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All the handwringing over this hire is ridiculous. Mike Woodson is an NBA guy who clearly understands the reality of how college basketball recruiting works. It looks like IU might finally be ready to start acting like a big time program.

After boring weekend I’ve been doing some reading up on Coach Ya....enough that I can now call him Coach Ya. Let’s set the whole baggage issue (for which he was cleared) aside for a second. If the guy is hired, he’s not a temporary hire because he may or may not bring Jabari Smith. He has been a D1 - power 5 assistant for many years at Oregon, Georgia and Alabama. This is not an under qualified video coordinator. I posted a link to his podcast a few pages back, which I recommend listening to if you’re on the fence. A good segment to the podcast is devoted to giving advice to recruits. He has a knack for delivering sobering reality in a tactful way. You can see why this guy connects with recruits: he’ll be relatable, blunt and is extremely knowledgeable. The most important tips he gives to get noticed by college staffs? 1. Work hard and demonstrate you can fit into a teams culture. 2. Take your education seriously. ‘Talent’ takes a back seat to tips 1 and 2. And when talent comes up he recommends to stop dribbling and work on your shooting. Play defense. Etc. I just get a good vibe from the guy.

I'm ok with this, assuming we're finally operating like a major college basketball program. All this FBI stuff and nothing really happened. A few assistants got fired. Bruce Pearl is still at Auburn, Will Wade is still at LSU, Bill Self just got a lifetime contract, Sean Miller only got fired because of losing, UNC completely got away with 20 years of fake classes, nobody ever even looked at Coach K, Cal or Oregon. Time to recruit talent, develop players and win games with the top programs in college basketball.

But aren't you sort of assuming "potential character issues"?

He got caught and cleared of something shady. He didnt get retained by new Bama coach. He hasn't gotten an assistant job since. Basically he has done his time for the crime. I have no problem with IU hiring him, but they better (and I think CMW will) let him know what is allowed and not allowed at IU.

You’ll be back when they start bringing in studs and kicking ass on the court — winning cures all.

I've said all I'm going to say here. I hope it works out, whoever he hires. I'm taking a break. Not real interested in interacting with a fan base that no longer seems to care about potential character issues in the coaching staff.

We have had guys like that under about every coach in my lifetime. Knight hired former cheaters. Davis I am more iffy on, but I think he had a few questionable guys. Sampson himself. Crean had Kenny Johnson. Miller worked for his brother and I believe Ostrom was considered Florida's "bag man" when he was there. This is the reality of the past 40+ years, not sure why you just now are getting upset about it.

Exactly. The game has changed, time to change along with it if there's any hope of this program contending and not being just another footnote.

I apologize was having a bad day and took it out in the wrong arena. I am thankful for second chances because without 1 I have no idea where I would be. I sincerely do apologize for making a personal attack. A lot of times I am sarcastic this is not one!!

Was he not on tape saying he would do whatever it took....we aren’t twisting words...we are taking the guy at his word. He will pay kids to land them. He doesn’t care which school he works for he is a hired gun because if he lands kids he will get a head coaching job. What part of that are we wrong about?! How are we tarnishing someone who admitted to trying to cheat? I love how people try to twist it and make the good guys the bad guys. For the record I’m against the hire. If he is hired we better keep him in line. No room for an f up. He does and we go down for it...I’m done with this program. It’s like buying a pit bull that has bit someone before but maybe that person didn’t raise it well..and then letting your kid play with it. Maybe it won’t bite...and some people are cool with it...but my child (IU) in isn’t worth it. Lots of good dogs out there. Sure they could bite too but I’ll take my chance with one of those even if it isn’t as good at protecting my house. We all are still fans...we should quit attacking each other and if we disagree focus on the what was said and not take personal shots because someone’s values.

Everyone really needs to stop with the holier than thou attitude when it comes to IU basketball. IU’s had more players get paid in recent years than people want to admit they just didn’t get caught. Rosemond got caught up in the investigation. He was willing to talk about setting up payments for players but it didn’t end up happening so he was cleared. Who knows but after that whole mess he might not want to do that ever again and he learned from past mistakes. He deserves a chance before fans start judging.

I don’t care who Woodson hires as the 3rd assistant, just recruit talent, develop players and win games!

Charlie Lau was a career .255 hitter in the bigs, but is widely heralded as the best hitting coach in history...

I know it's not the same but plenty of Olympic gold medalist have been Coached by some people that never made it that far. I taught the civil war, Vietnam and all other US conflicts without EVER stepping foot on the battlefield myself. Call me a savant!!

Seems like some of you complain just to complain

I'd take two out of any of Keion Brooks, Tamar Bates, Jabari Smith & Noah Locke.

I am not saying Romeo did anything wrong but most were fine with his Dad getting 200k to coach his Adidas AAU team. The kids that want money will get it from someone. I have said many times I have no issue playing in the gray area. I was around when the Administrative staff had people spying on every aspect in hopes of finding something to report to the NCAA. I see nothing wrong with this hire.

You guys getting mad about this are hilarious. He was cleared of wrongdoing, he has connections, he's young, and from his podcasts sounds like he would connect really well with recruits and understands the game of recruiting. I'm glad to have Yasir on board.

Archie shot at a good clip in college... we saw how that translated.

I think all 3 will be doing heavy lifting regarding recruiting. Hunter out East, Fife in the Midwest, and Rosemond in South.

Me and my Granddaughter

If you are not bothered by this comment, then just be consistent about it. Go back and look at what you posted in other threads on these topics, and edit your comments if necessary. Sean Miller UNC Fake Classes Anything involving Rick Pitino or Louisville Will Wade You believe it's okay or you don't. But, you can't pass judgement against Sean Miller and give a free pass to Yasir Rosemand when both tried to do the exact same thing with the exact same group of people.

