Hoosiers Gone to Pot: Devin Davis Citation Latest Failure

Indiana junior Devin Davis spent last season recovering from injuries sustained after being hit by a teammate’s car. Monday night he was cited for Marijuana possession while in the presence of another teammate. There seems to be a lack of control in the Hoosier program, but can it be fixed while Tom Crean is head coach?

This is becoming a broken record.

According to an IndyStar report, Indiana Hoosiers junior guard Devin Davis received a citation but was not arrested for possession of marijuana.

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Indiana University Police received a call Monday night at approximately 8 p.m. with a report that the smell of marijuana was coming from a dorm room. In a statement from IUPD Lt. Craig Munroe, officers responding to the call “detected an odor of marijuana from an open second-floor window.”

Once there, officers were given permission to search the room by Davis, who was not alone, but with fellow IU teammate Hanner Mosquera-Perea, who was not cited or arrested.

Not long after the news on Davis was released, Indiana University issued the following statement:

"“We have been made aware that Indiana sophomore Devin Davis was cited by IUPD for possession of marijuana in an IU dormitory room last evening. Effective immediately, Davis has been suspended from all team activities. Any additional action related to Davis’ status will occur after further review of this matter. We understand that junior Hanner Mosquera-Perea was present at the time of the incident but was not charged by IUPD. Mosquera-Perea’s role, if any, will also be reviewed as part of this matter.”"

Despite the lack of citation or arrest, this is not Mosquera-Perea’s first run in with Bloomington authorities. On February 14, 2014, Mosquera-Perea was arrested for DUI after being picked up after hitting a curb near the Bloomington campus. With a BAC above .15 percent (Indiana legal limit is .08 percent), Perea was suspended for two games, and sentenced to a year of probation and community service.

Since Mosquera-Perea’s February 2014 arrest, there have been two subsequent situations where Indiana players have faced arrest or worse.

April 14, 2014: starting junior point guard Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell and now former guard Stanford Robinson were arrested for underage drinking and being in possession of fake IDs. Both players were issued summons by undercover excise officers but neither were taken into custody at the time. What made matters worse was Ferrell had only a couple days before his 21st birthday, however Robinson was 18.

And then came the night of November 3, 2014, in what could be considered the absolute low-point for the Hoosiers. Moments after being dropped off by freshman teammate Emmitt Holt, Davis was struck by Holt right in front of Memorial Stadium, which is next door to Assembly Hall, where the Hoosiers play. Davis suffered a severe head injury, and had to be taken to IU Health Bloomington Hospital where he was diagnosed with a traumatic brain injury. For his part, Holt was cited for underage drinking and operating a vehicle with a blood-alcohol content above .02. after he registered a BAC of .025.

For the record, Holt, while over the legal limit for a minor, was not considered to be drunk, and after an investigation, it was determined that alcohol wasn’t a factor in the accident.

Despite that fact, the accident rounded out what would best be considered an awful end of the year for a team and a head coach in Tom Crean already under great scrutiny.

After the Davis/Holt accident, many, including IndyStar columnist Gregg Doyel, called for Crean to be fired, saying:

"Tom Crean cannot coach the Indiana basketball team much longer. When would be too long? The Hoosiers’ first exhibition is Thursday night. That would be too long."

Of course, Crean was not fired, and would go on to coach the Hoosiers to a 20-14 season, including an appearance in the NCAA tournament after a year’s absence. Many, including your writer here, thought Crean was a dead man walking in light of an end-of-season freefall that left the Hoosiers with a 9-9 record in the Big Ten.

Crean survived, and even thrived, with the offseason committment of All-American center Thomas Bryant, and by all accounts, things looked pretty good for Hoosier Nation, with noted experts even giving early projections of Indiana starting the season as a top 15 team.

There’s really only one of two ways to look at this situation: Either Tom Crean actively recruits players who make poor choices and bad decisions, or his recruits — for whatever reason — have no respect for him as a coach or the program as a whole.

But that was before Monday.

While a coach can’t be in all places at all times, the fact that players are continually finding themselves in trouble absolutely speaks to the effacy of the man in charge, and there’s really only one or two ways to look at this situation: There’s really only one of two ways to look at this situation: Either Tom Crean actively recruits players who make poor choices and bad decisions, or his recruits — for whatever reason — have no respect for him as a coach or the program as a whole.

It would be wildly naive to think that college kids don’t act like college kids, however, there’s a right way and a wrong way, particularly when you’re front and center as representatives of a team, university and state. Maybe it’s the indelible imprint left by former Indiana head coach Bob Knight, and his theories on discipline that make taking such a hard stance on these sorts of issues something easy to do, but the fact of the matter is, no matter what gets instilled in a player privately, it’s the public image that ultimately matters, and in the case of Indiana, the image is of a program out of control.

Indiana Hoosiers /

Indiana Hoosiers

So what should happen? What are next steps?

For starters, both Devin Davis and Hanner Mosquera-Perea must be removed from Indiana Basketball permanently. While Mosquera-Perea was not cited or charged with a crime, it’s not hard to put one and one together, and it wouldn’t be a farfetched guess to assume what a drug test would likely confirm.

Mosquera-Perea is a blight on the program, and with his past offenses, this should absolutely be the end of his career. As for Davis, despite his personal struggle to recover from his injuries, he is unwilling or unable to represent the team and university in a way that makes the outpouring of sympathy for him in any way deserving. For that, he must also lose the privilege of being a Hoosier.

In all honesty, losing both players would in no way hurt this year’s team, but it would send a stern and swift message that wearing the Cream and Crimson is a privilege, not a right. It sends a message that this is a team and a system that can be in control.

But can it be under Crean?

Once again, it is glaringly clear and obvious that there is little to no respect for Crean by his players. To act so stupidly, to be so brash as to feel like no consequence can come from any action shows that the only way to repair what has become an embarrassment of a program, is to remove Crean as head coach, effective immediately.

No more talk of buyouts, no more talk of “one more year”. There is just cause at this point to remove Crean, and either it happens now, or we wait until the next incident happens, which at this point, we may be able to set a clock to.

Regardless of the promise the upcoming 2015-16 season holds, as long as Tom Crean is head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers, the other shoe is always one step from dropping. How many times should that shoe be picked up only to be dropped again before those in charge admit true change in Bloomington is needed for the sake of a once-storied program?

Or does a player have to do something even worse?

Next: Grading Creighton For The 2014-15 Season

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