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Coach Mike Woodson Megathread


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So I've been recuperating a little, and didn't really participate in the "Who are we getting?" threads too much...I read all of them  though...and here are my thoughts...

Once it was apparent we weren't getting Brad Stevens, I didn't think Beard (especially after Shaka left Texas), Oats (because of the buyout), or Altman (Nike) were options...

The only one I thought might be an option was Musselman, but he's made it plain that if he can get an NBA job, he'd go...Plus the fact that right now he makes $2.5 million a year, and it would probably have had to increase significantly for IU to have a shot...And I'm not sure a guy with 1 year coaching in a P6 conference would deserve that... 

I thought Beilein might be a good stop gap, but I have a feeling we'd have been going through this exercise again in a couple of years had he been hired...

And a hard "NO" to mid-major coaches or top flight assistants (even those with an IU background)...

I've thought all along (along with a few others) that Mike Woodson might just be the ticket to getting IU basketball to being IU BASKETBALL...No nonsense coach with and NBA background and regardless of how people want to skew his numbers, he turned 2 awful franchises into winners...If he can get the NBA divas to buy in, I'm sure getting 18-22 year olds ) to listen to a guy who's been through what they're currently going through, and has extensive experience both playing an coaching at a level about that, is a piece of cake...

I understand some people are upset, but let's not call the baby ugly until we at least see it...

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3 minutes ago, btownqb said:

Will if he adds players and wins

Of course, but that’s not likely to happen in year one. An apathetic fan base needed a boost until then and it didn’t happen. 
 

When you hire a 63 year old coach, it’s like a lame duck politician. Fans are already thinking about the next hire/succession plan. 

I love Woody. I was at IU at the end of his college career. But this is a caretaker hire. It advertises to the basketball world that IU isn’t a desirable job. Which I don’t believe if we had competent leadership. 
 

I really hate feeling this way. 

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Woodson will gives us a chance to keep TJD.  He can sit him down and tell him put your name in the draft and get some advice.  But I've watched you play and viewed your tapes, and they are going to tell you XYZ.  Is what I can give you is daily instruction to make you a great NBA prospect  Also, we will be playing an NBA offense.  You will get to show the NBA teams what you can do.  I also know that you really love school and playing for IU.  I played four years for IU, and I loved it, too.  I still do love IU, and my daughter went to school here and played volleyball.  She loved it.  I got to play in the NBA for 12 years, and I was a head coach in the NBA for 9 years and an assistant for many more.  But this is your last chance ever to play for IU.   I'll support you in whatever you decide, and you are always welcome back to see us.

There is a lot of talent on this team.  Franklin and Lander are very talented, and I think they would both thrive with Woodson's coaching and NBA offense.  We have some other players who are good pieces. 

This hire will be big news because it's Indiana and it's new.  Sports writer's love to talk about this.  Lots of free pub.  What is Indiana doing?  Is it like UM?  Is this the trend in CB?  Will it work? 

Buckle up guys and gals! 

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Time to list out possible assistant coach candidates, or the qualities you want to see them add.

They need a recruiter who has some connections to recruits today or a history of success.

They could use one that is "younger" and connects to kids today, but i wouldn't consider it a top priority.

Mike Lewis comes to mind and has been mentioned by others.

I still think a guy like Dane Fife, if named lead assistant/heir apparent, would be great in that role and could be groomed to take over the program.

I read Kenya Hunter may be kept on.

How about a specialist? An Xs and Os guy, although I think with Woodson and input from Matta you can develop an offense and defense. Maybe a guy that develops bigs or shooters.

 

 

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I personally believe that this will work. 
 

I don’t buy into the “no college coaching experience, or the settled for alum because nobody else wanted the job” talk. 
 

I wanted Stevens like everyone else. However, I believe that given the proper support, he can flourish. 
 

If Woodson can get TJD, Lander, Franklin, Geronimo and Thompson back into the fold... we can win next season, and finish top 5 in the conference. We were in almost every game this past season. I don’t honestly know much about Stewart, but if we can add a solid transfer or two... we could win a lot of those games that we lost this year. 
 

If IU puts the right staff around him, I think the program can get headed in the right direction. 
 

 

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19 minutes ago, Danomatic said:

I personally believe that this will work. 
 

I don’t buy into the “no college coaching experience, or the settled for alum because nobody else wanted the job” talk. 
 

I wanted Stevens like everyone else. However, I believe that given the proper support, he can flourish. 
 