I disagree with you on the grey area. That’s just good business. You’re not breaking a rule by the letter of the law. Or you’re figuring out ways to function within the rules to get an edge. That’s not cheating. I don’t know the rule book, but if there is a way for a player’s dad to operate an AAU team that allows him to get paid by a shoe firm, by all means go for it. But where I’m not on board is outright cheating, where you have bags of cash funneled around via agents to runners or directly to players or their family, outside the rules.

I don't think anyone is advocating cheating. Maybe "stretch, the rules a little, but not cheating. At least that's my take....

When did wanting things done the right way with minimal risk become the wrong attitude? asking for a friend.

I can't disagree with those facts, but literally everyone is playing in the corruption/grey area, and they're winning championships every year in basketball and football. For god's sake, Scott Drew just won a title coaching in Waco. You have to play this game to roll with the big dogs. Duke bball and Bama football don't give a rat's behind about the NCAAs nonsense. They work the system as much as possible, win title after title and become legendary programs/coaches. The holier than thou routine of our fan base is comical and so out of touch with modern athletics. Also, I would hope Yasir is going to be extra careful after being named in the FBI probe. I could be 100% wrong and will have egg on my face, but I highly doubt Woodson brings on a liability. Yasir seems to be a great guy to have on board when NIL explodes. After listening to him I think he has a great grasp on how to successfully build your "brand". Trust me, I hate saying brand but that's where this train is headed.

There is no risk if IU just circles the wagons around the program like they’re supposed to in the unlikely event this guy gets “caught” “breaking the rules.” See, e.g., literally every other blue blood.

These guys are struggling with the entire direction of college sports. It has always been a business, it is just now starting to be run like one. From a player standpoint I am referring to...

Teaching and doing are 2 completely different items.

I know right. Imagine if he can help Race start hitting from outside. Him and TJD would be a deadly combination

😍 at “shooting mechanics expertise”

Don’t like it. I’m on the record. Not going to lose sleep over it. That said if we get in trouble because this guy I will be so p!ssed off. I’ll be ready to clean house. My trust is in the staff to set the expectations and toe the line. That said I don’t need anyone’s permission to have my opinion or even give it. I may never like the hire. I may just have to live with it. Maybe I have been ignorant of our assistants in the past...that’s on me. Doesn’t make me inconsistent in my stance. If I’d known and it was out in the open I would have opposed them too. Let’s just hope the young man has learned his lesson and does a great job here.

I feel like Woody realized recruiting was a weakness of his since he never coached college before and is trying to surround himself with very good recruiters who can negate his weakness...I think some are overthinking it.

I must say that I'm surprised at some of the people who seem to be perfectly okay with this. I think a lot of that is trust in Mike Woodson. But, let's admit it's more about faith in Woody than faith in Rosemand. If UK was hiring Rosemand, a lot of people defending him coming to IU would look at it as confirmation that Cal is sleazy.

As @Billingsley99 stated above: teaching and doing are completely different things. I was a horrible butterflier when I swam. I had to work at it and do a ton of drills because It didn’t come naturally to me. It was a challenge and one of my slower strokes. But I’m great at coaching it. I have a better bio mechanical knowledge of the stroke because it didn’t come naturally to me. I had to think about it, thus, can explain it and can catch technical flaws easier. Another example: Some big shot lawyer came in from Indy to teach by business law class in college. Sucked at teaching. So much so, I had to drop the class because I had no clue what was going on. I had an actual tenured professor when i re-took the class the following semester. He probably wasn’t a better lawyer than the other guy, but was a way better teacher. I could list a thousand other examples to disprove that train of thought.

Stands on a chair

Chuck Martin was also in one of the articles about FBI scandal. Tom O: Not sure where the exact message is, but found this quickly in an article “This is from Lasko to Fenny,” Schachter said, reading the text to Kaplan. “‘Fenny, I am in Indiana and Coach Ostrom asked me for an update. They are super willing to do what it takes to recruit Silvio. Is that something of interest for us?’” Tom Ostrom, the associate head coach at Indiana, is in his second season with the Hoosiers.

Interesting tidbit about are new coach

Can we get a shooter please? Somebody? Anybody interested? Have to be willing to shoot a lot and play a lot! If too many shots or too much playing time is not what you’re looking for, there’s a little room for negotiation.

Watching everything play out I have one thought - it seems that IU basketball is important again within the administration. There seems to be a commitment to make it important again beyond that. I may or may not agree with every decision being made, but that is not the point because the decisions are not mine. Honestly I’m just glad to see movement toward relevance.

I think Michigan with Howard and now IU with CMW is recognizing the future of college basketball. The NBA is where the kids we need want to go. They want coaches who can get them there. Capital's entire pitch is that. I don't like it, but that is reality in today's game. We all want IU to be relevant. This is how to get there. TJD would not have returned if if that was not the case.

Saw this shared on BTB and had to pass it on. Really, it’s a great watch. Not only is a it a chance to see Yasir talk about recruiting - it’s interesting to learn about some of the recruiting aspects. Based on the conversation, it doesn’t seem like many staffs are simply ‘telling kids what they want to hear’ - I think that’s a narrative fans build up to to detract blame for when their school doesn’t land a recruit.

Our teams didn't improve and he brought in zero recruits.

Rabjohns is saying Rosemond is a done deal. Interesting hire, I like it.

HSN meet Yogi

Concerning but the reality is that what was uncovered a few years ago is far more widespread then the schools that were caught. I have zero doubt that many of the assistants, coaches, and players who we have wanted over the past month have been involved in this stuff to some degree. I trust Woodson, a Bob Knight disciple, to run a clean program.