The following is a statement from Roshown McLeod following his dismissal from the Assistant Coach position at Indiana University.

“I greatly appreciate the opportunity afforded me by Indiana University. It gave me the chance to work with some amazing student athletes over the last two seasons. I wish the best for IU as they move forward.”

There will be no further comment from Roshown McLeod on this subject.

If you were looking for a juicy, tell-all story about the dismissal, well, you’re not going to get it, kids.

The second-year coach was also asked about the dismissal of assistant coach Roshown McLeod, who has yet to speak publicly but plans to do so in the coming days via a press release.

Specifically, the question posed to Crean by Dustin Dopirak of The Herald-Times was this, “You said on your radio show the other night it was abundantly clear to you that you had to make the move you did in letting Roshown go. What did he do or not do to make that abundantly clear?”

And here was the response:

“It’s where it’s at. I really don’t want to go a lot further than that. I understand the positions that you guys are in with asking that question and wanting to know more. I understand that. But everything from me right now is to make sure that we are totally focused on what we’re trying to do here. That doesn’t mean that I’m not already in the process of thinking of what I’m going to do the next time. It would be foolish for me to say, ‘Oh, I’m going to put all that off and not think about it until the end of the year.’ Of course I think about it. My job, day in and day out is to make this program better than it was the day before in every aspect and to get everybody pulling in the same direction all the time. It’s a lot easier said than done, but that’s what the challenge is every day and that’s how you want to try to have it.”

A follow up question asked if there were any specific things he was looking for in a candidate for the position and the words direction, trust and loyalty all came up.

“I have a pretty good idea of what I want to get accomplished with that job,” he said. “I’m not looking to find a person and then build the role around them. I want to find a person that fits exactly what we need. I have a pretty good view of what that is, but I’m still trying to really definitely figure that out. That I have not put a lot of time into yet. I’m probably pretty clear but not totally clear on what I want from that position. There will be some basic tenets of it that are really, really important. You guys can probably figure that out just as easy as I could say it when it comes to going in the same direction, trust, loyalty and all of those kinds of things are extremely important.”

Crean also said that he does not have a timetable to fill the position, but that he doesn’t see it “being a long time.”

Maurice Creek and Matt Roth also met with reporters and you can listen to their comments over at The Hoosier Scoop.

DeAntae Prince of The Indiana Daily Student reports that McLeod will not speak on his dismissal, but instead will issue a blanket statement in the coming days to all media. 

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UPDATE: 10:57 a.m. by Zach Osterman

Tom Crean fielded questions this morning on the Big Ten coaches’ teleconference regarding the departure of Roshown McLeod, including the timing of the move. His response:

“There’s probably never a good time. You can’t focus on timing. You’ve gotta focus on what the right decision is. That’s the decision that I made.”

“It’s about putting the program forward and putting the program first. We’re going to do the things that we need to do.”

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This release just popped into my inbox from J.D. Campbell, Indiana assistant athletic director for media relations:

Indiana University men’s basketball coach Tom Crean informed assistant coach Roshown McLeod on Sunday that his contract would not be renewed for next year and he will no longer be with the team effective immediately.

“There is never a good time for something like this, but it is a decision that had to be made moving forward,” said Crean.

I can’t say I’m surprised by this news, considering McLeod was absent from Saturday’s win over Northwestern. McLeod’s recruiting prowess never really paid big dividends in Bloomington, which is most likely the reason he won’t be returning. The search for his replacement begins … now.

In an interview published Thursday morning by Adam Zagoria of Zagsblog.net, Cheek talked about his interest in Indiana and his relationship with Crean and McLeod:

“I’m definitely going to visit Indiana. I’m definitely going to try to really look into that school and see how everything is. Coach Crean, he was recruiting me when he was at Marquette and now he’s still recruiting me at Indiana. Roshown McLeod is like a brother figure to me. I knew him ever since I was little and me and his brother are like best friends, so that’s definitely going to play a big part. I know if I do decide to go out there, I’ll know that I’ll have a person to look out for me.”

Remember that three-year rebuilding plan that most of the fanbase was resigned to? Adding Cheek to the already stellar 2009 class could put the Hoosiers back on the map as early as 2009-2010. There’s still a ways to go before Cheek makes a decision, but the fact that he’s planning an official visit to Bloomington coupled with his relationship with McLeod is encouraging indeed.

