With Crean's Firing, It's Time To Bring Alford Home
March 17, 2017 at 3:46 p.m.
By Mark [email protected]
There can be no doubt Kelvin Sampson, Crean’s predecessor, left the proverbial cabinet bare. There was talk around here that Grace College’s exhibition game with the Hoosiers had to wait a year because there was a good chance the Lancers would give I.U. more than it wanted to bargain for at that stage.
Things were that bad in Bloomington.
Crean’s successor, now that his termination was made official Thursday, will not inherit the same ting Crean did. For that, Crean has earned the long-term respect of Hoosier Nation.
Whether or not he gets that will remain to be seen. What’s obvious is that there was no accounting for the numerous injuries the team suffered this year.
James Blackmon, Jr., Devonte Green, Juwan Morgan, De’ron Davis, O.G. Anunoby ... a third of the players had some sort of injury significant enough to either miss games or alter a player’s effectiveness. A team that was ranked as high as No. 3 in the country just couldn’t handle those injuries.
And for it, Crean paid with his job.
Whether or not that’s the fair or right thing to do it certainly arguable, but it seems to be a popular move among members of Hoosier Nation I know personally.
I disagree, but Crean would have had more leeway if he’d taken I.U. to the Final Four once.
It’s not that Crean was a bust like Sampson was, but even Mike Davis got the Hoosiers to the championship game. And as 1987 becomes another year more distant, anything less than an annual national title contender just won’t do.
Are those expectations unrealistic? Depends on one’s point of view, but as a native Kansan, I understand the standard. I’m confident that if the Jayhawks had gone 18-14, Bill Self would keep his job. A national title and a national runner-up finish buys you some grace.
No doubt Crean won’t have to go back to being an assistant, unless he chooses to do so. The smart money is on Crean landing on his feet and getting another rebuilding job.
Hiring Steve Alford would send the expectations of Hoosier Nation into the stratosphere, and Alford knows it. What Alford has at UCLA isn’t comparable to what it would be like in a return to Bloomington. Basketball is something to do in Los Angeles, and a way of life here.
If Alford ever had a desire to coach I.U., I’d think this would be the best chance, and probably last chance, to do so on his terms. Look for the big Brinks truck to back up to the Alford house in greater L.A., park it between the moving van and the limo pointed at the private airport, and see what happens.
The plot would thicken considerably if Alford’s Bruins win the national title, wouldn’t it?
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There can be no doubt Kelvin Sampson, Crean’s predecessor, left the proverbial cabinet bare. There was talk around here that Grace College’s exhibition game with the Hoosiers had to wait a year because there was a good chance the Lancers would give I.U. more than it wanted to bargain for at that stage.
Things were that bad in Bloomington.
Crean’s successor, now that his termination was made official Thursday, will not inherit the same ting Crean did. For that, Crean has earned the long-term respect of Hoosier Nation.
Whether or not he gets that will remain to be seen. What’s obvious is that there was no accounting for the numerous injuries the team suffered this year.
James Blackmon, Jr., Devonte Green, Juwan Morgan, De’ron Davis, O.G. Anunoby ... a third of the players had some sort of injury significant enough to either miss games or alter a player’s effectiveness. A team that was ranked as high as No. 3 in the country just couldn’t handle those injuries.
And for it, Crean paid with his job.
Whether or not that’s the fair or right thing to do it certainly arguable, but it seems to be a popular move among members of Hoosier Nation I know personally.
I disagree, but Crean would have had more leeway if he’d taken I.U. to the Final Four once.
It’s not that Crean was a bust like Sampson was, but even Mike Davis got the Hoosiers to the championship game. And as 1987 becomes another year more distant, anything less than an annual national title contender just won’t do.
Are those expectations unrealistic? Depends on one’s point of view, but as a native Kansan, I understand the standard. I’m confident that if the Jayhawks had gone 18-14, Bill Self would keep his job. A national title and a national runner-up finish buys you some grace.
No doubt Crean won’t have to go back to being an assistant, unless he chooses to do so. The smart money is on Crean landing on his feet and getting another rebuilding job.
Hiring Steve Alford would send the expectations of Hoosier Nation into the stratosphere, and Alford knows it. What Alford has at UCLA isn’t comparable to what it would be like in a return to Bloomington. Basketball is something to do in Los Angeles, and a way of life here.
If Alford ever had a desire to coach I.U., I’d think this would be the best chance, and probably last chance, to do so on his terms. Look for the big Brinks truck to back up to the Alford house in greater L.A., park it between the moving van and the limo pointed at the private airport, and see what happens.
The plot would thicken considerably if Alford’s Bruins win the national title, wouldn’t it?
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