DISQUS

T · 1 year ago

If we're going to hire a coach based solely on his hair...Why wouldn't we just go with Steve Lavin? His hair is markedly more put together than Alford's.

And if you're looking for a storybook ending, I think IU should hire John Wooden's old ass. Bring him back to Indiana. How hillarious would that be?

Matt J. · 1 year ago

I thought IU wanted a new coach without NCAA violations hanging over his head. No one wants to come in with the restriction of "you can't eat dinner with a player's family" slapped on the school.

patrickdolan · 1 year ago

I'm an IU basketball fan who has taught at Iowa for the last twenty or so years. Alford's behavior during the Pierre Pierce episode here pretty much takes "integrity" out of the equation. His behavior (and I'm sad to say, that of the university) was vile and beneath contempt.

If IU hires him, the AD and university president should line up every femaie athlete, coach, faculty member, student and university employee and personally slap each one in the face.

Phillips · 1 year ago

Note to the national media: Can we PLEASE stop the Alford talk now? Two years ago E and I discussed this at length before I wrote a column about it. It ain't happening. He's at best an average coach, average recruiter and average guy. There's nothing special about him. Oh he won a national title here in 1987 so kids will be drawn to him. Uh, the kids he's going to be recruiting weren't even alive then. They don't care.

Matt J. · 1 year ago

But...but...but...guys! He coached Manchester College to the final game. That's got to mean something, right? Right?

Hey, what's with all the crickets?

kelin · 1 year ago

I would have to agree especially after reading this......I guess stevie is the guy to ride in on a white horse and save IU when in fact it could be argued Mike Davis has had more success than Stevie...especially in recruiting....

Alford would no longer find his way on my list........

On a side note the Indy star put a list out today.....it included Dakich, Alford, McCallum, and Skiles.
Dak ....nice interim coach...NO NCAA appearances in 10 years.
McCallum a LOooooon time KS assistant may not bode well for him.

DavidC · 1 year ago

McCallum has only been with KS since 2004

Matt J. · 1 year ago

Ah, man, I forgot about Brad Brownell. Any word on how long his contract is for? I saw the other day that Sean Miller's is extended out through 2015. Wow.

DavidC · 1 year ago

If he's not spending $400 dollars on hair cuts, I don't want him as my coach.

tberry · 1 year ago

Forget all the Knight relationships. They are a dreams someone once had but have no basis in reality.

Fire Sampson and get a fresh face and name and a proven winner. Not a Bob Knight retread. they are all mediocre and not successful enough for the IU head job.

Matt J. · 1 year ago

Perhaps the overworn pop cultural reference that Richard was looking for was Darth Vader confiding in Luke that he was his father.

Feel free to use that one, Richard. I won't charge for doing your job for you the first time round.

Fin · 1 year ago

As a former player for Steve Alford, I completely disagree with your opinion on Coach Alford's abilities. I agree his time in Iowa was a trying time for him. But I know he IS a great coach and no one besides Coach Knight puts more time into preparation for each opponent. Obviosly bias but I would welcome Coach Alford with open arms as I do think he could repair the fracture of Indiana fans and be able to recruit the state of Indiana like no other and win which is what all Indiana fans want.

Craig · 1 year ago

Not to mention, Alford let a felon play for his team which in turn alienated his fan base and had his entire student body turn against him. By the end, they had a few thousand people showing up for games.

Sampsonite · 1 year ago

How about AJ Moye, Dan FIfe, Damon Bailey, Calbert Chaney, etc can we get one of these guys to coach Indiana. Just because they were popular players at IU doesn't mean they make a great coach, and i don't care how well Alford could recruit in the state of IN, even though i don't think it would be all that great, it takes a lot more than in-state players to contend for championships

hoosierfan2 · 1 year ago

I beg to differ. All of the following players are from Indiana High schools the last 5 years Greg Oden, Josh Mcroberts, Courtney Lee, Eric Gordon, Dominic James, Mike Conley, Luke Harongody, Robbie Hummel, Tyler Zeller (he's better than his brother), the list goes on

HoosierSmitty · 1 year ago

Steve Alford just doesn't feel right. For me it has nothing to do with his coaching credentials or lack thereof. I can just sense that it's a major mistake and would not be the magical fit some people believe it would be. This Disney Movie notion that we're going to "hire an Indiana boy and bring him back after years of exile to lead Hoosier basketball to the promised land once again" is a bit too cheesy and farfetched.

