Save for a few blips on the radar, Indiana basketball hasn’t been a consistent power on the court in college basketball in decades.
You, the tired, weary fans of IU basketball, yearning for success, don’t need to be reminded of that.
But what IU basketball is as a program, and who they are on the court can be — and are — two very different realities.
Saying Indiana has only made one Elite Eight in more than 30 years stings, and just two NCAA Tournament appearances in what will probably be nine years here in a month is a soul-crushing reality.
You know about the success prior to that — five national titles, eight Final Fours, 22 Big Ten titles, 68 NCAA Tournament wins. The list goes on and on.
But both as it relates to the historic success or the more recent disappointment, the past is not prologue.
There is nothing about Indiana’s long run as one of college basketball’s elite that guarantees the Hoosiers will continue in that realm. We’ve all seen that harsh reality play out before our eyes now for far too long.
But there is also nothing about this Indiana program that makes it an irredeemable mediocrity.
There is no mutual exclusivity with those two concepts. Both can be and are true at this moment as they embark on the search for a new head coach.
One of the best comparisons to Indiana basketball in 2025 is Alabama football in 2007. From 1983 to 2007 (does that rough span of time sound familiar?) the Crimson Tide went through six coaches (does that number of coaches sound familiar?) before bridging the Bear Bryant era to Nick Saban.
Oh, and on that Saban Alabama staff in 2007 was a guy you may have heard of named Curt Cignetti. All he did in 2024 is take over an IU football program that had gone 9-27 over the last three years and produce an 11-2 season in year one. Things can and often do change in a hurry with the right people and support in place.
If you don’t like the football analogies, look at college basketball in 2025.
Perhaps not quite on the level of Indiana, but Louisville, Michigan and St. John’s are all programs with varying degrees of historic success that fell on hard times recently. All three made a coaching change in the last two years that flipped the script and set each of them in an entirely new direction.
And just as notable, historically insignificant basketball programs like Alabama, Auburn and Tennessee have emerged as some of the nation’s top programs over the last five years.
So if you hear people saying Indiana basketball in 2025 is not the program it once was, with no hope of ever returning to its former glory, ignore them. They are either malicious, lazy or just simply uninformed.
Not convinced? Here are six reasons why the Indiana job opening should be one of if not the most attractive in college basketball this year:
TOP SALARY
Let’s start with the easy button.
Indiana is prepared to pay top-dollar to hire an elite college basketball coach. They are probably going to turn their next head coach into one of, if not the highest paid coaches in the game. If Indiana is going to pull one of their high profile coaching candidates away from his current job, that is a requirement. And as they demonstrated with the renegotiation of Cignetti’s deal, IU now has a President, a Board and boosters who will provide the support to make sure that happens.
There were solid reports Indiana was ready to pay Brad Stevens $70 million over seven years in 2021. And they’ll pay at least that to lure him or another top prospect in 2025.
FINANCIAL BACKING FOR NIL
It takes some measure of reliable financial support to pay the players as well in 2025. Some of that will be marginalized with revenue sharing in 2025, but Indiana still needs and has the support of boosters as a very advantageous supplement if not primary form of income. IU intends to fully maximize the allowable amount of revenue sharing, and it has very motivated families who want to see the program succeed. Prospective coaches notice these things.
TOP BRAND
There have been countless measures of college basketball ‘s top brands through the years. And no matter who is conducting that analysis or how they are measuring it, Indiana is almost always among best. Perhaps the best way to evaluate brand is the revenue it generates for the school, and IU men’s basketball has consistently been one of the nation’s top-10 in that regard for quite some time. And that means more resources to supplement support staff, facilities, recruiting budgets, and anything else a new coach might want or need.
HIGH SCHOOL RECRUITING BASE
No, Indiana doesn’t necessarily need to focus on “inside-out” recruiting. And they don’t need a majority on the roster to hail from Indiana. But having an organic advantage doesn’t hurt. On a per capita basis, Indiana has consistently been one of the nation’s top producers of Power Four talent. Players want to capitalize on their local NIL value and perform in front of their families. Most coaches will like the idea of having so many good players in their own backyard looking to stay home.
LARGE FAN BASE
Some erroneously try to paint Indiana’s fan base as toxic. Sure, you can find a vocal minority of fools on social media and message boards to fit that narrative, like you can with any large fan base.
But Indiana’s fan base is massive, and the vast majority are a net positive for the program.
They’ll buy merchandise, provide NIL support, create an incredible home court advantage, and even generate plenty of noise on the road.
The “IU basketball is a fish bowl” narrative is another overblown talking point. It’s all what you make of it. Recruit your team, prepare your team, show up on the court for gameday. The rest is whatever you allow it to be. And now with a successful football program, the focus on basketball at IU should dissipate somewhat anyway.
TOP CONFERENCE
You are starting to hear the Big Ten and SEC referred to as the Power Two conferences in some circles.
The Big Ten has been at the top of food chain in total revenue generated in recent years, and with a massive new media rights deal, a successful in house television network, and a lion’s share of distributions for College Football Playoff and NCAA Tournament appearances, the pot allocated back to the schools just continues to grow.
Maybe down the road schools like Georgetown, St. John’s, Villanova, and others will have some degree of advantage over everyone because they don’t have the pull of football when it comes to revenue sharing. But as long as the Big Ten continues to be one of the Power Two, that shouldn’t matter much.
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