Indiana fired coach Archie Miller on March 15 and announced that a super-rich booster has agreed to give the school $ 10 million to cover its purchase. Nine days later, Indiana still has no new coach.
In fact, it has almost no staff.
That’s because Race Thompson on Wednesday became the third IU holder – not just a player, beginner – enter the transfer portal since the end of the season, joining Armaan Franklin and Aljami Durham. Those three combined averaged 31.8 points and 13.4 rebounds last season. They were second (Franklin), third (Durham) and fourth (Thompson) on the scoring team, second (Thompson), third (Franklin) and fourth (Durham) on the team on rebounds. Therefore, these are not expensive at the end of the bench / out of rotation. They matter. And while it is true that anyone (or even everyone) could leave the transfer portal and return to Indiana after the school hires its next coach, this is generally not the way these things work.
So, are we sure it was money well spent?
To be clear, it’s not my money, so I don’t care. But just looking at the practice, when this is all over and everything is resolved, how likely is it that Indiana will actually be in a better position than it was two weeks ago? If the school hires Chris Beard from Texas Tech or Scott Drew from Baylor or Eric Musselman from Arkansas or former Michigan coach John Beilein, maybe everything will be fine, even if it looks like some of them would have a tough start, considering the state of the list . But there is a growing feeling in college basketball circles that Indiana may be more focused on hiring someone with connections to Indiana – perhaps a former player like New York Knicks assistant Mike Woodson, G-League assistant Calbert Cheaney, Michigan state assistant Dane Fife, UCLA assistant Michael Lewis or former NBA coach Keith Smart.
Any of them can be great, I think.
But at this point, it is fair to imagine whether this process could turn into a net negative result that culminates in Indiana paying $ 10 million just to end up with an inferior technician and an inferior lineup. Again, any of the candidates with strong ties to the UI can be excellent. I don’t know everyone personally, but I like those I do. Therefore, I am willing to keep an open mind. But having said that, and this is just the truth, none of them would currently be candidates for any other job comparable to that of Indiana. So if Indiana went that route, it would have spent $ 10 million – plus what it takes to hire the next coach and his team – to replace Miller with someone who is much more risky than Miller looked at the time he was hired in March 2017, and Miller’s replacement would probably have a worse list in year one than Miller would have in year five.
Again, it is not my money. So I don’t care.
And if the school just wanted to break up with Archie Miller, whatever happens, just as it previously only wanted to break up with Tom Crean, whatever happens, that’s fine. My only point is that there are several reasons to think that Indiana may actually have just spent $ 10 million to put herself in a worse position in the future.
The coach IU wanted him to leave – but also three starters and a transfer without a right named Parker Stewart, who would be eligible next season after averaging 19.3 points at UT-Martin in the second year. And who knows what impact it could have on Trayce Jackson-Davis? He averaged 19.1 points and 9.0 rebounds this season, while shooting 51.7% of the field. He is the best player in the Hoosiers. And while the six-foot-tall striker is not guaranteed to be chosen if he enters the NBA 2021 Draft, will he really want to return to Indiana to play for a new coach? What is likely to be a bad team? It might be. But I promise you that other teams are taking advantage of this busless window that Indiana is currently passing and planting seeds with Jackson-Davis and / or the people around him about how the transfer portal might be of interest to him too, especially if he really wants to play in the NCAA Tournament.
As always, we will see.
The final verdict on all of this will not be known for a while, of course. So, I’m happy to revisit this later. But with four Indiana players, including three starters, already on the transfer portal, and with Indiana still in need of a coach, and with no guarantee that the hiring of a home run that Indiana fans want exists, it’s reasonable to imagine if that could turn into a situation where a school paid a lot of money just to make matters worse.