Matt J. · 1 year ago

I will always stand by my take of "for every Gary Williams out there, there's a dozen Matt Dohertys".

kelin · 1 year ago

If we are hiring IU greats.....I am all for the the big Red Head SKy hook artist roaming the sidelines....

Coach Uwe Blab.........

Steve · 1 year ago

Here's my theory....I don't actually think Steve was a good coach at Manchester or Southwest Missouri State, he recruited above his team's level because of his name.

In other words, why walk on at IU or be a bench guy for IUPUI when you can play for Steve at Manchester. I mean...how many SMS players came from outside the area (other than a random juco) before or after Steve was the coach?

But when he got to Iowa....well...he was getting B10 players at a B10 school, not B10 players at a Valley school like before. And suddenly, his coaching was exposed.

And now he's reached the point where that "name" of his, doesn't pull nearly the weight with recruits that it used to.

HoosierSmitty · 1 year ago

I say we make history and get Thad Matta. No Big Ten team has ever grabbed another head coach from its own conference.

However, didn't Matta once say IU would be his dream job? Leave the football university and come to us. I promise we can make the NCAA play nice and not hammer us with sanctions. I do not believe Matta is out of the question.

Matta is the perfect blend of experience, relative youth, recruiting skills, state ties, and desire to coach at Indiana (at least at one point in his career). He'd also be coming in to a program with new facilities on the horizon.

What hurts is that Ohio State has four solid recruits for next season and plenty of young talent remaining from this year's bubble team. They also have a well funded athletic department at OSU and Indiana...well we're not at that level...yet. Does he really want to leave that behind given the cloud of uncertainty at IU?

The only other coach I really like for the job is Anthony Grant at VCU, given his ability to recruit those Florida kids from the championship teams and Florida's vote of confidence in him before Donovan came running back.

ricky · 1 year ago

matta had his chance, and although it is possible he would leave osu for iu (i believe he has a buyout clause in his contract for iu but correct me if i am wrong), he really likes it in columbus so i dont think it is likely he would leave, but who knows, i wouldnt be mad if we got him he is a good coach

HoosierSmitty · 1 year ago

I agree. He said he was not a candidate for the job when Davis resigned. But maybe he has had second thoughts after initially saying no and would jump at the chance now.

We have to take the chance.

b_side · 1 year ago

Well Matta did have Oden and Conley on the horizon when Davis resigned. I'm sure those two studs (as well as Daquan Cook) factored into his decision to stay at OSU for a championship run.

Brett · 1 year ago

Agreed. I would put Matta at the top of the list, he knows what IU basketball means to Indiana. Plus you can't get a cooler name than "THAD". THAD in the infamous south park episode "Guitar Queero" could play the guitar hero guitar acousticly. Now that is cool.

Quincy · 1 year ago

Good points all E man.
Coach No list : Isiah thomas .. dear god no.. L. Bird... pretty much ruined the pacers.
Q. (hair) Snyder, ahh no... Stevie A., is he still draggin his dad
around with him.. that ships past. Bill gillispie, just like ed sutton,
that bar bill is to big. scott skiles, no way hose..former drug
addict.
Possibles: Mark Few - Gonzaga
Tom Crean - Marquette
Scott Drew - Baylor
Johnnie Dawkins - Duke
Keno Davis - Drake
Keith Smart - Warriors
Food for thought.. Go IU.....

