The writing has been on the wall for weeks, if not months, for Mike Woodson.
Indiana men’s basketball, per multiple reports, is separating from its head men’s basketball coach after this season, as Woodson will step down and retire. He’ll finish out this year, his fourth with the Hoosiers, with the team enduring a second consecutive disappointing campaign.
The timing of this news is no coincidence. IU (14-9, 5-7 Big Ten) hosts Michigan (17-5, 9-2) at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Saturday, with former Indiana manager Dusty May leading the Wolverines. With the Hoosiers coming off a loss at Wisconsin that was never really close, the Assembly Hall crowd on Saturday had potential to create one of the most toxic atmospheres in recent memory in that building if no action was taken. That could still happen, but this news should lower the heat at least a little bit.
Indiana reached a point of having no real choice but to part ways with Woodson. The on-court product is absolutely cratering, and this roster has enough talent on paper to be performing better. The Hoosiers are just finding ways to lose games, whether in close or blowout affairs. They can’t stay out of their own way, with self-inflicted wounds that add up quickly. IU has now lost six of its last seven games, with no end in sight for this slump in the final month of the season.
Additionally, Woodson and his staff haven’t been adding the type of high-school recruits to make the future look brighter. He’s failed to add a guard out of the high school ranks since 2021, and it’s easy to see why with his insistence on playing with two bigs and the team’s consistent struggles from 3-point range.
IU doesn’t necessarily gain a tangible advantage in the coaching market by publicizing this sort of news before the end of the season. Athletic director Scott Dolson had surely already started the coaching search process before this news leaked out. But with the way things have gone for the program, inaction could be seen as continued approval. And Dolson and the university can’t keep backing the current product when it’s producing one embarrassing result after another.
Woodson’s tenure, on the whole, hasn’t been a completely abject failure. He snapped long losing streaks against arch-rival Purdue, both in general and on the road at Mackey Arena. He also ended Indiana’s NCAA Tournament drought and won two games, though he couldn’t get those teams to take the next steps and truly break through. Woodson’s coaching helped Trayce Jackson-Davis become one of the best players in the country. And his presence was significant for the program in the aftermath of Bob Knight’s passing in Nov. 2023.
But IU clearly needed change for the future. So here we are. The team will close out the season with an eight-game send-off for Woodson, in addition to any Big Ten Tournament games they play in Indianapolis. Conversation is already turning to who could take over the position. It’s not an ideal position for Indiana to be in, but this was the only clear option for the program to take.
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