The future of IU basketball

With IU's basketball season ending in predictable fashion late Friday - a pathetic effort against a good, but not great Arkansas team - it is now time for IU to again hire a new coach. While I do not believe that Dan Dakich should be the new full-time coach, I think he outlined exactly what the new coach must bring to IU:

"This needs to be built with a foundation of discipline. This needs
to be built with a foundation of accountability. This needs to be built back to where there is a real pride among the people that know everything that is going on within the basketball program, where there are former players that come up and have pride with what is having with what is happening in the basketball program...
I am just telling you the culture right now lends itself to exactly what is going on here. To get this right for Indiana people, Indiana fans, the Indiana nation want it done right. Where there is no embarrassment. Where there is nothing but pride in all areas. That is something that has to happen at IU. Doesn't have to happen everywhere but it has to happen at Indiana University. That is just the way Indiana University conducts its business. Particularly in the basketball program. Criticize it, say it is right, say it is wrong, criticize individuals all you want. Certainly that is being part of an Indiana basketball coach or
Indiana basketball player but I am just telling you there is a pride and a way that is bigger than whether you win or lose games. That takes care of itself with IU but you have to do things in a certain way. You have to do them right, you have to do them with people that care. You have to bring in the former players, bring the whole environment of what made this great. Whether it was the 1940 national championship, the 1953 national championship, the 1976 national championship---it has got to be. This is one of the few programs where it absolutely has to be. It is not a program of maybe yes, maybe no. It has to be here at Indiana and that is what makes it great."

Amen, Brother! I guarantee that if the IU Administration had used the above as a guideline they would not have hired Mike Davis or Kelvin Sampson.

One thing that disturbs me about this search committee is that there are no former IU basketball players on it. I really believe there should be at least 2 - one from the Knight era and one from the McCracken era - as they truly understand the culture of IU basketball. Given that Dakich will be remaining at IU in some capacity next year, I hope his words have some influence.

One of the major challenges in abiding by what Dakich has outlined is that there really is no one in the "IU family" that has the record indicating that they understand the above AND that they can win. Dakich and Steve Alford come the closest but both of their coaching records fall well short of what IU demands.

Therefore I think IU will have to go outside of the "family." However, that doesn't mean they have to compromise their principles. My #1 candidate, Tony Bennett, actually does have some ties to IU (his sister Kathi was the IU women's coach from 2000-05). But more importantly, his own basketball background is grounded in a very similar philosophy. He grew up in the Midwest, the son of a coach who followed the same principles. He is young (38) and he has done an amazing job at a basketball afterthought in a tough conference. Yesterday I watched his team dominate a very good Notre Dame team by playing great defense and very disciplined offense. Growing up in the Midwest he certainly understands what IU basketball once stood for. Heck, his dad and Coach Knight are good friends.

I've heard some conjecture that he may not want to come to IU because he feels his sister may have been mistreated by Rick Greenspan. Perhaps there is truth in that, but at Kathi Bennett's resignation press conference this is what she had to say:

"This is a decision of mine. I made this decision and it wasn't anything else but that. I want to make sure people know that for me, Rick Greenspan taking this job was a godsend. My relationship with him was great and he supported me a great deal. I think he is going to do great things here. The short amount of time here with him has been wonderful."

Now that I've outlined what I think IU should do, do I think IU will actually do it? Of course not. Given that the administration has no former IU basketball players on the search committee indicates that they really don't care. They will hire the biggest name they can find, with a glitzy resume, regardless of what his principles are. Then they'll have a press conference where they pay lip service to the tradition of IU basketball and restoring IU back to those winning ways. The president will say a few words about the new coach being committed to playing by the rules and graduating players. Yada, yada, yada. (If you doubt me, see the transcript of Kelvin Sampson's introductory presser.) Heck, I've even heard an Internet rumor saying that a trustee has already confirmed that Rick Pitino will take the job and another rumor saying his wife was in Bloomington last week looking at houses. (Of course, I also heard that rumor in 2001.)

IU Administration - do the right thing!