McD · 1 year ago

I know most of you will think this is crazy, but I read on Indystar sports section today about the next on the sidelines article suggesting Dan Dakich will fill in and some people posted about Butler's coach Brad Stephens. I really got kind of excited just thinking about the possibility. I mean, isn't the "Butler Way" how we would love to watch our Hoosiers get up and down the floor with hard-nosed defense and motion offense. You've got a young, energetic coach who can recruite the state, has a top ten team in his first year (although Butler is highly overrated) and is handling that admirably, and who most likely would have a year or two of sanctions in which the expectations may not be that high coming in so he would have time to adjust. I'd suggest we go right down the line from Matta to Lick to Brad Stephens.

Sherron Wilkerson · 1 year ago

Well after getting about 2 paragraphs into your ranting you sound more and more like a UK fan writing for an IU blog, are you really Pat Forde jerking us around all this time. The reason that people wanted Alford all that time was because he was one of the most promising young coaching prospects out there before going to the hell hole that is Iowa where NOBODY can recruit, of course he failed, but do you not remember him dismantling then SEC champ Tennessee by 40 in the NCAA tourney while at or are you too young to remember that. I don't want Alford either because I don't want him to come here and fail while jerks like you rip him, I want to remember him as a great player. But for you to go on and on about how ridiculous it is that people wanted him to coach here is, itself, ridiculous

Hoosier_Hound · 1 year ago

See, even someone who supports Alford admits he would fail if he came here.

Eamonn · 1 year ago

I'll never get tired of people accusing me of being from a different fan base anytime I write anything negative about anyone who once had something to do with IU basketball.

The fetishization of the past among Hoosier fans is really something to behold.

ricky · 1 year ago

so help me god if we get steve alford...or lawrence frank...or scott skiles. all of them are not good coaches, and i especially don't want failed nba coaches. how many good former nba coaches are there in college basketball? guys who started in college, failed in nba, and are back in college ala rick pitino don't count. besides, frank and skiles are just bad coaches. two guys they have to at least consider - sean miller from xavier and scott drew from baylor. miller is a great coach who can get xavier to be a good team every year, imagine what he will do at iu. he probably will be coaching a big school next year and not xavier. scott drew has that indiana blood that drives hoosiers crazy, and if he could turn around baylor, he can win anywhere. seriously, baylor was left for dead....ok bad joke. anyways, two good coaches right there, that aren't named alford, frank, or skiles

Hoosier_Hound · 1 year ago

Alford is actually having a great year out in New Mexico, and he has an incredible recruiting class coming in next year. But I have to agree, his numbers at Iowa were disappointing, and the whole Pierce incident reeked. He should not be the next coach of IU.

Jerry · 1 year ago

I loved the insane review you have of this insane article. Very good !

I never understand however why none of you guys ever look at the last TWO national coaches of the year in college basketball while trying to elevate losers like Dakich ( love the man but check his Bowling Green record ) or untested guys like Grant ( loss at home to ODU when he was outcoached ).

Grant is a calculated risk, Miller maybe real expensive and Matta is mission impossible.

Is IU such a lame program that we cannot get a coach with accolades, serious wins, and a clean house ?

tacojohn · 1 year ago

Jay Wright is more expensive than Miller. Tony Bennett has been thrown around.

But the answer is yes. We are in that sort of shape. Most big programs are when they fire a coach. Only UNC recently was able to do it.

Jerry · 1 year ago

How MUCH more expensive ? Is not a national COY worth it? If we are building a 90,000sq ft practice facility why go cheap on the coach ?

