Students consider new Hoosier coach ‘a very good hire’

Twenty-four hours ago, it couldn’t get any worse for IU basketball fans. Rumors of players leaving or getting kicked off the team circulated around message boards, and it looked like coaches were turning down the IU job left and right.\nBut as news filtered from fan to fan Tuesday that IU had made a hire – former Marquette coach Tom Crean – there was palpable relief.\n“I think it’s a very good hire for the University and the team,” Student Athletic Board President Michael Melwid said. “It’s nice now to have a coach to head up the program and start looking towards a good next season.”\nStudents at the School of Health, Physical Education, and Recreation building, playing just a few courts away from members of the team Tuesday evening, said they were happy with the hire.\n“Obviously, our first choice was (Washington State coach Tony) Bennett, but he didn’t want it, so I think Crean is a great coach to have,” junior Patrick O’Marro said. “Indiana is historically known as a great program, and to a coach that’s appealing. They get a program that has a lot of history, a lot of credibility, and they get to bring it back up from where it is right now – it gives the coach an opportunity to put his own mark on the program.”\nThe announcement came just a few weeks after IU crashed out of the NCAA Tournament in the first round, and created a search committee to find a replacement for Kelvin Sampson.\nBig-name coaches were on the lips of many IU fans, but Crean’s hiring came somewhat out of the blue, especially after media reports as late as Tuesday afternoon speculated University of Nevada, Las Vegas coach Lon Kruger would be offered the job.\n“A lot of names were being thrown around, names like (Louisville coach Rick) Pitino and (Tennessee coach Bruce) Pearl,” sophomore Mike Blackwell said. “I think they were a little bit out of the question, because of the sanctions we could be getting next year.”\nIU Student Association President W.T. Wright said he and other student leaders had some input on the hiring decision, and were happy with the decision to hire Crean.\n“Myself and two other students on the Student Athletics Board sat down with search committee members,” Wright said. “We’ve also had discussions with the team and brought that to the committee.”\nWright said basketball team members told him they wanted a coach who would “respect them as men, not just as players,” and would be a father figure. He added that he and the Student Athletics Board members sat down with Bruce Jaffee, business professor and faculty representative on the Athletics Committee, and Wright said he also spoke with search committee head Harry Gonso on the phone.\nCrean is coming to a program surrounded by questions about its players. IU officials said Tuesday that sophomore guard Armon Bassett and junior guard/forward Jamarcus Ellis had been kicked off the team, though Ellis disputed the claim Tuesday.\nStudents interviewed said they hoped Crean will keep IU’s current players as well as bring in top-level recruits.\n“Recruiting is the most important thing at this point,” Blackwell said. “They have to get the kind of guys that are already here to stay. I think they have to try to get Bassett to stay, he’s key.”\nWright agreed, saying that Crean already has experience recruiting in Indiana.\n“It’s important to focus on someone that appreciates Midwestern basketball and that can keep that IU image,” he said. “It’s important that our team is a bunch of Indiana guys, and Tom Crean knows Indiana.”