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Tom Crean the choice for Indiana

by in Coaching search | April 1st, 2008

crean233444.jpgAndy Katz of ESPN broke the story this afternoon and its a done deal: Tom Crean will be the next head coach at Indiana. An Indiana trustee also confirmed Crean’s hiring to the Associated Press as did Director of Media Relations J.D. Campbell.

He will be officially announced at an 11 a.m. press conference Wednesday morning in the Hoosier Room.

Crean, 42, just completed his ninth season as the head coach of Marquette. In 2003, behind the play of Dwyane Wade, the Golden Eagles went to the Final Four and lost to eventual runner-up Kansas. This past season, Marquette beat Kentucky in the first round before falling to Stanford.

Before leaving for Marquette, Crean was Tom Izzo’s top assistant at Michigan State and recruited many of the players that eventually cut down the nets in Indianapolis in 2000 for the Spartans. He also spent time as an assistant at Pittsburgh and Western Kentucky. He is a 1989 graduate of Central Michigan.

While it’s not yet known if Crean will bring his current staff to IU, a likely addition would be his top assistant at Marquette, former Ball State head coach Tim Buckley. Buckley was originally on Crean’s staff at Marquette before coaching at Ball State for six seasons. Buckley then went to Iowa as an assistant to Steve Alford before returning to Marquette.

One interesting nugget on Buckley is that he started Marquette’s interest in Wade after discovering him at an AAU Tournament. Wade was the sixth man on his AAU team when Buckley first saw him play and played a big part in bringing him to Marquette.

For PostmanE’s reaction on Crean’s hiring head over to The Dagger on Yahoo! Sports…

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  • BrianK

    Hell don;t feel bad read my posts. Hell look at this one.

  • http://www.insidethehall.com Alex

    Here's a video of D-Wade on the Tom Crean show:

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KOszXHTRCvg

  • http://insidethehall.com Ben_M

    Lets all try to support this guy for attempting to clean up this mess

  • BrianK

    Woo hoo I was first to vote. Oh yeah hit the brick's Dak.

  • BrianK

    LOL IU fans are invading Marquette boards.

  • Raymond219

    CREAN & CRIMSON CREAN & CRIMSON CREAN & CRIMSON

  • ricbraun

    they don't always let recruits out of the LOI though. See Beasley, Michael

  • Disco_Briscoe

    Scottie Reynolds left Oklahoma when Sampson left for IU…

  • bigiufan

    Guys, Espn has reported that the presser is at 11 not 10. Also, Terrell Holloway has listed Marquette as his top choice prior to this announcement, do we have a shot at retaining him now???

  • http://insidethehall.com Ben_M

    i would think we have a great shot. Maybe a big reason why he is the coach now.

  • JamesHardy

    I'm satisfied with this choice. I'm not excited, but I'm not disappointed either.

    **ONE PIECE OF VITAL INFO**
    I'm not one to START rumors, so please understand that as I finish this post. I have it on GOOD, SOLID authority that the reason for AB, JE, and JC's suspensions earlier this year were a result of the players failing to take a piss test for suspicion of drug use, more specifically, smokin weed. I would not post this if I didn't trust the source of the information. Ellis' suspension was handed down because DD suspected him of pot use and he wanted Ellis to take a test. When he refused, DD suspended him. The other two were handed down under KS's regime. Like I said before, I have NOT ONCE on this blog posted stories that I thought to be MAYBE true…this one is pretty solid.

  • JerryCT

    Sorry to hear this and it must have been wrenching for you to post it. I had said earlier this season that Ellis needed an “intervention” since he playing like a guy who needed rehab.

    Also sorry to hear folks attack DD for taking action. We are all thinking of ourselves and not the best interest of the boys themselves. DD did right by them , imploring them to be men even if they did not like it.

    If what you say is true then DD seems to know that wins and losses are irrelevant when it comes to the life lesson

  • http://insidethehall.com Ben_M

    well tomarrow it will officially not be dd's call anymore

  • Scott24

    I already like him because he WANTS to come to BTown and clean this mess up. It will be rough for the first year or so. Will wait till June to see what the NCAA says. Hopefully we won't be banned from post season play. But who knows.

  • bpark83

    now its time to CREAN house and fire rick greenspan…

  • Scott24

    Nice!!! I would really like to see DD as the new AD.