Bennett is the youngest of all the coaches mentioned here, knows the B-10 and recruiting area, knows the NBA ( 35th player drafted ) adds new region to recruit from ( as does Wright )

Sorry to be so obstinate but after Sampson I want to aim radically higher than maybe we have before and NOW is the time when people are actually praising our program (even though it is as a backhanded way to trash Sampson as if its ok for Sampson to damage a lesser program)

Coach Matt · 1 year ago

Hmmm,
PostmanE, I can't help but chime in on your article. This sounds an awful lot like the situation that happened to me back in 2000. You see, I was the coach at Notre Dame where I compiled an overall record of 22-15 and advanced DEEP, DEEP, DEEP into the tournament...well, the NIT tournament before losing in the finals to Wake Forest, but no need to split hairs right?
Well, that kind of success gets you places, and for me it was no different. I was given the opportunity to go back and coach my alma mater - North Carolina. As a four year letter winner and member of the '82 championship team, I was the perfect candidate to lead one of the most storied programs in basketball history; perfect hair, suits, I played for a coaching legend, blah blah blah.
I just don't understand where it all went wrong. I DOMINATED as a coach at UNC. Just look at my record: 55-43. Detractors might mention that I had a 23-25 record in the ACC and that we missed the NCAA tournament two out of the three years I was there, but with the previous coach's players, I was the AP Coach of the Year!!! How many people can claim that?
I hope the people at IU see the similarities between me and Steve Alford and hire him immediately. I hope they learn from UNC's mistake and sign him to a long-term contract (like 10 years), so he can sustain a basketball powerhouse. You can't let coaching talent leave. UNC effed up with me and now I'm shoving it in their faces with a 8-16 record at SMU. Ha!

Yours in writing,
Matt Doherty

Jerry · 1 year ago

Good job

Matt J. · 1 year ago

In Doherty's defense, UNC's last championship was with his players. Doherty can recruit. It's just that he can't do much with them when he's got them.

Will · 1 year ago

Love Steve Alford, but he is a mediocre coach. He will not get the job done. Scott Drew is/ will be the answer.

Jerry · 1 year ago

Maybe, but still aiming mighty low for a "storied" program

Adam · 1 year ago

Check out wthr.com. They are reporting that Sampson is done and Dakich will coach the rest of the year.

CutterInChicago · 1 year ago

Loved Steve as a player. Do not love him as a coach.

The answers are simple:
1) Larry Eustachy
2) Jim Harrick
3) Jim Harrick, Jr
4) Dave Bliss
5) Pat Knight

And yes, I'm kidding.

No Alford, please. Enough silly talk

Jerry · 1 year ago

eustachy was not only a good recruiter for players he also recruited the cheerleaders and could play a mean game of "sink the biz " and other such drinking games. Why is he on this list ? Got something against cheerleaders ? drinking games ?

Mark · 1 year ago

Scott Drew. Could bring his dad down from Valpo to assist, brother Bryce to assist and then recruit tall Eastern Europeans to come to IU and shoot 3 pointers all day. Ok, maybe skip the whole family thing, but Drew seems like a good choice. Has experience rebuilding a broken program and has them playing good ball in Texas.

hoosierfan2 · 1 year ago

I like Scott Drew a lot. He's turned a Baylor team with some of the harshest sanctions ever imposed, into a tournament team in less than three years.

Matt J. · 1 year ago

And by tournament team, you mean bubble team, right?

It would help if the Big XII wasn't one of the best conferences in the country this year.

Brett · 1 year ago

Wow! What is worong with you people thinking that Scott Drew is a good canidate for this job!? I hope you are kidding. As I have said before; this job is a top 10 job in the college ranks. No reason we should not get a top 10 coach. I don't want one of these unproven coaches that coach mid-major teams ( I know baylor is in big 12 but still baylor isn't in the same sport let alone ballpark as IU). It is nonsense, you people make me laugh sometimes.... THAD MATTA.

ray · 1 year ago

wow! what a response to "what an article!". well said postmanE!

Jerry · 1 year ago

Baylor has LOST 6 of its last 7 games with another shot at a loss tonight against KSU.

