Multiple news sources are reporting Mike Woodson and Indiana have come to some sort of accommodation (or not) regarding his employment, which suggests (or not) he's either going to retire or be gently ushered out the door. Apparently some sort of announcement will be made prior to Indiana's home game tomorrow against Michigan.
Or, you know, not.
Truth is, no one really knows for sure until they know for sure, and that moment has not yet come. But if -- if -- the news sources have the story straight, it appears the money boys have at last grown disenchanted with Woody. And when the checks stop coming, the parting of ways is always the next item on the agenda.
So, then. Let's say the newsies do have the story straight, and Woodson is a dead man walking. What does that tell us about where Indiana basketball is here in February 2025?
"That it's not where it was four decades ago?" you're saying now.
Well, duh.
"That it's still chasing the long-dead glory days?"
Warmer.
"That it clings to the notion that if only Indiana could hire the right coach, it could be 1987 again -- when Keith Smart hit The Shot down in New Orleans, and time pretty much stopped?"
Now we're talkin'.
Now we're talkin' the crux of the problem here, which is that time never stops, really. It just keeps rolling on and on, and landscapes roll on and on with it, changing irrevocably along the way.
The only constant in nature is change, surprise, surprise. That's why 1987 might as well be 1387 for all relevance it has to 2025. In every conceivable way, college basketball is not the same game anymore, nor will it ever be again. They might as well have been shooting basketballs with laces at peach baskets when Smart hit The Shot.
Who doesn't know that, except for a certain subset of IU basketball fans?
That subset grows smaller by the year, thankfully, but it still animates the constant dissatisfaction that's vandalized IU hoops since Bob Knight fire-bombed his own legacy. That happened 25 years ago, and Woodson, a Knight acolyte, is the sixth head coach IU has had since. If he's gone, at the end of this season or immediately, the next guy will be the seventh.
Seven head coaches in a quarter century. That's an average of one do-over every 3.5 seasons.
You see the problem here.
Now, this is not to say the do-overs weren't warranted. Kelvin Sampson turned out to be a crook. Archie Miller turned out to be whatever Archie Miller was. And it's not like the latest man in the barrel hasn't earned his walking papers.
In four seasons under Woodson, the Hoosiers have made the NCAA Tournament twice -- both times with Trayce Jackson-Davis -- but have never gotten out of the first weekend. He's 77-49 overall, but a distressing number of those 77 wins have come against non-marquee opponents. In Big Ten play, Woody's a .500 coach (36-36).
Last season the Hoosiers went 19-14, lost to Nebraska three times by an average of 19 points, and failed to make the tournament. By the time the Cornhuskers shucked them one last time by 27 in the Big Ten tournament, everyone was so sick of the season they decided not to play in any postseason event.
And this season?
Well, you know how it's gone. Woodson loaded up on more big-deal transfers, enough that some observers thought Indiana had a legit shot at the Big Ten title. Instead ...
Instead, the Hoosiers enter the Michigan game 14-9 and 5-7 in conference, tied for ninth. They've lost six of their last seven and are 2-9 against Quad 1 opponents. The two wins are against an Ohio State team rated 25th and a Penn State team rated 60th.
Not the sort of resume that gets you into the Madness. Which is why all the projections at the moment have Indiana not getting into the Madness.
But could it someday, with the Right Coach?
Sure, if that aforementioned subset of fans let him stick around for more than 3.5 years.
And could the Right Coach get IU back to the Final Four, where it hasn't been in 23 years?
Of course. After all, it was Mike Davis who got them there last time, not Saint Bob of Knight.
Mike Davis: Who, four years later, resigned under fire in the middle of his sixth season.
But, hey. He beat the average.
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