Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Indiana State should thank Greg Lansing with a big raise, not fire him

What the hell is going on at Indiana State University’s athletic department?

Basketball coach Greg Lansing is rumored to be on the verge on being fired.  When I saw that yesterday, I thought I had lapsed into a bad dream.  No such luck.

Indiana State is exceptionally fortunate to have a coach like Lansing, whose Sycamores are 11-7 in the Missouri Valley Conference.  Not only does he win at a school where few want to play in a very competitive conference, he’s also a good guy who appears to be very happy living and working in Terre Haute.

They should extend his contract – not end it!

Nothing against the Haute, but it’s not exactly the garden spot of Indiana – a state without an abundance of garden spots.  Hey, I happily live in Indiana.  I’m proud to call it home.  But let’s be honest – Gary, Fort Wayne, Terre Haute, and New Albany (the town where I went to high school, so I know what I’m talking about) are not filled with artists trying to capture their beauty on canvas.

And let’s only mention briefly the smell from the Purina plant.  Yes, cat food factories smell very similar to the product they produce.  When the wind blows in the wrong direction, the foul aroma is inescapable.  Try recruiting to a campus that feral cats flock to like college students to Panama City.

Indiana State needs to be very careful about what it does next, because creating unnecessary change can lead to negative consequences – as it almost certainly would if Lansing is dispatched.

This is Lansing’s 11th year at Indiana State.  He has a 180-163 record overall and is six games over .500 in the Valley.  He’s the first coach since Bill Hodges (helped by a superlative 33-1 record in the 78-79 season almost entirely attributable to Larry Bird) to post a winning record.  Hodges was fired almost 40 years ago.

Sometimes, university administrators should just leave things as they are.  This is one of those times.

Indiana Basketball – Questions about IU’s future outnumber last night’s missed shots and fouls

Not the face of a confident or happy coach following last night’s loss to Michigan State.

Barring a Hail Mary run through the Big 10 Tournament next week, the Indiana Hoosiers will fail to be invited to the NCAA Tournament for a fifth consecutive year.  That hasn’t happened since 1972.

At 7-11 with one game remaining, the Hoosiers are guaranteed to finish with a non-winning Big 10 record for the fifth straight year.  That hasn’t happened in 102 years.

These are weird times, and it can be argued that COVID has caused chaos and unpredictability in college basketball for which a coach cannot be held accountable.  That would be the argument advanced mostly by the coaches who have failed to compete successfully, and their apologists.

Because Indiana’s run of mediocrity began long before anyone had ever heard of COVID-19, the  virus defense is convenient and spurious.  The Hoosiers are just not very good.  As is the case with most losing teams, they are disconnected, dispassionate, and seemingly incapable of playing well for more than 10 minutes at a time.

In previous years, it was difficult to lay the entire responsibility for Indiana’s woes at the feet of Archie Miller because he was dealing with players recruited by Tom Crean.  Those days are over.  While Aljami Durham and Race Thompson were Crean recruits, this is year four for Miller. He’s had ample opportunity to lead these guys to embrace his expectations, or see they ply their wares on another campus.

This is Miller’s fourth team, and none have been good.  Last year’s group likely would have played in the NCAA Tournament if not for the COVID driven cancellation, but they were 9-11 in conference play, so whether they were an 11-seed or just outside the bubble is an unimportant detail in evaluating Miller’s work in Bloomington.

Last night’s loss in East Lansing was fairly typical.  Indiana failed to shoot well, committed silly fouls, and came undone as the likelihood of losing increased.  The Spartans’ best player, Ben Davis grad Aaron Henry, asserted himself in the final three minutes, and Indiana’s best player was mitigated by Michigan State’s defense and his own emotional wobbles.

Only a game against Purdue remains in this endless regular season, and the Boilermakers are a team Miller has never beaten.  Needless to say, fans are looking forward to the end of the interminable season more than they are Saturday’s game at Mackey Arena.

When that game and the Big 10 Tournament ends, all eyes will turn to athletic director Scott Dolson as he weighs the pros and cons of allowing Miller a fifth year to right the ship and achieve the lofty goals set for the program by former AD Fred Glass as he introduced Miller four long years ago.

Glass promised a program that would compete annually for Big 10 titles and National Championships.  Obviously, those goals have not been approached, and there are no tangible reasons to believe next year – or any year – might be any different.

There are a series of relevant questions that Dolson needs to answer before making the call to either replace Miller or allow him to return for a fifth swing at getting it right:

  • Why was Miller able to take Dayton to four NCAA Tournaments in his last four seasons, advance to an Elite Eight in his third year, and average more than 25 wins during that four year stretch?  What is different at Indiana?
  • Why have Chris Holtmann and Brad Underwood been able to elevate Ohio State and Illinois, despite having been hired during the same offseason as Miller?
  • Are there policies in place within the university that can be changed to provide Miller the latitude needed to field a winning team?
  • What are the financial ramifications for the athletic department if Miller comes back for what fans will perceive to be a hopeless fifth season?
  • What are the financial ramifications for the athletic department if they pay the $10.5 million buyout mandated by Miller’s contract, rather than wait for next year when the buyout drops to $3.5M?
  • If Miller is retained, can he recruit effectively with only two years remaining on his contract?
  • Most importantly – who would be a replacement that might be expected to improve on Miller’s results and those of Tom Crean?  How much would that coach cost?  Would he accept the job at any price?

That’s a hell of a list of questions for Dolson to answer before plotting a course forward.  No matter what he decides, there has to be movement somewhere, somehow toward a reason to invest hope in Indiana’s basketball program.  Rolling back IU Basketball as it exists today will be met with indifference.  Apathetic fans do not renew season tickets or write checks to endow scholarships, expand facilities, and fund the endowment.

