Indiana might have been able to let the season play out and make an informed decision based on a full body of work.
But it seems like the message board and chat server crowds, gaslighted by those who fan the flames at such outlets, put the question on referendum sooner than expected.
So tucked neatly within a two-game winning streak, Indiana fans were delivered unexpected news just hours before the final road game of the 2023-24 season.
Mike Woodson will be back for a fourth season.
How did we get here?
Somehow Auburn coach Bruce Pearl’s name started showing up everywhere on feeds vis-à-vis the IU basketball head coaching position, although there’s no real evidence there was any substance to connect him and Indiana. Yes, he coached in Evansville 25 years ago and said some nice things about IU in December. But come on, really? Pearl is already 63, and already has a good high major job that pays well.
And one does have to wonder how those who became ravenous for a Pearl era at IU would have handled his own first three years at Auburn. Did they even check, and notice his 32-54 start?
But anyway, suddenly Mike Woodson and his staff couldn’t plan their day-to-day recruiting activities without their every move being questioned by the self-important types. He’s watching a player on Friday instead of Wednesday? Oh the humanity!
The overarching conversation about Woodson’s performance seems legitimate. This season is unacceptable to even casual IU basketball fans.
But the buzz became so deafening, national outlets began to opine on Woodson’s status almost daily, and some anonymous guy code-named Trilly probably sold enough IU fans $6 a month subscriptions to his Discord chat to retire.
With no high school recruits locked-up for next season, the Woodson era is now existentially tied to success in the transfer portal this spring.
Xavier Johnson and Anthony Walker are definitely done after this year, and you won’t find a soul who believes Kel’el Ware is returning to college next year. So at a minimum, IU has four open scholarships for 2024-25, and it seems reasonable to say that number will swell to at least six in a couple weeks.
So Woodson has serious work to do in the transfer portal if he wants his fourth season to significantly outpace year three. And after Indiana’s transfer portal efforts were less than stellar a year ago, and kinda led to this whole mess, he couldn’t afford to enter this offseason hamstrung.
The pitchforks and torches at Woodson’s doorstep were set to imperil him before the portal officially opened on March 18.
Most know by now, the behind-the-scenes portal maneuvering happens well before the names start going in. There’s little doubt the ramifications stemming from all this negativity and uncertainty were already being felt. How can anyone talk about a potential transfer to Indiana? Will the coach even be there?
To be sure, high school prospects, namely very talented in-state class of 2025 prospects, will still have those questions about the state of the Woodson era as they make their college decisions in the coming months. There isn’t much that can be done to triage that situation at the moment.
But when it came to Indiana’s ability to navigate the transfer portal, something had to happen, and it had to happen fast.
Did Indiana go through back channels to take the temperature of other candidates before leaking their decision Wednesday evening? Maybe, maybe not. We’ll never know that for sure.
But we do know this — Mike Woodson will be Indiana’s coach next season.
And whether you are happy with that decision or not, IU did at least get the timing right.
(This story was edited to include the news of Liam McNeeley’s decommitment)
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