With Indiana about to return to Kentucky’s schedule, can IU get its coaching search right?
After a 13-year hiatus, the regular season version of the men’s college basketball border rivalry between Kentucky and Indiana will return next Dec. 13 for at least a four-year run.
That is why it should be of interest to UK backers that the Hoosiers are, yet again, in the market for a coach to try to revive college basketball’s fallen blue blood.
Late last week, former Hoosiers star Mike Woodson (78-50 in his fourth season) announced that he would depart as IU head man at the end of this season.
Going back to the ouster of Bob Knight over the coach’s off-the-court, comportment issues in 2000, Woodson is the sixth straight Hoosiers head man to either be dismissed or to resign under pressure.
For college hoops followers who recall when Knight led IU to three NCAA titles between 1976 and 1987 and to five Final Fours between 1973 and 1992, Indiana’s long slide into sustained mediocrity has been hard to fathom.
Can Indiana athletics director Scott Dolson and the Hoosiers finally get this coaching hire right?
For UK backers frustrated by Kentucky’s recent stretch of so-so results — one SEC regular season championship after 2017; no SEC Tournament crown since 2018; one NCAA Tournament victory in the 2020s — Indiana stands as a cautionary tale that a regal hoops past does not guarantee a bountiful future.
Even after Tuesday’s 71-67 road upset of No. 11 Michigan State, Indiana stands at 15-10 this year. It is the 26th season of double digit defeats in the past 31 seasons for IU.
Since 1993-94, IU has had as many losing seasons (five) as it has had years with fewer than 10 defeats.
The Hoosiers have not advanced to the NCAA Tournament round of 16 since 2016.
IU has not reached an Elite Eight or a Final Four since 2002.
For a passionate, basketball-centric fan base in a state that cherishes its hoops history, IU’s long slide into near irrelevancy must have yielded misery.
Since Knight’s dismissal, Indiana has tried numerous coaching approaches. IU promoted an assistant (Mike Davis), hired coaches with Final Four trips on their resumes (Kelvin Sampson and Tom Crean), went with an up-and-coming young coach (Archie Miller) and, finally, tried a former Knight player with NBA head coaching experience (Woodson).
Now, flush with resources from the Big Ten’s bountiful media contracts, it says here that Indiana needs to prioritize a coach who would bring an exciting offensive style in which recruits will want to play.
Unlike UK, which must recruit nationally to thrive, IU could flourish if it could only control its own state in recruiting.
Continuing a trend, this year’s two top homegrown prospects in the state of Indiana’s class of 2025 — Anderson’s Jalen Haralson (Notre Dame) and Greenfield’s Braylon Mullins (Connecticut) — have each picked other programs.
Three very prominent basketball names — Boston Celtics president of basketball operations and former Butler head coach Brad Stevens, Baylor coach Scott Drew and first-year Michigan head man Dusty May — all have ties to the state of Indiana in their backgrounds.
Stevens, 48, is to Indiana coaching searches what Pat Riley once was to Kentucky: The “must make him say no” presence in every search. Drew, 54, turned down both Kentucky and Louisville just last year.
After he coached Michigan to a 70-67 win over Indiana last Saturday, May, a former basketball manager under Knight at IU, spoke of his love for his current employer without actually saying anything that would discourage Indiana’s possible interest in him.
That was interesting.
May, 48, coached Florida Atlantic to the 2023 Final Four as a No. 9 seed and would be a strong hire for Indiana if he is willing to bail on Michigan after only one season.
A name one hears only vaguely in relation to Indiana that the school should consider pursuing is Creighton’s Greg McDermott.
McDermott, 60, is not young but he has won at least one game in the past four NCAA Tournaments. Over the four seasons prior to this one, McDermott’s teams have ranked in the top 25 in adjusted offensive efficiency in the Pomeroy Ratings three times.
Creighton is a private school, so it’s unclear what level of contract buyout, if any, McDermott carries.
Two big names much discussed in relation to the Indiana vacancy, UCLA’s Mick Cronin and Mississippi’s Chris Beard, come with concerns.
Cronin, the former Murray State and Cincinnati head man, has a dour public persona and — even allowing for UCLA’s 2021 Final Four run — his overall NCAA Tournament track record is a spotty 15-14.
Meanwhile, the alleged issue that cost Beard the head coaching job at Texas in 2023 would make the highly capable coach a tough sell for IU.
When Kentucky and Indiana tip off against each other next season in Lexington, it would behoove the Hoosiers to have a seasoned head coach who runs a “modern offense” on their bench.
The scheduled UK-IU men’s hoops series
▪ Dec. 13, 2025, at Rupp Arena
▪ Dec. 27, 2026, at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis
▪ Dec. 18, 2027, at Rupp Arena
▪ Dec. 16, 2028, at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall in Bloomington
