As soon as the buzzer sounded and ended IU’s regular season with its eighth loss in 12 games, questions about the Hoosiers’ postseason fate grew louder, and the calls for IU Coach Tom ?Crean’s job intensified.
Boos have scattered through Assembly Hall for weeks. Fans have grown unhappy with the program’s seemingly listless state and the late-season collapse that may leave the Hoosiers out of the NCAA Tournament field come next Sunday.
The Internet is full of cries for Crean’s replacement. At least seven separate accounts exist solely to call for his firing, and a new website, tomcreanbuyout.com, counts down the seconds until Crean’s $12 million buyout drops to $7.5 million on July 1.
After another disappointing regular season, with IU’s final record at 19-9, support for Crean is waning. But after IU’s 74-72 loss to Michigan State on Saturday, Crean found himself at least one supporter: Michigan State Coach Tom Izzo.
In Izzo’s postgame press conference, he was asked how he had seen Crean evolve since he left Michigan State, where he was an assistant coach for five years.
Izzo didn’t answer. Instead, he went into a three-minute support for Crean.
“I think he’s a great recruiter, I think he’s a great X’s and O’s coach,” Izzo said, rubbing a finger into the corner of each eye. “He’s misread sometimes, for a variety of reasons. Some he’s got to own up to and some he doesn’t, but you can’t have distractions and be successful at this level.”
He grew more and more agitated as he spoke. The off-court issues that plagued the program before the season shouldn’t be factored into Crean’s overall evaluation — sooner or later, the burden has to be put on the players.
“Is the program out of control?” Izzo said. “Let me tell you something, my program had problems a few years ago too. And as you look on the ticker, there’s a lot of really good programs that have them. Some keep them down a little more than others. Sooner or later they ?come out.”
As of now, there’s no indication Crean won’t be IU’s coach next season. This season isn’t even over yet — next week is the Big Ten Tournament and the IU’s last chance to play themselves into an NCAA Tournament berth.
Crean himself said he isn’t worried about anything but preparing his team for its next game. He said he hasn’t thought about whether IU will earn a Tournament berth and that his only concern is getting better on the court.
“I don’t read anything with my name in it, I really don’t,” Crean said. “I haven’t for some time ... It’s locked in. I read, but I don’t read about that stuff. We just want to get better.”
