KoB2011

I don’t know a lot of people that seemed to think an expose of the NU situation was warranted to justify what Woodson did, but I have unfortunately seen a ton of you that made this an inevitable reality with Fife. You guys rushed to defend Fife like he is some sacred son and trashed a much better (in every way) Hoosier in the process. The result was inevitable thanks to the backlash that was provided.

Right, the speculation door is only swinging in one direction currently.

Pretty sure there was inside info on that, no?

Huge if true.

Life goals, brotha!

What in the world does this situation have to do with being woke?

Fiction

I thought the press release was fine, personally. You can take issue with Rabjohns for posting what he did, but it seems to be true at this point. To use an analogy, if you're a crappy spouse and cheat on him/her, then you're the one that let the family down not the person that told people what you did. I still like Fife at this point, but he is the one that let IU down here not the other way around.

1. Probably true, who wouldn't want access to the team they cover? 2. Of course Woody doesn't want that, what coach would. 3. He did a very poor job of communicating this point if it is the case. 4. Who has he landed at IU?

If Woodson lost part of the fanbase because he fired an assistant coach then you weren't a fan in the first place. This isn't some moral screw up on Woodson's part even if you disagree with the decision.

If anything, doesn't it seem like that is the opposite of his style and one of the reasons Fife wasn't a good fit?

I hear you and have no idea if Rabby acted of his own volition or was prompted to say something. But I would also say that things like, "the match wasn't good", "philosophical differences", etc. was implied by the fact that he got fired. And the response was that Woody was an idiot and looking for 'yes men' from many people. I don't think Rabjohns needs defending from anyone and I think he probably could have phrased his post better than he did, I think it was a response to the initial reaction from many.

We have how long of a thread talking about an assistant coach from a team that was a 12 seed getting fired? How many posts in this thread, prior to Rabby posting that, were saying how awful Woodson and IU were for this? If you were flaming IU and Woodson for letting Fife go, and are now upset with Rabjohns.... look in the mirror. You're the reason that kind of thing got out. To clarify, not saying that was you @5fouls, just responding to your post on the matter.

What are you even trying to say? This is a very confusing post. What I will say though, since you brought MSU into this, is that whatever that school judges as right and wrong is probably the opposite of what I want out of IU. That is an absolute trash institution.

Dane can certainly sue Rabjohns, but his target isn't going to be IU. And suing a journalist when you're a public figure is incredibly difficult. But by all means, dig that grave deeper if you so choose, Dane. And you're just wrong not he political scenario and this has nothing to do with the university. Mike Woodson, Dane Fife's former boss, told him to stop doing it and he didn't. No part of Dane's role as an assistant basketball coach involved any need to discuss politics with anyone. Nothing we have seen or heard says that Mike Woodson told Dane Fife he couldn't have a bumper sticker or do whatever he wanted on his own time; it was about not doing it in the workplace. A professor inherently is going to have a different amount of leeway on that because they are teaching things that are going to have a lot of political overlap. While we're speculating that Dane did something as innocent as complaining about gas prices and got fired for it, I'll speculate that it probably wasn't something quite that innocent. I don't really want to turn this into a Dane Fife bashing thread, but some of you are really pushing the envelope in his defense for what seems like a pretty clear and obvious decision to part ways.

I would actually argue that a lot of posts (not your post that I'm responding to) in threads like this are the reason the Rabjohn's post ever happened. Many rushed to defend Dane while taking shots at IU and Woodson in the process. Instead of just being neutral on the issue some have forced some pretty unfortunate information about Dane to be put into the public sphere. EDIT: I do agree with many that are saying Rabjohn's could have probably been more tactful in how he relayed information and how specific he got.

I think Dane would be making a career ending mistake if he tried to sue IU, I see this is a completely fabricated issue. On your generic political scenario, I'll bite. It's an apples to oranges comparison - a head basketball coach is absolutely allowed and expected to have rules and expectations for his staff that have nothing to do with what a professor does. Further, from Rabjohn's post this wasn't an issue of him doing something political privately, it was trying to influence players. Additionally, many professors subject matters are inherently political and part of the job of a professor is to provide an education, where as that isn't something related to basketball at all.

I think you’d struggle to get a lawsuit directed at the university from anything posted by an unaffiliated source.

What is embarrassing? We were a 12 seed that fired an assistant coach. Nothing seems embarrassing about this. Have you ever worked for a company that has major goals that didn't make major changes along the way?

This is only drama is fans make it drama. We fired an assistant coach that didn't mesh with the vision for the program. That's an incredibly low drama move.

You are being really quick to pass judgment that Woody made a bad move, but now that all the evidence points to it being an easy move you’re saying to slow down? Come on, Bob.

I am not putting the MSU scandals on Fife at all, if I was doing that I wouldn’t have said I liked him. What I am challenging is that Fife is this untouchable guy that we can’t afford to lose and Woodson is some idiot for firing. Again, when we compare Woodson and Fife’s resumes as former Hoosiers or as a coaches, they aren’t comparable. It leans significantly in Woodson’s favor. Then we look at what makes Fife a “top” assistant and it’s his decade at MSU that was easily the worse half of Izzo’s tenure and was riddled with actual scandal. Again, not blaming Fife for the scandal but it’s certainly worth noting that his boss covering up sexual assault and being a piece of human garbage wasn’t a deal breaker for him. Now add the smoke about Fife undermining the NIL, talking like he was the coach in waiting when he wasn’t, etc… and I can see how Woodson may conclude he needed to go a different direction. If we step back and take our emotion and loyalty to Fife out of this I don’t think it’s exactly hard to see how we got to this place. I’m not happy we got here, but we did and based on what I know I get why Woodson felt like it was time to part ways. Woody has earned the benefit of the doubt in my mind. Serious question for you @BobSaccamanno, since you seem to not really respect Woodson’s chops as a head coach over this… do you think Thad Matta was consulted on this decision and do you think he agreed with it? What about Buckner?

I don’t know all the details and have only skimmed the last few pages so sorry if I missed something, but I don’t see how we can have any position other than pro-IU (pro-Woody) on this unless there is something I’m missing. Woodson just delivered our best season in six years. He has made some great progress recruiting. He is without question the better pedigree as a coach and former Hoosier player between the two… Dane Fife, who I do like, coached at MSU for a decade that was worse than the one before it and was riddled with scandal that makes anything Sampson did here look like a Saint what’s the question here about which side we fall on?

Good luck! Seems like a good kid with some raw talent, hope he can find a spot that allows him to tap into it and thrive.

It does suck and I hate it for Fife, but I also would hate it if Woodson felt he could upgrade the team and program and didn't make the move for some reason. Wouldn't you?