As seen at other schools when coaches resign or are fired, until an 'interim' tag is removed or until a school hires a new coach, recruiting is really hampered. Players won't chose a school if they don't know who the coach will be, but even when someone is hired, it's a whole new ball game for recruits. Take rising junior big man Kyle Rowley for example.
On February 9, I spoke with Rowley, a 7-foot center originally from Trinidad who is playing high school ball at Lake Forest Academy in Illinois. Rowley mentioned a long list of schools interested in him including IU, as well as Big Ten rivals Illinois, Wisconsin, Purdue and Northwestern. At the time, he said he was "impressed" with how easy it was to talk with Coach Sampson, who told him that Indiana was "definitely" interested in him.
Friday night I spoke with Rowley again, who this time said Florida is his front-runner. He said he has been "pretty interested" in IU, especially because he has been following D.J. White's progression. (In both of our conversations, Rowley mentioned that player development is really important to him as he weighs his college options) Now, however, it sounds like he is on hold with IU.
"I will still be interested in Indiana, but what's keeping me is how they make their decision," Rowley said.
With a new coach, Rowley said the recruiting game could completely change. The 7-footer mentioned the possibility that IU's next coach might show little or no interest in him, but until IU chooses its future coach he won't know. Rowley is "probably going to make a commitment in August," but it is clear that IU won't have a chance until they name their future ringleader.
While Hoosier fans should be concerned with future recruiting classes, with Devin Ebanks and Terrell Holloway appearing to have re-opened their recruitment, next year is still an issue. Should Ebanks and Holloway sign elsewhere, it will be important to go after the top remaining unsigned players. Once again, this is difficult for both recruits and IU with the coaching uncertainty for next year.
If both Ebanks and Holloway are gone, best-case scenario will be that IU's future coach is already looking at some of the top unsigned recruits for his current school, and that he can bring them to Bloomington when he arrives here (this is assuming Dakich isn't named the permanent head coach). Scotty Hopson, for example, the No. 9 prospect in the class of 2008 according to Rivals.com, lists Tennessee among his top four schools. Although unlikely, should IU be able to lure in Bruce Pearl away from Tennessee, Hopson might add IU to his list. This is similar to when Patrick Patterson went with Bill Gillespie to Kentucky, although he already had interest in UK when Tubby Smith was still there.
John Riek and Tyreke Evans, Rivals' No. 5 and No. 6 prospects are also unsigned. No. 28 Terrelle Pryor is out of the equation, down to OSU, Michigan and Penn State, where the top-rated football recruit plans to play both sports. No. 35 Bud Mackey already blew his chances with IU. No. 56 Wesley Whitherspoon and No. 93 Brad Tinsley are the only other unsigned four-star prospects.
Maybe other recruits have clauses in their letters of intents like Holloway and Ebanks, and could get out of their commitments and follow a coach to IU. But maybe this was just an exception because Sampson was already on thin ice in Bloomington.
Bottom line: IU needs to be looking for a coach now. Once the NCAA Tournament is over, they need to be ready to name their guy.