Sorry , but he is WAY down my list unless we want to bottom fish after starting construction on a 80,000 sq ft practice facility. I love the guy, Penn HS ,I am from SOuth Bend but can't we aim higher ?

td · 1 year ago

I haven't used the word, "Diatribe" in a long time however, this certainly fits the bill. I'm not here to root for Steve or defend his coaching record. But, my god, give the guy a break. I lived beside Steve's girlfriend(now his wife) for several years and got to know Steve and his family pretty well. I would agree Steve has some traits that some would look down on. He's cocky, maybe even conceited, but not to the degree we put up with for years at IU. I think once you get near anyone who is or has been very good at something one may find them a little self-centered, conceited or whatever anone wants to call it. Steve has done many good things in his young life, probably more than most. He's been called on to help IU work out problems with alumni that Steve knew well and did so without fanfare. Did he deserve at least a phone call from the current administration when Sampson was hired, you bet. They called him at other needed times. Do you think for one moment our interim coach won't be hired permanently if they do well with someone elses team the remainder of the year. We do it all of the time at IU and, although I have nothing personal to add about any of our current assistant coaches, none have had the coaching success Alford has. So I will leave it this way. I'm not campaigning for Steve as it would do little good anyway. I don't think you should campaign against him either. I fear we're headed for something less palatable if the administration goes their normal route.

mike p - chicago · 1 year ago

speaking of pierre pierce...after he got kicked out of iowa for the second time, went to jail for 1 year of a 2 year sentence, was released to 4 years of probation in iowa - he served the 1st year in iowa, got his probation moved back to his hometown of westmont, IL - just outside of chicago. now, he spends 6 hours a day prepping for another shot at the nba.......and plays basketball in a sunday evening recreational league in the western suburbs of chicago.....a league that i happen to play in, lol.......what a stud that dude's turned out to be

SocksShortsSwish · 1 year ago

As my username suggests, I'm an Alford guy. But only as a player. He's an awful fit here, not a great coach, and if you think KS is arrogant...oh man.

Ray · 1 year ago

The big problem with Alford coming here to Indiana is that he IS an IU legend. If Alford were to be named coach here it would be difficult, at best, for the University to handle his teams not succeeding or, god forbid, any kind of other problems.
It would be hard to remove Alford, then again, maybe we could get another president just career hopping trying to make a name for himself to make the move...

However, I for one also do not believe that Alford is the answer to our problems BUT I also do not agree that his Iowa resume is totally representative of his ability. Their is QUITE a difference between recruiting at Indiana and Iowa. This is not a cure-all, but we all know what a difference a name can make when it comes to calling, well maybe visiting haha, a recruit.

Mark Few, anyone?

td · 1 year ago

Lou Watson was also an Indiana legend in high school and college at IU. Became the coach at IU, failed miserably, and was given the heave-ho. Unless you're saying the current administration has no gonads, I don't see it as a problem. Our next coach has to be sqeaky clean first and successful second. Our problem as IU fans is we put success first for too many years when it became apparent we didn't have to worry about clean.

RStevens · 1 year ago

Postman. Thank goodness you are loathe to attack a writer's work. I would have hated to see what you might had written had you loved the task at hand.
And, by the way: The first two of those non-sentences were sentences. They had subjects. They had verbs. Like "Jesus wept." That's a sentence. So is that. But not this.
The others were fragments. Poetic license. That's a fragment.
Thanks for the pub: RStevens, Abq Tribune

stanklove83 · 1 year ago

We (alumni) came to the conclusion that we didn't want Alford during the last coach's search. He has already been fully vetted. We can do much better.

cjonz · 1 year ago

C'mon, everyone in Albuquerque knows Richard Stevens is an idiot...and we all know Alford would be an idiot to even want the IU job anyway. Where's the plus? Bloomington over Albuquerque? I think not. Having no chance to ever win over the IU faithful? Mike Davis got to the final game and got ran out of town...Coming in on the heels of probation? Hmmm...no. And the more you don't want him, the more he wants us. You know, a "failed" Big 10 coach heading to the desert where he belongs. Kind of like Lute Olson and his multiple final fours and a title in Tucson. Sounds good to me...
Go Lobos!!!!
Chris

