With His Program Reeling, Tom Crean’s Seat Is Warming Up

The man tabbed with bringing the Hoosiers back to prominence may be taking them right back down the troubled path.

With Monday night’s announcement of the suspensions to sophomores Stanford Robinson and Troy Williams and freshmen Emmitt Holt for the first four games of the season, Tom Crean’s seat officially entered “unseasonably warm” mode.

This suspension is on the heels of the accident over the weekend that left sophomore forward Devin Davis in the hospital after his own teammate, Holt, accidentally ran him over in his car. Holt was cited for underage drinking, although it should absolutely be noted that the official police report assigns blame to Davis, not Holt.

For Robinson and Williams, their suspensions stem from a failed drug test, while Holt’s obviously stems from his role in the accident, apparently no matter how minor it was.

The announcement of the suspension tonight preceded his weekly Q&A radio talk show in Bloomington. Unsurprisingly, Crean was put under a microscope for the remainder of the show, callers asking why he shouldn’t be blamed for all that has happened, even going as far to question why he had a job.

Rightfully so, fans grew outraged with the announcement, moreso with the inconsistency in handing out punishments. Last winter, when forward Hanner Perea was arrested and charged with an OWI for driving with a blood-alcohol level of 0.15, his “indefinite” suspension lasted just two games.

Today, Holt was suspended for driving with BAC of .025, just barely over the legal limit for an underage person. Even more, that amount equates to less than one beer for a person Holt’s size.

Then, last spring, both Yogi Ferrell and Robinson were arrested for attempting to enter a bar with a fake ID and were also charged with underage consumption. At the time, neither Ferrell nor Robinson were punished, and today, Ferrell was given no suspension and Robinson was given no extra punishment for the situation.

To top it off, today’s suspensions of four games includes the first two exhibition games of the season, meaning the trio will miss just two games of the regulars season.

All this does not even include the countless transfers from the program, six in total over the last two seasons, including integral players like Remy Abell, Jeremy Hollowell, and Luke Fischer (although the latter was openly attributed to homesickness).

Even during IU’s heyday with Cody Zeller, Victor Oladipo, Jordan Hulls, and Christian Watford, a certain amount of skepticism of Crean’s coaching ability existed among fans. The immense talent the Hoosiers had outweighed the deficiencies of Crean as a coach.

Fortunately for him, IU Athletic Director Fred Glass still is behind Crean, at least publicly.

However, with options looming that could be attractive, Crean’s seat is growing hotter. Topping the Hoosier wish list is a former college coach in the state of Indiana in Brad Stevens, whose first season in the NBA did not go too swimmingly, albeit the Celtics doing little to actively win games.

Still, as ESPN writer Bill Simmons noted in his NBA preview of the Boston Celtics, if Stevens struggles once again and Crean is indeed fired (growing chance), would Stevens be able to turn down a job back in college, in the same state as before, with a more traditional basketball and bigger school?

Tom Crean was the man who was at the helm for Indiana’s return to the top of college basketball, but was it a flash in the pan?

We don’t know the answer to that, nor anything about Crean’s future, but we do know that this will be a very, very interesting year for the Indiana Hoosiers.