A modest proposal

 All around Candy Stripe Nation these days, the parlor game of renown and fame -- the runaway fun-for-the-whole-family hit -- is "Name That Coach," which of course involves trying to guess whom Indiana will choose as its next men's basketball coach. Why, it's got "Hungry Hungry Hippos" beat all hollow, and it's coming up fast on "Mystery Date."

It goes like this: Find a person in full IU Basketball Combat Gear (cap; jacket; Kent Benson/Steve Alford/Yogi Ferrell throwback jersey; button with a picture of Bob Knight yelling), and say, "Who do you like for IU's next coach?"

Let the fun begin! 

"Brad Stevens!" the guy will say (Even though Brad Stevens is as Boston as Dunkin' Donuts now, and has already, once again, said he ain't goin' nowhere)

"Bruce Pearl!" (Even though Bruce Pearl is as ethically sketchy as Kelvin Sampson was, and we all know how that worked out)

"Mick Cronin!" (Even though Cronin's not likely to leave Los Angeles for Bloomington, notwithstanding the travel would be easier)

"Jay Wright! Tony Bennett!" (Even though both got out of college coaching because they were fed up with what the gig entails now)

"Matt Painter!" (Ha, ha, very funny)

"Steve Alford!" (Ha, ha, even funnier)

What makes this a great game is no one really knows anything about who athletic director Scott Dolson and his crew are looking at, only that they've hired a search committee to facilitate the process. So IU Fan can pretty much throw out any old name that pops into his or her head and it's more or less got as much validity as any other any other name, provided said name is still on the right side of the dirt.

Well. If that's the case, I've got a name for you: Maria Marchesano.

She's currently the women's coach at Purdue-Fort Wayne -- and, listen, before you start ("Now you're just being silly!"), my tongue is only half in my cheek when I mention her. That's because her Mastodons are 24-7 and, after Masto-dunking Wright State lastr night, are headed to the Horizon League tournament semifinals. They finished second in the league to Green Bay --  losing a piece of the title in the last game of the regular season at Green Bay -- after winning their first 15 conference games and 16 straight in all.

For all of that, Marchesano was named the Horizon League women's coach of the year.

That's not the most amazing thing, though. The most amazing thing is where the PFW program was four years ago when she was hired.

In 2020-21, see, the year before Marchesano arrived, the Dons won one basketball game. One. In 23 tries. They were so far down a well they couldn't see daylight. Thought it was just a wild rumor someone made up.

So what happened after that?

Well, in Marchesano's first year, the Mastodons went 7-21. Then they jumped to 14-19. Then, last year, they went 21-12, finished third in the Horizon and reached the third round of the WNIT.

 The woman can coach a bit, in other words. So, you know, as long as we're just throwin' names out there ...

Call it a modest proposal. Or a kinda-sorta modest proposal. Or just me giving a shout-out to someone who well deserves it.

And whose name you should know, and now do.