Expectations can be a problem in life, let alone college basketball.
Winning is more important than developing talent, and then there’s the ordeal of figuring out just how much cash to give the players you acquire via the transfer portal or the ones who you can still recruit in a traditional scholarship manner.
If the name, image and likeness war that is being lost at Indiana University isn’t enough to drive a coach insane, throw in alumni and boosters (especially the rich ones) as they continually attempt to influence university presidents, athletic directors and coaches.
While coaching college basketball generally equates to handsome compensation, the sky high and unrealistic expectations at IU are also spelled out in contractual language that is both very binding and often potentially quite lucrative for all the parties involved in the overall deal to restore the luster the program reveled in decades ago.
Things are certainly no different in Bloomington now of days where the natives are beyond restless and feel a change is overdue in terms of who will hold the reins in the 2025-26 season. With that being said, Michael Dean Woodson knew exactly what he was getting in to when he accepted what can only be described as a hopeless situation disguised as the alleged shangri-la otherwise known as Indiana University Basketball.
It was obvious the men’s program was in a clearly embarrassing situation (by any standard) when Woodson signed on in 2021 for the complete overhaul needed, but his love for his alma mater overrode what his eyes could see, and he agreed to tackle the job at hand with grit and enthusiasm.
When he agreed to a six-year contract, there was optimism that one who had learned his coaching pedigree from the likes of Bob Knight and Larry Brown could right the ship and compete for a Big Ten Championship and a deep run into the NCAA Tournament annually.
With a promising start, he earned a bump in pay and was given such in August 2024. Woodson has posted a 77-48 mark overall during his tenure and while that may be respectable at some universities it clearly falls short of the totally unreasonable expectations that are common knowledge at Indiana.
This season has been difficult and with a current mark of 14 up and eight down, Indiana will need to catch lightning in a bottle to make the upcoming NCAA Tournament in March. Besieged with an enormous number of chants and boos during home games of late, it has become embarrassing for a fine man and a capable basketball coach who has been the consummate professional and handled himself with class and dignity throughout his entire career.
The writing is on the wall throughout Monroe County and beyond, but is it really fair to a guy who took over a mess and to date has made things better than what he found on his triumphant arrival? Coaching at IU is clearly a suicide mission of epic proportion as the program has been irrelevant for over twenty years, so why should Woodson take the fall for all that?
There’s a simple solution to this debacle and while he will never do such, he should simply walk away.
Forget about the task at hand just tell them you’ve had enough of the minions calling for your job, and rest on your NBA laurels and the financial rewards that you earned.
You’ve done a solid job and walk away with the pride and dignity you display every day you show up.
Forgot about your loyalty to an institution that could care less about you as a human being and ride off to your family and the next phase of your life. You’re a helluva man Mike Woodson, and you deserve better than the circus you’re working in. Walk into your excuse of an athletic director’s office tomorrow and tell him you’ve had more than enough of his bunk too.
Yes, walk away before they make you run. You’ve done all anyone can ask of you and history will show the intrepid water you were faced with upon your arrival is much calmer now, as you have provided a rudder to a lost vessel. Hand them the keys to your office and walk out with your head high.
Something tells me you’ve had enough of their disrespect and lack of support, but l also know you simply won’t quit. I, for one, sure wish you would.
Danny Bridges, who feels Mike Woodson is a good coach and an even better man, can be reached at 317-370-8447 or at bridgeshd@aol.com.
