Tom Crean is stuck in Bloomington forever

  • 04/04/2008 5:08 pm in

Not exactly. But Crean’s deal does include a provision that will theoretically keep him from jumping ship any time soon:

Under a preliminary deal between Crean and the university, Crean would owe $3 million if he resigns in the first three years of an eight-year contract. The amount lowers to $2 million in years four and five. It would be $1 million the last three years of the deal.

The obvious upshot here is that Crean is not only emotionally tied to Bloomington for the next eight years, he’s financially tied too. That’s good news for anyone worried that he might leave if the NCAA slaps serious sanctions on the program, but that seemed unlikely anyway. When one takes a job like IU under the current circumstances, that’s a pretty obvious agreement to a long-term rebuild. Plus, Crean isn’t a program-jumper anyway. But I guess a little extra financial incentive doesn’t hurt.

For more on the specifics of Crean’s deal, check out the Basketblog, which managed to get a copy of the deal’s Memo of Understanding. (For what it’s worth, Memorandum of Understanding always makes me laugh — it sounds like some sort of new-age, progressive educational classroom theory.)

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