More of the same will not get it done in Bloomington.  Change must come, but in what form?  Dolson certainly understands the need for change, right?

Colts path to the perfect offseason – needs, solutions, and opportunities!

Chris Ballard will be smiling all draft weekend long if the “Kent Sterling Plan” comes to fruition!

The Indianapolis Colts have holes to plug this offseason.  Carson Wentz was wrangled from the Philadelphia Eagles without ponying up a first rounder in 2021, so the Colts still have plenty of assets to utilize as they try to put together the perfect offseason and build a championship roster.

Here are the Colts needs:

Left Tackle – With Anthony Castonzo‘s retirement, left tackle became a must fill position of immediate and dire need for the Indianapolis Colts.  Right behind quarterback, the Colts need to hit a home run with their move to solve the riddle of the left tackle.

Wide receiver – This has been an annoyance since Reggie Wayne‘s retirement after the 2014 season.  The Colts tried to flank T.Y. Hilton with a variety of receivers over the last six seasons.  Phillip Dorsett was a first round flop.  Donte Moncrief came and went after being taken in the third round.  Andre Johnson and Devin Funchess were failed free agent plug and play vets.  Michael Pittman appears to be a keeper after being taken #34 in last year’s draft.  Hilton is now a free agent.

Edge rush – an area that was not nearly what it could have been last year, and really hasn’t been a source of great strength since Robert Mathis played out of his mind in 2013 with an incredible 19 1/2 sacks.  Justin Houston and Denico Autry were adequate with eight and 7 1/12 sacks respectively, but a lack of an explosive rush exposed the cornerbacks.

Cornerback(s) – Almost every NFL team cites cornerback as a need, but after cobbling together a competent if unspectacular unit last year, the Colts may have some heavy lifting to do to fill spots at corner.  Xavier Rhodes and T.J. Carrie are free agents, while Rok Ya-Sin and Kenny Moore return.   Moore was quite good last season.  Ya-Sin on the other hand was atrocious.

Tight end is a position the Colts would like to improve, although they got great productivity and protection out of Jack Doyle, Mo Alie-Cox, and Trey Burton.  Alie-Cox is a restricted free agent, and the Colts would love to have his giant hands back.

How can they address all those needs?  With Carson Wentz in place as a low risk, high ceiling replacement for Philip Rivers at quarterback, the Colts will turn their attention first to left tackle.

The hope was that Castonzo would play one more season.  The Colts then draft an heir apparent, who could provide depth while learning the rope from Castonzo.  That ship sailed when Castonzo walked away from the final year of his contract worth $16 million, but that doesn’t mean the plan should be scuttled.

Unless the Colts take the unusual step to slide generational left guard Quenton Nelson outside, their starting left tackle is not on the current roster – nor is a reliable backup.  If Ballard plays his cards right, the plan as it was developed for Castonzo’s eventual retirement can move forward.

If Nelson moves three feet left and retain his dominance, that would be a perfect solution.  Danny Pinter becomes the left guard, and all is right with the world without the expense of signing a free agent, taking a shot at a guy at #21, or trading to acquire a left tackle as the Colts did last year for defensive tackle DeForest Buckner.  General manager Chris Ballard could then go about the business of plugging other holes – cornerback, receiver, tight end, and edge rusher (not in that order).

But if Nelson can’t be the guy, Ballard can fall back on the original blue print.  He would just need to find a replacement for Castonzo.  There just happens to be one available, and he would likely be an upgrade.

Teams are loathe to allow a quality starting left tackles to leave as free agents, so the question that Ballard needs to first answer when considering spending significant cash and cap space on a free agent is why a team would allow that player to become available.

One free agent who fits in terms of quality and why his current team has not re-signed him is Trent Williams.  The San Francisco 49ers would almost certainly franchise him if they could, but his restructured contract prevents that.  He’s one of the top three LTs in football even heading into his age 33 season, and he’s exactly the kind of leader Ballard covets.  The 49ers have $16.5M under the cap, which is a little less than Williams alone would likely cost.

If the Colts sign Williams to a front loaded deal that allows them to escape in case of injury or age winning that war in which it is undefeated, they check the short-term box and head into 2021 with arguably the NFL’s best offensive line.  Think of this potential signing as being similar to inking Philip Rivers to his one-year deal, with the complication of Williams needing a longer contract.  This is basically the “Anthony Castonzo final year plan” the Colts were hoping to execute.

How about this for a solution for when Williams is gone?  Use the #54 pick to grab Walker Little out of Stanford.  He was projected to be a first round pick before injuring his knee in 2019.  He sat out 2020 due to COVID concerns.  All of that allows for the possibility a 6’7″, 315 lbs. first round talent falls to the late second round.

Because of Ballard’s coy deployment of assets, the two gaping holes they need to address are filled without sacrificing their first round slot at #21.  He’ll hold onto it a moment longer by spending $80 million over four years to sign a true #1 receiver – Allen Robinson.  Coming off two seasons catching a total of 200 passes for almost 2,400 yards from Mitchell Trubisky, Nick Foles, and Chase Daniels, the mind boggles at the thought of what he could do for the Colts if Wentz bounces back to his 2017-2019 form.  Sadly, because of this deal, T.Y’ Hilton will have to ply his wares elsewhere.

Xavier Rhodes is re-signed to solve part of the cornerback dilemma.

I would love to hold onto #21, but the Colts still have a serious need at edge.  If they swap with Jacksonville for #33 and #45, they can pick up Joe Tryon out of Washington and also add slot receiver Tutu Atwell out of Louisville as a replacement for Hilton.

That should leave enough cash to re-sign Alie-Cox and the draft class.  The longterm money for Robinson is a tough nugget to swallow, but we’re trying to win a Super Bowl here, not a prize from the Kelley School of Business for austerity.