  • Raymond219

    This is the most credible rumor ever. Anyone who is a student down here knows how a MAJORITY of the players act. Last Year FRESHMAN Joey Shaw, Ratliff, FRESHMAN Bassett, etc were always at Jakes and UPSTAIRS at Sports getting wasted. Talk to the right people in the right fraternity that a certain walk-on member of the team belongs to and they'll tell you bassett, ellis, etc are always getting high with the guys and partying.

    These guys really operate with no rules down here.

  • BrianK

    On lachlands show on WHAS even U of L and U of K fans think its a great hire. Only thing that;s been against him is he isn;t an IU guy and he has had only 1 NCAA win since D-Wade

  • BrianK

    Well it wasn;t a left field hire like Sampson and it wasn't Krueger “WTF!!” hire. Im happy and excited we can start getting things cleaned up. i look forward to finally hearing some positive things

  • http://www.insidethehall.com Alex

    Guys,

    We've all heard these rumors about this and that. I'm fine with stuff being mentioned as long as it's done in a respectful way. Just remember these are young kids who make mistakes (as most of us did when we were that age) and let's try to avoid bashing guys here.

  • kgork

    Yea, I've heard that too.

    So what, they want to get a little high, no big deal.

  • JamesHardy

    Jerry…as soon as this news was given to me…I immediately took back all the negative “personal” attacks I've said about DD. Don't get me wrong, the guy still sucks as a coach, but his MORALS are still in tact. As far as his “wins and losses” being “irrelevant”…I think that is more of a result from him not being a good coach and he just can't win.

  • SanDiegoIUfan

    Well what happened with Robert Vaden going to UAB with Mike Davis then? If you aren't allowed to follow the coach then he should not have been allowed to transfer. Something is amiss with that stipulation.

  • Hoosier_in_Boston

    I'm happy with this hire. However, are we happy right now because RELATIVE to what we've been through, it seems like a good idea? When the dust settles, will it still be a good idea five years from now? I think probably yes, but just welcome any thoughts on this. Are we just happy because we were so eager for good news?

  • BTOWN40

    Wanted Tony Bennett, and thought we wouldn't get anybody worth a darn once he turned us down. I will give Crean all the credit in the world for having the bzalls to come to IU and clean this mess up. I wonder if he talked to IZZO about the job before he took it.
    At least he is a hire that won't require total rebuilding @ IU. He can keep things stable and can recruit, not sure about his player development from freshman to seniors, I will have to do more research on that point.
    All and all I feel good about the hire, let's get behind him and all the players, (Bassett and Ellis included), and get IU back to top. Can't believe I am typing this, but good job committee thank you. We can all breathe a sigh of relief and exhale.

  • BGleas

    And putting this into perspective I think you'd have to say that Crean's resume is more impressive than Gillespe when Kentucky hired him, Self when Kansas hired him and Howland when he went to UCLA. Not that it's a forecast for things to come, but it should make us feel good for one night.

    I'm real interested to see the start he can off too. If he can get Bassett and Ellis back that would be decent and if he can get at least one of Holloway and Ebanks that's icing on the cake.

    From and earlier post of someones it sounds like Holloway might have been leaning Marquette after Sampson was let go, I don't know if that means he know rethinks IU, but it's definitely a good sign.

  • BTOWN40

    happy on both counts. If it doesn' t work out in 5yrs at least the infractions will be behind us.

  • JamesHardy

    I'm not sure how to take this post? Are you implying that my report was not “respectful?” At no point am I bashing the players…I, of all people, understand that KIDS are going to make bad decisions. I work with 120 teenage kids everyday who do dumb things. I was just trying to shed some light on the rest of the crew here as to why DD came down on JE and AB the way he did. I applaud him.

    And to KGORK…if you or I wanted to get high and our “boss” requested that we take a pee test…and we denied it…what happens? In the words of the immortal Donald Trump, “You're FIRED!” Raymond is correct in his assessment, kids today that are student-ATHLETES get away with murder (figuratively of course). As a 20+ year Hoosier fan and alum, the last thing I want is for a team, to which I give my hard earned money, to “sweep under the rug” any kind of STUPIDITY. Look at the McAlarney kid from Notre Dame. He fessed up and had to sit out a year. Came back, was given a second chance and made the most of it. The key here is that the incident was not swept under the rug….like the CURRENT situation that was started by KS. So please…don't insult my intelligence and tell me….”no big deal.”

  • Raymond219

    Agreed. I don't think its a life or death thing and I didn't mean for my post to sound so negative. My point was more about how they go to the bars and the attitude most of them exude. These kids are treated like gods during the recruiting process and are told every girl will want to S@$% them, etc, etc and then its hard to transition from that to actually disciplining them. It is more an attitude in public that seems can sometimes transition into the gym that bothers me.

