That said, Crean inherited a mess at Indiana that was just one step better than how Robert Swift left his McMansion in Seattle to the new owners before being evicted.
Here was Crean on a recent interview on "The Sports Reporters" with me and Gary Williams in ESPN980 in Washington, D.C. Basically, he walked into an academic shitstorm on top of the sanctions and the exodus of talent.
If you want the full context of his remarks, you can listen to the long version below.
Gary himself knows all about rebuilding a program from scratch. He took over at Maryland following the probation imposed by Bob Wade's reign of error. Three years probation, two years of post-season ban, and even one year OFF TELEVISION!
You'll never see that last part again, given how beholden schools, conferences, and the NCAA is to lucrative TV dollars.
So if you see the above clip and think Crean is some fanatical grudge-holding dickhead, well, just know that there is of course, more to the story for those who aren't hard core hoops fans and don't know how far Indiana had fallen.
That's Big 10 of 12 of 14.... errrrrrrr .....Whatever.
ReplyDeleteMost jerks can always give a reason to be a jerk. It's always the other guys fault. Always.
ReplyDeleteTom Crean is Jin Boeheim Jr. Take away Boeheim's one NCAA championship they are the same person. I will admit, that Crean has his moments, but for the most part, he is a terrible game coach. I think he can plan well, but when he has to make adjustments on the fly, he chokes. I hated him when he was at MU, and I hate him now. He got lucky one year with D Wade making it to the final four. His career at MU was:
ReplyDelete1999-00: 15-14
2000-01: 15-14
2001-02: 26-7 - First Round NCAA exit
2002-03: 27-6 - NCAA Final Four
2003-04: 19-12
2004-05: 19-12
2005-06: 20-11
2006-07: 24-10 - NCAA First Round Exit
2007-08: 25-10 - NCAA First Round Exit
Hardly stellar numbers. So in his 9 years at MU, he made the NCAA tourney 4 times, exiting three times in the first round. I don't understand why people think he is such a good coach. So he basically built his rep on one final four appearance. So yeah, let him go ahead and celebrate his win at Indiana. Yay! He "rebuilt" the program, by managing to land one of the top players in the country (Dwayne Wade anyone?). Let's see if he can get past the sweet sixteen this year. That'll give him three sweet sixteens in 15 years. With a record like that, I can see why other teams would be afraid to go up against him.
Correction, 2007-08 was a second round NCAA Exit
DeleteAnd I missed an NCAA first round exit in 2005-06. And in every first round loss MU was the higher seed. There were also two NIT appearances in 03-04 and 04-05. Exiting in the first round in 04-05.
ReplyDeleteI'm actually glad the guy is gone. But I am tired of hearing what a great coach he is. He's average at best.
Tom Crean is Dwight Schrute's twin brother.
ReplyDeletecrean is a fuckin' douche bag. just trying to figure out if he's a bigger douche bag than his brother in law jim harbaugh
ReplyDeleteIf it wasn't for the "train wreck" he walked into, then he would have never become the IU coach to begin with and Kelvin Sampson would still be there.
ReplyDeleteI read a great description of Tom Crean a few days ago. Basically he is the crazy chick from the bachelor....he is hated by his peers, never admits he is wrong, and inevitably makes an early exit from the show.
Also as someone mentioned he looks like a fake tan version of Dwite Schrute and Tom Arnold's love child.
Brad C. NAILED IT!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteUnfrozen Caveman Lawyer
ReplyDeleteCzabe, Jeff Meyer was cleared in the NCAA investigation...Crean was directing his anger at the wrong person.
ReplyDeleteAll the MU fans need to get off their jealous high horse. Its not like the MU job is Duke. When asked about top 5 jobs in college basketball, who doesn't have Indiana in there? Its Indiana basketball. Look at the talent that comes through that state, Zeller, Harris, Thomas to name a current few. Its a recruiting treasure chest.
ReplyDeleteAll of you saying bad game coach this, bad game coach that...you do realize Indiana was #1 for a lot of the year don't you. Generally means they won a basketball game on occasion. I'll take great recruiter, so so in game over watching Bo Ryans unwatchable game style any day.