2008 tailspin that prompted an NCAA exile that lasted five years.

If Archie Miller is unloved by the Hoosier faithful, Sampson remains loathed at IU with extreme bitterness.  Not only did Sampson in his arrogance break silly rules that no longer exist, (not a reason to exonerate him by the way), he invited a crew of bad actors to town that poorly represented the Indiana Basketball brand established by Quinn Buckner, Ray Tolbert, Keith Smart, and Alan Henderson.

Sampson’s brief interlude of amorality in Bloomington is the Hoosiers’ low point of the last 20 years, and that is saying something, especially given their own current five-year sabbatical from the NCAA Tournament.

Too bad fans won’t be able to remind Sampson of their disdain, and cleanse their emotional palette.

The only thing more perfect would have been for Sampson to be paired against former IU assistant Rob Senderoff’s Kent State team.

 

Indiana Basketball – Dolson choosing self-preservation over what’s best for program could save Archie Miller

No IU fan is giving Archie Miller two thumbs up for his first four years, but he could get a fifth because it’s prudent for his boss to wait a year to fire him.

Indiana Basketball fans need to steel themselves for the possibility that after four years of abject mediocrity, Archie Miller may just return for a fifth year.

Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson has a hell of a decision on his hands.  Does he do what’s best for Indiana Basketball by replacing Archie Miller, or make the shrewd and prudent middle management play to allow Miller to return for a fifth season?

For fans, this is an easy call.  Miller goes.  Adios.  He never fit, and had no interest in adjusting to become a fit.  But for Dolson, so early in his tenure as the department head for his alma mater’s athletic department, it’s a more nuanced choice.

While Dolson is the AD, hiring a basketball coach at IU is a decision made by the university as a hulking bureaucratic machine.  The days of an individual making this call in a vacuum are over.  Donors, trustees, student-athletes, and the university president work together to make certain  all voices are heard and respected.  That process has yielded Kelvin Sampson, Tom Crean, and Archie Miller.  IU’s resolve in hearing from a wide pallet of voices is mysterious as results have this Groundhog Day cycle of misery.

IU president Michael McRobbie, Dolson’s boss, is on his way out the door, and a replacement has not been named.  Without the approval of the new president, or even having an inkling who it will be, writing the buyout check of $10.5M exposes Dolson to immediate liability.

Should mediocre results follow another change and show the buyout expense to have been wasted, Dolson will have fired one of the few bullets he will be allowed during his tenure.

So why not wait a year to get the new president on board for a regime change?  It’s a long shot that Miller will suddenly reverse a four-year run of non-winning Big 10 seasons, but whether IU rebounds or not Dolson will appear to be a reasonable and financially cautious steward of his department.

There is a potential downside to Dolson outsmarting himself in this process.  If the wrong people are disenfranchised by inaction, donations will dry up and season ticket cancellations might serve as a referendum on Miller’s retention.  If Indiana slogs through another wobbly season, the fans who do show up could become surly and disruptive.  That would be a nightmare for the players, coaches, and Dolson, who will be assessed as complicit in another lost season of Indiana Basketball.

During that lost year, coaches will recruit against Miller by telling recruits he is a short-timer – almost certain to be gassed at the end of the 2021-2022 season.  Momentum would stall, making the job less attractive and the latest rebuild even more difficult.

Sometimes management requires checkers level plotting, and other times are for those who enjoy three-dimensional chess.  Dolson is capable of both, but needs to decide which is appropriate in dealing with Miller’s firing or retention

These are interesting times in Bloomington for Dolson, who just nine months into his reign is faced with the kind of decision his predecessor never faced.  Fred Glass moved through a basketball program coaching change that was a no-brainer.  Crean was not popular internally, alienated in-state high school coaches and recruits, and needed to go.  His decision was relatively easy, and was then confirmed when Crean fled Bloomington rather than show up for the meeting where he would have heard about his demise.

Whether Dolson pulls the plug on Miller, he will be judged by the new president, old president, board of trustees, donors, student-athletes and their families, and fans for the results of how this plays out and concludes.

The odds of Miller surviving despite fan outrage are roughly the same as a Hoosiers free throw. It could go either way.

