Interesting article on college coaches

WVAPPeer · Unread post by **WVAPPeer** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 8:41 am

this just shows how short memories are ---

http://www.columbiatribune.com/sports/t ... b2370.html

TAKE TWO: In college basketball you either coach long enough to be in the hot seat, or move on to save another team

By Blake Toppmeyer
Monday, March 17, 2014 at 2:00 pm

“Tom Crean has rescued Indiana basketball, putting the program back on track with its previous glory days.”

Those words were included in a caption that ran underneath a photograph of Indiana Coach Tom Crean for a Feb. 13, 2013, article that was published on the long-form sports journalism website SportsOnEarth.com.

In 2012 and 2013, Crean led Indiana to the Sweet 16. The Hoosiers were ranked No. 1 for parts of last season. Now, some believe his future at IU is murky after Indiana went 17-15 this season, missed the NCAA Tournament and National Invitational Tournament and declined a bid to the College Basketball Invitational. On Thursday, the New York Daily News, citing an anonymous source, reported that some prominent IU boosters are trying to buy out Crean’s contract.

It’s a reminder of how quickly coaches can go from the penthouse to the outhouse. Crean doesn’t have to look far for company. Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz wrote last week that Purdue Coach Matt Painter could be on the hot seat a year from now if the Boilermakers, who had their second straight losing season, don’t make the NCAA Tournament in 2015. Just a few years ago, many Missouri fans wanted Painter to be the successor to Mike Anderson.

Yet, as quickly as coaches can fall out of favor with one set of fans, they can become heroes elsewhere. Coach Greg McDermott’s Creighton Bluejays have a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Before Creighton, McDermott flopped at Iowa State. Bruce Weber and Tommy Amaker were fired from Big Ten jobs before landing on their feet at Kansas State and Harvard, respectively. They have their teams in the NCAA Tournament again. While Crean sits at home, former IU Coach Mike Davis will coach Texas Southern in the Big Dance.

It’s not as if Crean, who took Marquette to the Final Four in 2003, suddenly became a bad coach. His stay in the outhouse won’t last forever, and he’ll likely be lauded as a program rescuer somewhere down the line. It just might not be at Indiana.

© 2014 Columbia Daily Tribune. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Posted in Take Two on Monday, March 17, 2014 2:00 pm.

Maddog1956 · Unread post by **Maddog1956** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 8:48 am

Being a winning coach takes a Synergy of many things. Sometimes all the pieces fit together sometimes they don't.

appgrouch · Unread post by **appgrouch** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 8:51 am

This is part of the reason that we need a program builder and not someone that is looking for the quick turn around.

asutrnr81 · Unread post by **asutrnr81** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 6:35 pm

I'd take Crean!

Watauga72 · Unread post by **Watauga72** » Tue Mar 18, 2014 8:39 pm

All we had to do was give Caple a little more time....he would have turned it around!

I kid