Crean as a program savior

[mug644]

While I'm not keen on continuing to dwell on Crean, this article (http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/columns/story?columnist=oneil_dana&id=3354380) is interesting and worth some comments. My big thing has to do with the theme throughout the article about him being a savior, including the following quotes:

"If ever there was a job calling for unbridled optimism and blinders, it is Indiana. The program needs a savior more than it needs a coach right now, a person who believes there is salvation in the comfort of the candy-striped pants."

"Crean is the perfect antidote to the dysfunction. You listen to him, feel his passion and hear his earnestness, and you get swept right along with him, envisioning Indiana as a formidable beacon that is far stronger than this tsunami."

The article doesn't touch at all on Crean's coaching ability, but implies that his enthusiasm will be enough for the first couple of years. Sounds, actually, like a great gig for him. Despite a 2nd round appearance in the NCAA tournament this year, he was certainly feeling the pressure at MU. Now, at IU it is more important to restore a program (sure, not one that has fallen quite as far off the radar as MU when Crean was hired), and his salesman approach to his job could well do wonders. For a few years. Then he might have his good name, and go to another school that could use some rebuilding. Not of the quality or the performance of the team, but of the image of the program.

He did do us wonders in that way. And I do thank him. I care more about MU basketball than I did before Crean arrived.

[thatman32]

Crean should change his name to Big Baby Jesus

[NotAnAlum]

I personally feel that Crean will do very well at IU.  The article is right, considering that this program has had its last 3 coaches fired under very public bad terms the program needs first a coach that will generate positive publicity.  Publicity is Crean's strong suit (probably more so than coaching).  Second they've got to run a sweaky clean program and Crean will do that.  From Crean's standpoint he's leaving a state that is totally in love with football (does anything besides the Packers matter in Wisconsin) for a state that is completely in love with basketball.  I think one of the reasons Crean could never get any of the big white in-state kids to come to MU is they were as interested in being associated with the Badger football team as they were the Badger basketball team.  In Indiana he can start out as option 1 instead of always trying to convience a kid not to go to THE STATE U.  If Crean does only as well at IU as he did at MU (and he should actually recruit better) he will be in the top 3-4 to win the league just about every year.  You can't say that about the Big East.  I know its fun to hate him and I'm diaappointed he left because I believe it has set the program back but honestly I can't say that what he didn't doesn't make logical sense for him.

[mug644]

The article is right, considering that this program has had its last 3 coaches fired under very public bad terms the program needs first a coach that will generate positive publicity.  Publicity is Crean's strong suit (probably more so than coaching).  Second they've got to run a sweaky clean program and Crean will do that.

...

I know its fun to hate him and I'm diaappointed he left because I believe it has set the program back but honestly I can't say that what he didn't doesn't make logical sense for him.

That's a good restating of my thinking. The things that Crean was most successful at, crumpled into the word 'marketing', are just what IU needs right now. Yes, we deserved a better departure and, yes, IU is a program that deserves a better coach, but we can't begrudge how well it fits at this moment.

I grew up in Indy (actually the same high school that Eric Gordon went to) and have a sense of the expectations for IU b-ball. I could easily be wrong, but I imagine that Crean will have a bit of time and slack, given the shortcomings of the last two coaches and especially given his 'smoothness'. Still, I'm sure that sooner or later expectations will reach regular (for Indiana--read: ultra-high) levels, and I'm not confident that Coach Crean can live up to them.

Regardless, I'm more interested in Coach Buzz living up to hopes that we and he have for the MU program.

[ChicosBailBonds]

IU needed to hire this kind of guy to pull them together, from that standpoint it makes perfect sense.

Davis was always whining about the challenge, Sampson was slimy and cheating.  Knight was a lightning rod.

For the first time in more than a decade, IU nation is behind one coach which is the reason they went after Bennett and Crean.  Makes perfect sense.

That needed to be healed first.  Is he a savior?  Probably not, but he'll do well there.  Well enough for IU fans?  I'd say no, but well enough certainly to put Sampson and Davis in a distant memory soon enough.

[NCMUFan]

Maybe the article is good closure for Crean at Marquette.  Maybe Marquette has progressed farther than being a project.  Crean I guess is a project coach.  Indiana is now his project.  Maybe Crean will restore some of the luster it once had like he did at Marquette and will then move on to the next BB program that needs an overhaul when Indiana sees Crean cannot take them further.

[77ncaachamps]

Crean will do well because he has the backing of a State U and a rabid fan base. Not to mention, "It's Indiana. It's Indiana."

He simply overachieved at Marquette, but still...couldn't bring the glory home consistently.

[NCMUFan]

Time will tell.  Crean has alot of positive energy, but is he an elite coach?  Did he really overachieve or just do his job?  You don't seem to give much credit to the Marquette program if you feel he overachieved.  He achieved more than the rest, but is that overachieve or did we have underachieving coaches before?

[Daniel]

He'll do at least equally fine at IU as he did at Marquette - he'll probably have a bigger staff, easier recruiting etc.  So he will do what IU wants him to do - get them back on the map.

Frankly, I am over it - we know what he is, we had him for 9 years. 

I jsut want to hear some big news (positive!) from Buzz and Marquette - waiting everyday for a big announcement - and I hope we are recruiting our tails off and not waiting for Taylor.  Would love to have him, but we can't wait it out if we can find an outstanding player.

[BrewCity83]

"There were more reasons to say no to Indiana than to say yes, but aside from his mentor, Tom Izzo, who he said was "really helpful, middle-of-the-night helpful," Crean relied on his own counsel. "

Izzo must've helped TC pack and sneak out of town...

[ChicosBailBonds]

Time will tell.  Crean has alot of positive energy, but is he an elite coach?  Did he really overachieve or just do his job?  You don't seem to give much credit to the Marquette program if you feel he overachieved.  He achieved more than the rest, but is that overachieve or did we have underachieving coaches before?

If all he did was "just do his job", then we've had some serious piss poor coaches the last 30 years.  And that's my worry.  He got the best results by far of any coach since McGuire and everyone in between didn't come close...so if he wasn't an elite coach (I agree with you) and simply doing his job, it means the guys in between McGuire and Crean really really really missed the mark.

[warthogdriver]

The Bronzed One put us back on the radar but didn't establish us as an elite program, as we were during the McGuire era. After all, what did we ever win during The Bronzed One's reign? Much of our spotlight was because of The Bronzed One's marketing and self-promotion - not actual sustained superior performance. 

[Daniel]

"There were more reasons to say no to Indiana than to say yes, but aside from his mentor, Tom Izzo, who he said was "really helpful, middle-of-the-night helpful," Crean relied on his own counsel. "

Izzo must've helped TC pack and sneak out of town...

Izzo probably told him if you want to be in the Big Ten then take the Indy job 'cause you are not going to get it here at MSU.  And that was "middle-of-the-night" helpful to TC. 

[MarqGold17]

Today in the Marquette University Archives we got ALOT of Tom Crean's old stuff. I'm talking over 15 boxes of videotapes, autographed jersey's, pictures, just tons of memoribilia in general. I decided to go through some of it which was pretty interesting not going to lie. Anyway, I found an autographed original Doc Rivers jersey that said this....

"Tom You Brought "IT" Back, You Make Me Proud To Be A Warrior"
-Glenn "Doc" Rivers

Apparently Judas can be a traitor and a program savior.

[warthogdriver]

Judas then brought IT to IU

[nyg]

I smell a novelty bonfire.