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*he is young and could stay awhile
*Excellent basketball family tree
*His teams play both ways fast or grind it out which is an indication of his coaching style
*Has some midwest ties which helps in recruiting.....
I would put him in my top 4 list.....
1. Sean Miller
2. Anthony Grant
3. Tony Bennet
4. Brad Brownell
He turned two minnows -- UNC-Wilmington and Wright State -- into upset specials in the NCAA Tournament. Plus, he's an Indiana native who has plenty of respect for Bob Knight's legacy at IU. People were telling me two years ago that it was too soon for Brownell, but that's no longer the case. This guy is ready for a big program. Give him the keys and let him drive.
However, he has turned Wright St. into another fantastic mid-major (ick...hate that term) program. Plus, he played high school ball with Calbert Cheaney and worked for a few years on the bench with Jim Crews at Evansville. He's a young coach and he's not in the Knight family tree (though he could be considered a cousin, I guess).
If WSU and Bennett have a good run this year in the tourney, he solidifies himself as a top candidate in my mind.
I still think the first move should be to contact some successful coaches at traditional football schools on the off chance they want to make a move - someone like Rick Barnes or Bruce Pearl. If they aren't interested, both sides pretend like the conversation never happened and you move on to guys like Bennett or Miller.
Plus, Rick Barnes is in the driver's seat for NC State, once they figure out that they're still a third tier team and fire Lowe and his ugly red jacket.
Convince me....
1) He would be moving from a football school to a basketball school where he can be the focus of attention practically year round. Pearl seems to have a bottomless appetite for media coverage. He's practically overshadowed by women's basketball at UT, too.
2) I know Tennessee is #1 right now, but my biased opinion says he would be better able to compete every year at the highest level at IU rather than Tennessee.
3) He was an Iowa assistant and head man at UW-Milwaukee, so he's got some midwest and Big Ten background.
4) IU can probably get him more money long term through salary tie-ins.
We've seen coaches make similar moves recently - Self from Illinois to Kansas, Williams from Kansas to UNC (although there was much more history there), Gillespie from A&M to Kentucky.
Again, it's a total flier, but it's worth a back channel contact. Plus, it's about the only thing that could make Illinois fans hate us even more, which would be kind of fun.
Didn't Wilkerson end up at Southern Indiana after being bounced from IU?
I mean, we sit DD down in April and say, thanks for driving us around the block, you navigated traffic well enough, now give us the keys and we're handing them to someone with similar accolades, but with much less of an IU connection? Doesn't jive with me for some reason.
That being said, if we remove the interim tag from DD, he's coach until he gets fired. He ain't goin nowhere on his terms. Do we want 20 years of a DD reign?
Ugh, this is a mess...
1. Bruce Pearl (will never leave tennessee unless the perfect thing came about)
2. Mark Few
3. Thad Mata
4. Sean Miller
5. Roy Williams haha
Bottom 5
1. Chris Lowry
2. Pat Knight
3. Steve Alford
4. Lawerence Frank
5. Randy Whittman
1. Bob Knight
2. Rick Barnes
3. Scott Skiles
4. Randy Whitman
5. Mike Montgomory
6. a little bit if Kevin Stallings is hired........I could be ok with it...I think....
1. Bob Knight
2. Isiah Thomas*
3. Scott Skiles
4. Larry Bird
5. Rick Majerus
6. I'll be disappointed if we hire Stallings the Purdue guy or Lowery the Weber guy. They're the enemy.
*or any other former Hoosier coaching in the NBA. Sorry Randy, Mike, and Lawrence. It is cool that we have so many coaches up there though.
1. Dan Dackich
2. Dan Dackich
3. Dan Dackich
4. Dan Dackich
5. Dan Dackich
Oh wait, this isn't the game thread? I'll be back in a little bit...
Tony Bennett
Sean Miller
Scott Drew
Brad Brownell
I like all the guys on that list. But I think we should start the search with feelers out to Thad Matta and Jamie Dixon.
Also, his offenses are guard-heavy, which might play well in the Big Ten.
79-59
Steve Lavin
Tony Bennett
Bruce Pearl (anybody watch the Sportscenter special on Tennessee this morning? He was crying in an interview. I love his emotion. Plus could you imagine a beautiful crimson coat and tie to match a cream shirt?!?)
Mark Few
Hoosiers by 16 tonight. DJ - 25 and 15, EJ - 23 (4-5 3PTs)
Drew: took a program that was all but extinct and said, "Lazarus, arise!"
Bennett: Took a program that was a Pac-10 doormat for years and made it MORE than respectable.
Both did this at schools where it would be difficult to recruit. What did they do? They went abroad and found some 'playas'! Unlike Mike Davis and Sampson, who both pissed away Ben Allen's talent...they took this foreign talent and taught them how to play ball in America. Now...just imagine what they could do if they were given the "keys" to a program like IU where the recruiting budget is 3 times larger than the Wazzu and Baylor combined (purely an educated guess).
If you want to get younger and have a coach that's going to stay, give one of these two a shot!
The only down side I see, is the lack of name recognition that would cause our defecting recruits to stay.
I will reserved judgement on Dak tonite......if he wins the big ten tourney I will put him on my prestigous list....
if he's so amazing how come he's been an assistant at Duke for about 45 years? (Maybe that's an overestimate...)
I'm all for taking a chance on a younger, hungrier coach. The only two 'veteran' coach i'd like to see at IU would be Bruce Pearl. (That way Bruce Weber wouldn't even be the best Bruce in the big 10)
I believe Pearl would make a jump over to IU. If Roy Williams left KANSAS...then I believe Pearl would leave football lovin' SEC Tennessee for IU. Unless of course the Volunteers win the national championship this year.
2. Sean Miller ( can give Matta a run for his money).
3. Bruce Pearl. (likeable guy).
4. Tony Bennet.
Big Names - Bruce Pearl, Thad Matta, Rick Barnes
Solid Coaches - Jamie Dixon, Kevin Stallings, Jay Wright
Young and promising - Tony Bennett, Sean Miller
Clean program, keep Indiana talent, Big Ten contender every year, national contender most years - is that too much to ask?
I think IU stands a better chance of landing a young, promising, up and coming coach with potential than someone with the stature of Matta or Pearl. I like Bennetts involvement in recruiting some of the top names and tallent of Wisconsin as well. I think Bennett could really gain the support of the Hoosier nation quickly and play by the rules. We need someone we can support that will do things the right way. I loved Sampson as a coach but he just couldn't play by the rules. It sucks to see him go, especially the way he did, but I think its really opened an opportunity for us to go after someone who can really lead us down the road. If we hold out on Bennett to see what happens over the next few years, we'll lose the opportunity. I think the time is right and he'd be happy to bolt the west coast for the storied tradition and incredible Hoosier fan base. I'm voting for Bennett...or Sean Miller of Xavier...both would be great catches for the Hoosiers.
Paul Hewitt
Tom Crean
Scott Drew