  • JamesHardy

    since you “exhaled” …does that mean that you “inhaled????” NO wonder you're a fan of AB and JE!!!

  • Mr_C

    Vaden was a player not a recruit boss.

  • Mr_C

    boo.

  • ALH_00

    He's got alot of work to do. Go Hoosiers!

  • BTOWN40

    High on life, and IU basketball nothing else bro. That would be a $75,000 mistake, unless I stood next to AB, and got some secondary smoke, I guess all BETTS would be off then

  • Ryan_Btown

    Yeah…I talked about a recruit in the first post. Typically, a recruit with an LOI cannot follow a coach when he leaves. I then screwed up by referencing andre owens, who was a player. Player's can follow their coaches i suppose, although i don't feel like it happens that often so you may have to get some type of approval…totally a guess tho

  • Ryan_Btown

    I'm sure that when we dismiss kids or suspend them and don't give reasons, other coaches pretty much know why. I mean, these kids have some problems, but I hope that they are allowed to rejoin the team under conditions. Maybe even a lengthened suspension. I wouldn't see anything wrong with that.

  • JamesHardy

    c'mon…have a little bit of a sense of humor!

  • Ryan_Btown

    Yep…This guy knows what he's getting into and he's coming anyway. Chances are we are paying him a shit load since he just got an extension last year and was already making a lot, but he knows what he's getting into and he's a good coach.

    He's at a school that is in one of the best conferences in the country getting beat up on every year and he made them better. I think he can do the same thing here. Not to mention, our conference isn't as deep as theirs.

  • http://www.insidethehall.com Alex

    You're back. How'd you finally get it to work?

  • JamesHardy

    I completely agree. I'm not calling for a public execution of the kids. They made a BAD CHOICE and there needs to be a consequence for that. Many people on here are making DD out to be the bad guy b/c he tried to hold these two accountable. HE played the adult in the situation…which is WHAT HE WAS SUPPOSED TO DO. I love Bassett. I think he was the 2nd best player this year behind DJ. I just hope he matures before he pulls a Ratliff and wastes his talents. I'd love to see him playing the “Dominic James” role in Crean's offense in Bloomington

  • ALH_00

    Cheers!

  • http://insidethehall.com Ben_M

    I think that support is the key here. I don't think Crean was #1 on many people's list…including IU's……but this man left a decent job where the people loved him…in the best conference…….to come to IU and try and fix our mess. All the way around we have to support him and there is no more lists. He is our man…and Support and Unity will revive this program

  • easy

    Big A is this press conference open to the public?

  • http://www.insidethehall.com Alex

    No, media only.

  • BTOWN40

    Not that Roth was going to not come to IU, but said he is excited about the hire. Hope the other recruits and current IU players feel the same way
    http://blogs.heraldtimesonline.com/iusp/?p=1870

  • ChiCityHoosier

    first and foremost, GO HOOSIERS! i think this will prove to be a good hire. crean knows he wasn't the front-runner for the job so he's (hopefully) going to do everything necessary to prove the part of the fan-base that isn't 100% behind him that he's going to be our man for a long time and that he deserved this job. and given his record, i think he's got the ability to do a damn good job of that. soon he'll have all the resources to compete with bo ryan, thad matta, etc. as well as the bill selfs, bruce pearls, roy williams, and coach k's of the game. this is definitely a new and fresh beginning.

    but of course, this isn't the final piece of the puzzle yet. we still have to wait until june to find out what kind of disaster the ncaa has in store for us/crean/hoosier-country. other than that, I CANNOT WAIT FOR NEXT SEASON!

    *ps: let's hope and pray EJ decides against the nba on monday …

  • easy

    Damn it. Is it going to be covered live then?

  • http://www.insidethehall.com Alex

    I'm sure most of the Indy news stations will have a live feed available online.

  • BTOWN40

    My buddy and I had a discussion about EJ. We both thought Gordon may have played his way out of a lottery pick and he will realize that Crean can COACH him back to that point. We call it the Dwayne Wade factor, it may sound silly, but it only takes 1 NBA ALL-STAR to make an impact on younger college kids

  • Kelin Blab

    Wow I think we have a coach….I saw a riot coming when the introduces Lon Kroger! Tom Crean I am happy I think he will do well here, haven't heard any violation stuff with him. It would be interesting in seeing how he handles armon and jamarcus……

    I think Armon and Dominque James are from the same area.

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