If Woodson can get TJD, Lander, Franklin, Geronimo and Thompson back into the fold... we can win next season, and finish top 5 in the conference. We were in almost every game this past season. I don’t honestly know much about Stewart, but if we can add a solid transfer or two... we could win a lot of those games that we lost this year. 
 

If IU puts the right staff around him, I think the program can get headed in the right direction. 
 

 

I do too. I honestly laughed about this a few weeks ago.   But as it’s settled in and the fact we’re going back to the Knight Era ... in a way - it’s actually where we belong.  There is a certain professionalism/standard about Indiana basketball when Knight was in charge.     We’ve slowly moved away from that.   
 

Now - I don’t fault Crean for trying his best and accepting an extension.  Nor do I blame Archie for anything.   But now that we’re back with Woodson ... it feels like we’ve been missing it the whole time in a weird sort of way.   Success still could’ve been attained here, but dare I say ........ Dakich was right the whole time?!?    Sorry!   Maybe not specifically with Alford.   But I think Dakich was actually right. 

Edited by Bustout
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I've thought about this a lot today, mostly while painting my daughter's room, so haven't had a ton of time to read other opinions, hot takes, and absorp outside info....

 

But I've gone from pretty underwhelmed to cautiously optimistic. Woodson is a good coach. He took two terrible NBA franchises to the playoffs. He showed he could win consistently in the NBA. Matta can help him adjust to managing a college program, I hope he keeps Hunter for recruiting and brings in Lewis or Fife, preferably Lewis. Not sure who I'd like to see for the last assistant. 

 

From and X and I perspective, he's going to be one of the best coaches in the Big Ten. The NBA is far more advanced schematically than college basketball is. His past players have talked a lot about his development and how much they love playing for him. He needs help getting talent, that's a real question mark, but I think he has a lot of other positives if he can get that part

Edited by KoB2011
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9 hours ago, dbmhoosier said:

Dolson just sucks.  My hunch about him was spot on.

We paid $10M and Utah and Marquette got better hires.  Tom Crean and Archie are laughing their a$$es off.

no one wants this job....you could have Woodson or Alford. Go read what his former players say about him. This may turn out to be the greatest hire ever. I'm glad the site crashed. i was thining like you until i started reading things. Dolson had only a couple of choices here, we arent what we used to be. not everyone can coach here or wants the bullshit that goes with it.

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9 hours ago, IUFLA said:

That kind of surprises me...

Like I said, take a look at his NBA record with 2 woeful franchises...He improved every year in Atlanta, going from 13 wins the 1st year, to 53 when the Hawks in their infinite wisdom decided not to bring him back, and the Knicks, well, you know about them...But he coached them to a 1st place finish in the Atlantic Division in 2014...Just for a refresher, here are his numbers...

...

MW.PNG

The guy can coach and players love him. The list of All Stars he's coached is impressive.

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What’s odd is - most people would’ve been relatively happy with Matta ALONE. OK - health is an issue. And it may be risky long-term. 
 

but the guy is taking an OPS-type job plus Woodson plus three more assistants.    
 

How is this a bad result on paper?!? 

Edited by Bustout
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9 hours ago, BGleas said:

Then why hasn't another franchise hired him in 6 years? Because he's uninspiring to even NBA franchises. You couldn't sell a Woodson head coaching hire to an NBA fanbase in 2021. He's got zero college coaching or recruiting experience and it just seems flat lazy. Seems to me they swung for Stevens and then went right to Woodson, without ever even trying for Beard, Muss, Oats, etc. 

This could definitely work out, but we absolutely lost the press conference. The good news is winning games is more important than winning press conferences. 

Dolson never lied to anyone. he flat out said it was going to be someone from indiana that had NBA ties. only a hand full of people fit that.

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9 hours ago, Hoosierfan1215 said:

Yeah can’t wait to see what a bang up bunch of players our well seasoned college coach with a bunch of relationships to high school kids and other programs he has worked at can bring in to replace them...not very optimistic..

i'm excited to watch him take a 12-15 team with Archie's players and win 20+ games with them. Winning will take care of some of the recruiting.

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9 hours ago, BGleas said:

Really curious to see how Dolson spins this. Either Woodson was the guy from the jump, or everyone else said no. 

Obviously he's not going to say nobody else wanted the job, but how hard he drives down the "this was always my guy" lane will be telling. 

i thought you were a media guy? how do you think he is going to spin it. like every other hire made by every other AD.

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