Tom Crean to IU

[UnBiased Horn]

Per ESPN.

Good Hire.

 

[longhornfan2818]

Very good. He has done very well at Marquette,.

 

[Failed Engineer]

Excellent hire. If the unthinkable happened and Barnes ever left UT, he would have been on my very short list of candidates to replace him.

I was more worried about playing Marquette in the Sweet 16 than I was of Stanford, and Crean's ability was a factor in that. He certainly could have put together a better gameplan than Trent Johnson did.

 

[4realhorn]

I wonder how this will affect Devin Ebanks decision.

 

[austintex]

He's a decent coach and did just about as well as can be expected given his circumstances, but he's no miracle worker. He had one really good year at Marquette, when they went to the Final Four, and that team was willed there by Dwayne Wade. Other than that, this year was the only year in Crean's 9-year tenure that Marquette made it out of the first round in the NCAAs (half the time they didn't even make the tourney).

They probably would have made it to the Sweet 16 this year if Crean hadn't stuck to man all game, which allowed the good Lopez twin to eat them up in the paint.

He's a non-controversial hire who will run a stable, clean program at Indiana, which is probably what they want given the Sampson debacle.

 

[Bob in Houston]

In reply to:

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[eflow24]

I think it is an excellent hire.

 

[doylehargraves]

Great hire for IU.

 

[austintex]

I don't hold the fact that Crean found a diamond in the rough in Dwayne Wade against him, and I'm sure he helped develop him into the great player he is today and put him in a position to lead the team to a very successful season. What I'm saying is if you look at Crean's Marquette career, the one Wade year is the only one that stands out (and they were blown out of the water in their Final Four game by Kansas). Other than that, it's pretty run-of the-mill. 50-50 chance of getting into the NCAAs, early exits once there, no conference championships (save the Final Four year), and slightly above middle of the pack in the Big East.

One thing Crean is is a tireless marketer and promoter, which should help rebuild Indiana's rather tarnished image at this point. I'm sure he'll be able to land good recruits, based on Indiana's name alone. I do like his up-tempo, pressing style of play. And the Big 10 isn't as daunting a league as the Big East, so he'll probably be at the top of the conference, year-in and year out. But beyond that, I'm not expecting him to return Indiana to its glory days anytime soon.

 

[Bob in Houston]

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[austintex]

I guess you could say that Rick Barnes' record when Texas hired him out of Clemson was roughly equal to where Crean is now -- with Crean's Final Four trip being superior to Barnes' one trip to the Sweet Sixteen... But to compare Crean and Barnes right now is a bit of a stretch.

Since 1999, Crean has taken Marquette to the NCAA's five times, reaching the Final Four once and the second round once. He also won one regular season title and one conference tourney title (both in Conference USA).

Since 1999, Barnes has taken Texas to the Final Four once, the Elite Eight twice, the Sweet 16 twice, the second round twice and made the tourney all nine years. And he's won two regular season conference titles (and a third the year before Crean was hired).

If Indiana had managed to lure Barnes away, it would have been a superior hire. But at this point, Indiana is damaged goods... Crean may have been the best they could get (Tony Bennett of Washington State, another uninspired choice in my mind, reportedly turned them down).

 

[Bob in Houston]

Nah, I was just comparing Barnes 10 years ago to Crean now. They're about the same age at the same stage... Barnes was 44 when he came to Texas, with, IIRC, 11 years as a D-I HC. Crean is 42... nine years at Marquette.

I wasn't that thrilled about the Barnes hire, like you're talking about Crean, but I did think he was a good hire based on who might have taken the job. Same for Crean here.

The test for Barnes coming to Texas (as it would be on any coach trying to take a program up the ladder) was whether he could recruit at the highest level. Barnes appears to be doing that now. If Crean starts getting the same type of players over the next two or three years, he'll have a long, successful run at IU. If not, in about five years they'll get someone else.

 

[UnBiased Horn]

Crean will be able to recruit at IU bc it is IU. I have read where he does well recruiting indiana already. Barnes was also helped by coming to a recruiting fertile ground with no close options.