Ok, we’ll be the first to recognize that the administration at Indiana University has had an apocryphal six months with its basketball program. There’s no need to rehash all that’s happened (see here, here and here for some of our previous posts), but much like a regular dude on the prowl after a particularly crazyeyed Stephanie Ragusa girlfriend experience, the administration may have gotten a little peepee in the pants over its next flavor of love – Tom Crean – he who represents a seemingly austere return to normalcy.
Harding’s Presidency Didn’t Go So Well Either
Hey, we like Coach Crean. Seems like a nice fella who can coach a little basketball. Had a superb March run at an urban Catholic school a few years ago with a wiry guard named Dwyane Wade, as we recall. Of course that run in 2003 was followed by only one NCAA win in the next five years, which was subsequently followed by Crean taking the Indiana job and watching as pretty much everyone who could play basketball in Bloomington exited stage left (regards to Kyle Taber, we’re sure he’s quite talented – after all he does shoot 78% from the floor).
In full panic mode, the IU brass today approved a 10-year, $24 million contract for Tom Crean to coach their beloved Hoosiers. This comes on the heels of national championship coach Bill Self recently signing a 10-year, $30 million deal with Kansas. Now we know that over ten years, a $6 million dollar difference is a lot of money, but we still have trouble seeing Tom Crean anywhere near the same coaching stratosphere as Bill Self (see comparison table below). This appears to have every mark of an administration that is desperately seeking stability (which they’ll probably get) without any clue as to how good (and how fast) Crean can will make Indiana.
But hey, they’ll have peace of mind about the recruiting violations, right?
More: Crean’s contract, for your reading pleasure.