Tuesday, February 21, 2006
So, Who Should Coach Basketball At Indiana University?
As Mike Davis begins to fade into the realm of a 6-year nightmare the endless speculation about who should be the new coach has begun. Needless to say, there are the sentimental favorites, most notably the much beloved Steve Alford.
Look, I love Steve, he was the epitome of what an Indiana basketball player should be, both for IU and the state in general, but I agree with this guy, his coaching credentials don't add up.
If we had to go with an IU alum, I'd go with Dan Dakich - he has the best record as a head coach, and spent more years under Knight than any other. But he has never head coached in the bigs and still represents a risk.
My sentitmental favorite right now would be my old Butler classmate - Barry Collier. As Butler's head coach, Barry put the Bulldogs back on the national map. His performance at Nebraska has not been as strong, but the Big 12 has become the pre-eminent b-ball conference in the country (after all, it's where Bob Knight landed) and Nebraska is truly a football school. I honestly don't know if Barry has the stuff to put IU back in championship contention routinely, but he certainly has what it takes to make the program again respectable.
There has been a bit of noise about Barry's protege at Butler, then on his own at Xavier, now Ohio State - Thad Motta. Thad's hot, real hot, been doing pretty well, but he makes me nervous. Frankly, he has never held the reigns long enough anywhere to fail. He took a fantastic Butler team from Barry, did the same at Xavier and has outperformed non-existent expectations at Ohio State (recruiting violations preceeded him)- it's not enough to know if he has the stuff.
The now retired Rick Majeurus is everybody's genuine fav, mine included. But such is a pipe dream. He retired young for a reason, and while the IU job is one of the premeier in the nation, I would feel guilty coaxing him out of retirement, let the man live in peace.
There are only two big names I would give the job to right now - Rick Carlisle and/or Larry Bird, but talk about pipe dreams.
So, where does that leave us - I think the same place IU was in the early '70's - a legendary program on hard times, a relatively clean plate onto which a young man with a lot of readily visible potential can build a feast. We forget that when Bob Knight came to IU, he was only known to the basketball hardcore faithful. He was at Army for crying out loud, and while he was doing exceptionally well - it was still Army, who knew?
So, I don't have a name right now, I have a profile. Under 35. At a mid-major, maybe even Division II. Mid-westerner. Winning 65-70% of his games at a school with no real history of basketball success, 75-85% if the school has a history. Strong on fundamentals, I mean really strong. And good values off the court, high graduation rates.
Sound like Knight when he came to IU - yeah, pretty much, but that's the point I think. Same skill set, just not quite so rough around the edges, and all will be well in Hoosier land pretty quickly.
Related Tags: Indiana University, IU, basketball, coaching, Bob Knight, Mike Davis
Look, I love Steve, he was the epitome of what an Indiana basketball player should be, both for IU and the state in general, but I agree with this guy, his coaching credentials don't add up.
Why is this Hoosier Nation that cried, complained, kicked, and screamed actually want a coach that has had LESS success than the one they just had removed from the bench? What is this? How does this make sense?Alford did exceptionally well at Southwest Missouri State, but his performance at Iowa has not been enough to justify handing the reigns of the Indiana program over.
Alford has ONE NCAA tournament win at Iowa in six seasons. Alford has NEVER been to the NCAA tournament in consecutive years at Iowa. Alford's BEST Big Ten season at Iowa (not counting this year) is 9-7. NINE WINS IS BRINNING BACK THE DYNASTY?
If we had to go with an IU alum, I'd go with Dan Dakich - he has the best record as a head coach, and spent more years under Knight than any other. But he has never head coached in the bigs and still represents a risk.
My sentitmental favorite right now would be my old Butler classmate - Barry Collier. As Butler's head coach, Barry put the Bulldogs back on the national map. His performance at Nebraska has not been as strong, but the Big 12 has become the pre-eminent b-ball conference in the country (after all, it's where Bob Knight landed) and Nebraska is truly a football school. I honestly don't know if Barry has the stuff to put IU back in championship contention routinely, but he certainly has what it takes to make the program again respectable.
There has been a bit of noise about Barry's protege at Butler, then on his own at Xavier, now Ohio State - Thad Motta. Thad's hot, real hot, been doing pretty well, but he makes me nervous. Frankly, he has never held the reigns long enough anywhere to fail. He took a fantastic Butler team from Barry, did the same at Xavier and has outperformed non-existent expectations at Ohio State (recruiting violations preceeded him)- it's not enough to know if he has the stuff.
The now retired Rick Majeurus is everybody's genuine fav, mine included. But such is a pipe dream. He retired young for a reason, and while the IU job is one of the premeier in the nation, I would feel guilty coaxing him out of retirement, let the man live in peace.
There are only two big names I would give the job to right now - Rick Carlisle and/or Larry Bird, but talk about pipe dreams.
So, where does that leave us - I think the same place IU was in the early '70's - a legendary program on hard times, a relatively clean plate onto which a young man with a lot of readily visible potential can build a feast. We forget that when Bob Knight came to IU, he was only known to the basketball hardcore faithful. He was at Army for crying out loud, and while he was doing exceptionally well - it was still Army, who knew?
So, I don't have a name right now, I have a profile. Under 35. At a mid-major, maybe even Division II. Mid-westerner. Winning 65-70% of his games at a school with no real history of basketball success, 75-85% if the school has a history. Strong on fundamentals, I mean really strong. And good values off the court, high graduation rates.
Sound like Knight when he came to IU - yeah, pretty much, but that's the point I think. Same skill set, just not quite so rough around the edges, and all will be well in Hoosier land pretty quickly.
Related Tags: Indiana University, IU, basketball, coaching, Bob Knight, Mike Davis
