‘RIP to Bob Knight one of the greatest coaches to ever do it but.. he’s not walking through that door anymore.’ A former Indiana basketball player weighs in on the coaching situation

Is Mike Woodson actually on the hot seat? No. Is there a certain part of the fanbase who want to see Indiana basketball go after their third head coach head coach in less than ten years? Yes.

As the 2023-24 college basketball season has gone on, there has been growing frustrations with this team, especially when it comes to coaching staff of the Hoosiers. A team that has an incredible amount of talent on it’s roster, has failed on the expectations that many thought they would exceeding by this point in the year.

A lot of finger pointing has been directed towards third-year Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson this season. Many are upset with his style of coaching and the roster that was constructed. Yes, a lot of the issues that Indiana basketball has had this season can be rightfully blamed on Woodson, this is his team after all however, when you look at what life was like with Archie Miller at the helm, the program is in a MUCH better place than what many believe it is at currently.

With the topic of Mike Woodson and the current state of the program, many former player from all eras have had their opinions on matter all the way from Bob Knight players like Dan Dakich to Trayce Jackson-Davis, who recently gave his support to his former coach the other day.

Another former Indiana basketball player, this time coming from the Tom Crean era, gave his thoughts on the matter. Derek Elston, who has his Ball From Assembly Hall podcast with Christian Watford as part of the Beyond The Big 10 network, gave his feelings on the current state of the program and how the program should react moving forward.

“I don’t think Indiana can afford to be the school that has a revolving door of head coaches,” said Derek Elston on Ball From Assembly Hall. “I’m not sure what the culture is right now, but at this point, especially after that Penn State loss, like I said I don’t think that the Ohio State win does anything for us. So right now our only chance of making the (NCAA) tournament is if we win the Big Ten Tournament.”

Even with getting their first quad one win of the season at Ohio State, Indiana is still not on the right side of the bubble. There has just been too many chances the Hoosiers have not taken advantage of plus have a few bad losses to add to the poor resume.

So is this season considered a wash? In many fan’s eyes, yes, as they want Indiana to build to the offseason and focus on that end. However, there is still a lot of basketball left to play before we get to there.

“So you almost think to yourself, okay, well, if we’re going to really just kind of throw the season out, you almost want Woody to do it his way, right? You want Woody to take the reigns and just say, hey, I’m going to get these who I know are going to be here for the next year and I want to develop them and get this started right now.”

The former Indiana basketball players that have walked through that program have a lot of love for it, that is why when things go south, their passion and voice comes out of the changes that need to be made, same with the Indiana fanbase.

The harsh reality is this, Bob Knight has not been the coach of Indiana for nearly 25 years. The former players and fans that want Bob Knight days to come back, it just simply is not going to happen.

The constant asking of a coach to be fired every three-four years is not a sustainable way to build a program. Mike Woodson’s seat is not hot right now but if it is the same results next season, then yeah, it’s a hot seat.

At this point if you are the Indiana fanbase, you just have to get behind the program and see where things lead to. This wasn’t the best season for Indiana and everyone can agree to that but, you hope if you are a fan or former player that Woodson has learned from the mistakes of this year and correct them for the rest of his tenure.

“The reason why I say that is because that is what coach (Tom) Crean did. And again, Like (Dan) Dakich, Brian (Evans), Todd Leary got on his show last week…I know they love the program. I know it means the world to them you know, Bob Knight is not walking through that building anymore, figuratively and literally. RIP to Bob Knight one of the greatest coaches to ever do it but.. he’s not walking through that door anymore. You know, you have what you have so you gotta get behind this program and thats ultimately what I what.”

You can watch the full episode of Ball From Assembly Hall here.

SEE ALSO: Indiana basketball head coach Mike Woodson previews Purdue matchup

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