Indiana basketball needs a long-term plan. Is Mike Woodson one of them?

by Junna Base November 7, 2024

BLOOMINGTON – Last February, amid numerous speculation to the contrary from unsubstantiated sources, it was publicly confirmed that IU intended to retain Mike Woodson as head men’s basketball coach for a fourth season.

This is a statement of fact. One thing that happened. Irrefutable. Sure enough, when the sun rose the next morning.

What has happened since is well documented in the pages of this newspaper and elsewhere. To refute claims to the contrary, Woodson retained most of his production from a year ago, neither graduating nor declaring for the draft. He put the increased NIL resources to good use in the portal and made Indiana a Big Ten contender by fall.

Now, some see the Hoosiers as potential conference favorites and the type of team that could compete — given a fair wind — in March.

Somehow none of this is happening at the moment. It’s almost hard to tell that it’s basketball season in Bloomington. And the program that likes to see itself as the flagship of the Big Ten enters this season without a clear long-term vision. That has to change.

This will not advocate for any meaningful change for this change. Just argue that the graduating program in IU’s athletic department needs certainty for the future that doesn’t currently exist.

Part of this is due to the amount of oxygen football uses. One of America’s greatest living alumni bases has been handed its best team in generations, if not ever, and it is rightly focusing all of its attention and energy in that direction.

Still, there’s an argument that this is the best Indiana basketball team in at least eight years that has real Big Ten title aspirations. Woodson and his staff have done an admirable job of replenishing and retooling their roster, and they have a team that is worthy of at least a preseason top-20 finish, if not more.

They also have a coach who only has two years left on his contract after this season and who has already been renegotiated for a raise once without having his contract extended for additional years. Woodson will turn 67 next March, in a sport where the average age of a head coach was 50 at the start of last season. He’s showing signs of feeling the desire to move on and if he has a good winter he’ll probably have earned the right to do so in his current role.

If he doesn’t, as the national media’s hot-seat columns and estimates suggest, Woodson’s position could become far more difficult to maintain. But none of this addresses the broader question.

What is the three-year plan for IU basketball? What is the Five Year Plan? And where does the incumbent head coach, whose current contract has no term, fit into this conversation?

This article will not advocate for one direction either. That’s not the job of a beat writer. This is simply to point out that the prestige, financial strength and expectations of Indiana basketball – even in the fleeting era of portal and NIL and an ever-changing landscape – should not last twelve months at a time. Reexamining the big, difficult strategy every March is no strategy at all.

Yes, this landscape complicates things. It’s never been easier to shorten the path between a new beginning and success. Curt Cignetti proves this emphatically on the other side of the assembly hall parking lot.

And yes, revenue sharing and all the possible shockwaves that come with it make the financials less clear. Not only for athletic director Scott Dolson, but also for his president and his board of trustees, the question of money will very soon be expressed in different directions.

However, that does not excuse the duty of care for a program that is culturally more important to this school than any other.

Whatever you think of his professional achievements to date, Mike Woodson has put his alma mater back on firmer footing than when he found it and deftly guided it into the Portal/NIL era. IU basketball is in healthier shape than it was in March 2021 and could get even healthier depending on the results of the upcoming season.

What is needed now is a clear direction that lasts beyond the season and that does justice to everyone involved, but focuses on the best interests of the program. Anything else is a breach of responsibility.

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