With the Final Four just an hour away, I don’t know that I have enough time to finish my conference analysis. But in a strange way, it seems more appropriate to write this article about the coaching carousel because it ironically started because of one of the coaches in the Final Four.

From 2006-2008, Kelvin Sampson was the coach of the Indiana Hoosiers. But in February 2028, Sampson was investigated by the NCAA for violating telephone recruiting restrictions. This was the second time recruiting violations followed Sampson – as he left Oklahoma after NCAA sanctions. It is super ironic because the violations that kicked Sampson out of two schools would probably be considered nothing in the NIL era.

Regardless, Indiana was dealt a harsh blow of 3 years of sanctions, and they hired Tom Crean who they hoped would be able to survive the 3 years of futility and then bring back the Hoosiers to their perceived place in the college basketball hierarchy.

And as far as I was concerned, he did. After those 3 years of penalties, the Hoosiers came back to relevance. Crean led the Hoosiers to 3 seasons of 27+ victories over 5 years, including two Big 10 championships and 3 Sweet 16 appearances. But in 2017, the Hoosiers struggled to 18-16, and lost in the first round of the NIT. Despite the loyalty that Tom Crean had given the school when they were being punished and the fact that he had won 2 Big 10 championships in the next 6 years, that was not enough to save his job. Indiana expected to win National Championships, not just Big 10 championships with Sweet 16 appearances.

So the Hoosiers hired up-and-coming coach Archie Miller from Dayton – as Miller had led the Flyers to 4 straight NCAA tournaments. Yet, coaching in the Big 10 proved to be a little bit more difficult than the Atlantic 10. Miller had winning seasons in his first three years, but those seasons were never good enough to make the tournament. When the Hoosiers went 12-15 in 2021, it was time for Indiana to try again.

This time, they got former NBA coach Mike Woodson. In Woodson’s first two seasons, Indiana was able to return to the NCAA Tournament, but they had a first and second round exit. Last year they went 19-14 and were considered one of the best teams left out of the tournament. This year, before the season was over, Hoosiers fans called for Woodson’s job and so he agreed to resign. Indiana still finished 19-13 and missed the tournament for a second time – probably making them feel vindicated for getting rid of their coach.

Of course, they might have had a second opinion as every single Indiana player with eligibility left entered the transfer portal. Maybe that is a benefit since the new coach can now rebuild their team any way they want. But the Hoosiers did go 19-13 and 10-10 in the Big 10 – there was talent on that roster that all chose to leave.

None of that matters – Indiana is supposed to be a basketball powerhouse. It is supposed to be one of the premier places that almost any coach would want to get the chance. So, obviously Indiana is going to make a huge splash and hire one of the best coaches out there.

When the Hoosiers announced their guy, it was West Virginia’s Darian DeVries. In DeVries first 6 years of being a college head coach at Drake, he never won less than 20 games and they made 3 NCAA tournaments. But they also only won the Missouri Valley one year, and only won a First Four game in 2021 against Wichita State. In his one season at West Virginia, they went 19-13 (which while not making the tournament, this was a 10 game improvement).

Interesting side note before I continue ranting – with Ben McCollum taking the Iowa head coaching job and Niko Medved taking the Minnesota head coaching job, the last three head coaches at Drake are now coaching in the Big 10.

But lets get back to DeVries and the Hoosiers. I actually think that DeVries is a really good coach. But considering what Archie Miller did at Dayton before joining the Hoosiers, it might not be as exciting.

Remember, DeVries won 1 MVC title, went to 3 NCAA tournaments, and won 1 First Four game (and while did well at West Virginia, not well enough to get to the tournament). Miller won 2 Atlantic 10 championships, made 4 NCAA tournaments, and led Dayton to the Elite 8. Woodson had coached in 3 NBA Eastern Conference semi-finals – which feels to me to be stronger than DeVries one NCAA tournament win.

So, while DeVries is a good coach, is he any better than what Indiana has had. But it gets worse – this is supposed to be a job that no coach would pass up. I can give the Hoosiers a pass on not going after Will Wade – who has his own recruiting violations from LSU before going 50-9 at McNeese. But Maryland’s Kevin Willard then took the Villanova job (his 7 NCAA appearances between Seton Hall and Maryland is as many seasons as DeVries has coached). And then, Texas A&M’s Buzz Williams took the Maryland job.

Williams has been to 11 NCAA tournaments at Marquette, Virginia Tech, and Texas A&M, including an Elite 8 appearance and 3 Sweet 16 appearances. So, I am confused. Indiana is supposed to be a dream job – why is it that they ended up with a coach with a weaker resume than their last two coaches, and certainly a weaker resume that Buzz Williams. If Maryland was able to get Williams to leave a good situation at Texas A&M, surely a school like Indiana could get someone of the same quality.

I don’t like women’s coach Kim Mulkey with what I feel are controversial stances, and while I didn’t like the way she said it, her comment was filled with truth. A reporter was asking her about being eliminated from the Elite 8 for the second year, and she interrupted and said, “That’s just terrible”. And after getting the reporter to uncomfortably agree with her, she asked, “How many Final Fours have you been to?” And when he said 0, she said that she guesses the Elite 8 is pretty good then.

Mulkey probably could have proven her point without trying to make a student journalist look stupid. But she is absolutely right. Only one team is happy each year. Many coaches don’t even get to a Final Four. Yet, schools continue to have the standard for their coaches that they win and win quickly.

Tom Izzo went 16-16 and 17-12 in his first two seasons at Michigan State (both seasons worse than Woodson this year). The way Indiana goes through coaches, he might have been fired. But since the Spartans kept giving Izzo a chance, they have now been to 27 straight tournaments, 7 Final Fours, 11 Big 10 championships and 1 national championship.

Matt Painter had a good start at Purdue but had a rough patch in 2013 and 2014 – going 16-18 and 15-17. Before that, he had been to two Sweet 16s with 1 Big 10 title. Crean was having similar results, and the first year they didn’t make the tournament, he was gone. Purdue stayed loyal to Painter after two bad seasons, and Painter has since led the Boilermakers to 4 Big 10 championships, 10 straight NCAA tournaments, 4 Sweet 16s, an Elite 8, and a NCAA championship game.

I hope that DeVries has success. Indiana has such a great basketball tradition. But if the Hoosiers continue to judge success as the number of national championships, I will probably be writing this article again in 3-4 years when they chase DeVries away and search for their next savior. And sadly not realizing that anyone who could potentially be their savior doesn’t want to coach at their school because there is no way that they can live up to the expectations of banners being raised to the rafters of Assembly Hall.

I get it – it is a billion dollar industry, and so the expectation is success. But only 1% of the division 1 coaches are going to make a Final Four next year. Maybe we need to listen a little to Kim Mulkey and realize that getting to a Sweet 16 or an Elite 8 is still pretty darn good.

And the schools that forget that will be doomed to repeat their coaching searches every 3-4 years. Seems like they would be better off taking those millions of dollars into their NIL collectives instead of having to buy-out coaching contracts – especially ones who are winning 19-20 games a season.