Indiana Basketball – AD Scott Dolson needs to value fit over resume’ with this search #iubb

IU AD Scott Dolson has his football coach signed through 2027, but what about basketball? Can he find the right guy – finally?

Here we go again.

It’s hard today to write about Indiana basketball, but there are obvious and unpleasant things that need to be said.  The first is that after five years of mediocrity, it’s ludicrous to make the case that a fifth year of Archie Miller as coach would spark hope of a renaissance.  But, it’s also idiotic to assign blame solely to Miller for malaise that began a year before he arrived.

There is no arguing that Miller is an ill-fitting boot for the bunion-covered foot of the Hoosier basketball, and it would do both him and his employee a great deal of good to separate.  Miller would get $10.5M in Hoosier Cash after being canned, and AD Scott Dolson would be able to look fans in the eye when he lists his expectations for the 2021-2022 season.  That is unless Miller decided to hit the bricks of his own volition, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for that!

Miller is part of the reason Indiana continues to languish in the Big 10, but he’s not the only one.  All this recession to the mean basketball began when Indiana resigned from its position as a leader among programs by instituting a revolving door system of replacing coaches without any regard to fit.

Mike Davis – bad fit.  Wanted to put names on the back of the jerseys.  Angered recruits like Mike Conley by misaddressing an envelope to Mike that contained a letter to a different recruit.  Davis also insulted Conley’s dad while watching Greg Oden work out at Lawrence North High School.  There’s more, but I like Mike and he’s doing fine at Detroit, so let’s move on.

Kelvin Sampson – a win-at-all-costs coach at a win-the-right-way school.  That he lasted nearly two years is only because Indiana’s compliance people worked at a snail’s pace in uncovering the same violations he was nearly fired for at Oklahoma.

Tom Crean – His energy burned brightly and brought great results during a five-year rebuild.  Then that intense heat started to scortch co-workers, high school and summer coaches, recruits, and fans.  He had the team cut down nets after a loss on the day his Hoosiers clinched the Big 10 title.  In the end, he could not recruit Indiana, and the results were inconsistent and in decline.  Crean failed to show up for the meeting where he was to be fired.

Archie Miller – He has not appeared to enjoy a single minute since coming to IU.  Recruiting Indiana resumed with impressive signings, but the results have yet to bring a winning season in Big 10 play or a trip to the NCAA Tournament (although the 2020 team likely would have been invited if not for COVID).  The loss last night to Rutgers might have been the final straw for Miller, who has always appeared to embrace Hoosier Hospitality in much the same way other Pittsburgh natives do – not at all.

That series of resume’ driven hires at Indiana University have caused the basketball program to crater.  The current five-year stretch without a winning Big 10 record is the longest since 1919.  You remember 1919 – Babe Ruth was still with the Red Sox, World War I ended eight weeks before, commercial radio did not exist, and the first NCAA Tournament was 20 years from happening.

Archie Miller is the latest victim of a wildly inclusive hiring strategy that allows input from everyone with a proximity card for Cook Hall,, current IU student-athlete, big money donor, or employee of Parker Executive Search.  As everyone in business knows, the bigger the meeting – the punier the results.

Over and over, Indiana denies itself the opportunity to get a coach who fits the position, and then wonders why results force yet another change.

After losing their last six games, Dolson appears to have little choice but to begin anew the process of finding a coach.  The consequences of not replacing Miller are too great to allow for another year of blah basketball without hope for anything better.  In last night’s game, the first game fans have been allowed to attend, the Hoosiers were booed for missing its usual parcel of free throws.

Imagine the boos in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall if Dolson allows another year of uneven play to raise hopes and then crush them – sometimes in the same half!  The level of damage that could be done to the Indiana Basketball brand if the Hoosiers somehow string together a sixth non-winning season could be irreparable.  Once donors stops donating and season ticket holders stop renewing, the momentum is hard to stop.

These are troubling times in Dolson’s office.  Miller’s performance is not his to own, but if there is a fifth season of whatever this is, the money forfeited by Indiana might dwarf the COVID related revenue losses that have put the Hoosiers in a bind.