(Photo credit: Rivals.com)

August 14, 2008

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana University men’s basketball coach Tom Crean has announced that former NBA player Roshown McLeod, who also played collegiately at Duke and St. John’s, has been named as an assistant coach for the Hoosier program. In addition to his regular duties as an assistant coach, he will work specifically with IU’s inside players.

“Not only was Roshown an outstanding player but he is a very good coach who has been a student of the game for a long time,” said Crean. “His ability to teach the game, adjust quickly on his feet to different circumstances, and to make players better were very apparent in the process of getting to know him. He will be a tremendous mentor to our team, but especially to our inside players.”

McLeod has been coaching on the collegiate, high school, and AAU level since an injury ended his NBA career in 2002. He was an assistant coach at Fairfield University in 2002-03 and currently was the director of all basketball operations and head varsity coach at Woodward Academy in Atlanta, a private K-12 school in Atlanta. He also served as the head coach at Therrell High School and started the Next Level Players Development program where he became involved as a coach on the AAU level for the Atlanta Celtics and Georgia Stars.

“This is a great opportunity for myself and my family,” said McLeod. “Indiana is the cream of the crop when you talk about great college basketball tradition. I was fortunate to play at a very high level in college and in the NBA and to get a chance to coach at that same level for a program like Indiana is a dream come true.”

A native of Jersey City, New Jersey, McLeod’s career path was influenced by his legendary high school coach, Bobby Hurley, Sr., of St. Anthony’s High School and three other Hall of Fame coaches that he played for, Mike Krzyzewski (Duke), Lenny Wilkens (Atlanta) and Larry Brown (Philadelphia).

“I watched him throughout his career as a high school, college and NBA player, and I’ve always been impressed with him,” said Crean. “As I’ve gotten to know him, I’ve realized that we have mutual acquaintances and friends, and the people that he has played for, I hold in high regard and have great respect for.”

McLeod played four seasons in the NBA with Atlanta (1998-01), Philadelphia (01) and Boston (01-02) after being drafted 20th overall in 1998. He averaged 7.2 points and 2.7 rebounds in 113 career games.

“In all likelihood, if Roshown would’ve been able to stay healthy, he would still be a player in the NBA,” added Crean. “When that wasn’t an option anymore, he followed his heart and got involved in many different aspects of coaching basketball, whether at the collegiate level, the high school level or inside of the summers. His personality is very engaging and outgoing and he has built up many outstanding relationships already in the basketball world, with many more to come.”

He played his first two seasons of college ball at St. John’s before transferring to Duke, where he was the first transfer player signed by Krzyzewski. After posting 7.2 points and 5.8 rebounds in 57 games at St. John’s, he averaged 13.7 points and 5.5 rebounds in two years at Duke, leading the Blue Devils in scoring in 1997-98. He was named first team All-ACC and honorable mention All-America as a senior, when he averaged 15.3 points and 5.6 rebounds per game and shot a career-high .494 from the field.

“Most importantly, I think our fans will respect how hard he works and the energy that he has,” noted Crean. “We are really excited that Roshown and Tiffani are with us.”

He earned a degree in sociology from Duke. He and his wife, Tiffani, have a son, Anthony (13), and a daughter, Anisa (8).

(Photo credit: Indiana University)

“The thing I really like about him is that if he were healthy, he’d still be a professional basketball player,” Indiana coach Tom Crean said. “But he’s done a lot of things to put himself in a position to be a coach since his career ended, and as the interview process went on he really showed how knowledgeable he is.”

Crean is expecting McLeod to become a star on the recruiting scene and of immediate interest to Indiana fans is his rumored connection with Derrick Favors and Dominic Cheek, both five-star recruits in the 2009 class. McLeod has worked with Favors on his game in the past and Cheek is from St. Anthony’s in New Jersey, where McLeod attended high school. With McLeod on board alongside Tim Buckley and Bennie Seltzer, Crean has assembled a coaching staff that should be able to consistently bring top talent to Bloomington.

McLeod was the director of basketball operations at Woodward Academy in Atlanta and was an assistant coach for one season at Fairfield during the 2002-2003 season. Indiana is expected to make the hiring official later today.