Tuesday night saw a new low of basketball in Bloomington, Indiana. The Hoosiers hosted a tough ranked Illinois squad and simply weren’t up to the task, falling behind by as much as 30 points in the first half before suffering one of the worst home defeats in the history of Assembly Hall. As shocking as this performance was, this was just the latest low for an Indiana program that might be making some changes in the days, weeks, or months that follow.
Questions will definitely be raised about head coach Mike Woodson, who’s undoubtedly having a tumultuous run in his fourth season back in Bloomington. Woodson was a shooting guard who suited up for the Hoosiers back in the late 70’s before a long playing and coaching career in the NBA. Formerly the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks and New York Knicks, Woodson returned to Indiana as head coach in 2021 for his first coaching experience at the collegiate level.
Under his leadership, the Hoosiers have broken out of a small funk, making the NCAA Tournament in each of his first two seasons. This team even won their first-round game in 2023, though we’re talking about Indiana here. Simply winning one Tourney game in three or four years isn’t close to enough success for the program to cling to those five national championships.
That horrid performance against Illinois punctuated what might be an ongoing issue in Bloomington with the coaching in place. Woodson’s days may be numbered, as this level of success simply doesn’t meet expectations. In the ever-changing world of college basketball, numerous programs with far less NIL or fan support are outplaying these Hoosiers and perhaps enough is enough.
As of this writing, Woodson remains the head coach at Indiana and still has a couple years on his deal. However, a school like Indiana won’t sit by and let the program continue to dissipate and his buyout likely isn’t a major issue. It’s very possible that we see this tenure end very soon, and while that likely won’t save this season it could mean major things in the future.
We’ll be taking a few moments to examine some realistic names that Indiana could target as their next head coach if they do make that change. Again, Woodson remains head coach and there’s been nothing to indicate that his removal is imminent, but with the current vibes around the program it might be time to look into the future. There’s a decent mix among this initial list of names, though we’ll likely have much more in store if Woodson is fired at or before this season’s end.