MJ · 1 year ago

This article was written by a tool who as of Saturday, Feb 23rd no longer has a job because the paper he worked for shut down. And it does not reflect the feelings for SA out here. He is doing one hell of a job with pretty much the same team that sucked at 15-17 last year, now 21-6, with six road wins. We had 8 road wins total the last 5 years! He also has a recruiting class coming in ranked anywhere from 9th-20th in the NATION next season. Just because his Big ten (not overall record) record was below .500 doesnt automatically make you a bad coach and recruiter - just look at his successes at Manchester, SW Mo state and 1st year at UNM. Iowa is not exactly a bastion of college hoops (last big 10 title in 1979? cmon now) and the big ten isn't exactly worldbeaters -half the conference is worse than most teams in the mwc. Iowa has run off plenty of successful coaches (Davis, Raveling, Olson) so why not one more. If Indiana does not want SA and thinks he stinks that's perfectly fine with us.

Lobos · 1 year ago

Lobos fan here, fans in Albuquerque have embraced Alford, maybe that is part of the success he's had in his first year at 21-6 with the same team minus Dandridge plus Gary that went 14-17 last year and I believe 16-14 the year before.
He has pulled this team together and taught them to play as a team, he has brought back alot of excitement to the PIT and they are looking at possible NCAA play in his first year. They beat Texas Tech this year and almost have surpassed their road wins compared to last 5 years of 8-40 or something like that.
I'd rather not see Alford going as with the staff he has hired they have helped him bring in the #9 recruiting class for next year in the nation and UNM basketball will be heading back to where it once was and more!
Good luck IU with all the crap Sampson got you into, you scoff Alford and have no clue, yet you hire guys like this and while Knight I think is a great coach, as a person and human being, he's got major issues. He is a dick.

Lobos · 1 year ago

"We (alumni) came to the conclusion that we didn't want Alford during the last coach's search. He has already been fully vetted. We can do much better."

Yeah, you obvisously have improved from the last 2 you guys ran out of town, well Sampson you didn't run out, he just cheated!
Don't worry, maybe third time is a charm. so much for that 21-4 record this year and post play.

LoboRich · 1 year ago

Although a Lobo fan, I thought an IU fan brought up a good point that Alford succeeds at the "mid-major" level because he brings in a level of players greater that him conference couterparts but doesn't do as well when going up against other B10 schools.

That's fine with us; we'd love to have him as he's doing a remarkable job here and rekindling interest back in the Lobos that we haven't seen in years! GO LOBOS!

IULobo · 1 year ago

As an IU alum I never rooted for Texas Tech, but I watch as many New Mexico games as I can get. Makes what we have been watching, even with our winning record, seem like play ground ball.

After his failure with Pierre and his handling of JR giddens, I'd say he is now 1-1 with bad Apples.

I would welcome Steve Aford back to Bloomington in a second.

JDR · 1 year ago

word from b-town is that mcrobbie is going to publically challenge the NCAA, their allegations, the timing of the release of the allegations, and the motives and accessability of Myles Brand....he is expected to back sampson and greenspan 100%

SCARY

tacojohn · 1 year ago

You had me until you brought up Myles Brand. Brand is not involved at all. Stop trolling.

JDR · 1 year ago

source is from bloomington, someone close to the program...
don't get your tortillas in a bunch

Hoosier_Hound · 1 year ago

Credible news agencies are don't seem to agree.

http://www.wthr.com/global/story.asp?s=7904939

TomCoverdale's Eyebrows · 1 year ago

Where is this coming from? That smells a little bit funky, if you ask me.

MLOVE · 1 year ago

Where you get this INFOOOO

Matt J. · 1 year ago

Didn't Brand hand-pick McRobbie after Herbert resigned?

Having Bob Knight come back to be the AD sounds more plausible.