Updated: Woodson to "step down" at season's end

Of course, there was nothing voluntary about it, but this way he can (sort-of) leave on his own terms.

Not to get all political on you, but it feels almost Biden-esque, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama and other Democratic power brokers talking Joe Biden out of running for a second consecutive term. Down in Bloomington, the power brokens have spoken to Mike Woodson and convinced him, rather easily we’d presume, to retire rather than suffer the indignity of being fired at season’s end.

This is the fair way, the proper way to show respect to one of IU’s greatest playing legends and a long-time head and assistant coach in the NBA. Say what you will about Woodson but he was in his early 60’s when he came back to campus. He didn’t need to chase 17-year-olds. He had money from his two-plus decades in the NBA. He could have found a warm place to settle and lived a life of leisure, fine wine, cigars and golf.

Instead, he wanted to pursue a life-long dream and coach his beloved alma mater back to glory.

Didn’t happen.

And that fact, along with the fact he never came close to returning IU back to the top of the college basketball food chain, is the reason he won’t be back next season. I don’t know how anybody can look at this from the outside and claim it’s somehow unfair or too soon. They barely made the NCAA Tournament his first year, winning a play-in game, won a first-round Tournament game before getting rolled by Miami, (with a team that featured Jalen Hood-Schifino and Trayce Jackson-Davis), missed the tournament last year and are poised to miss it again.

I rooted for the guy. We were IU classmates. Like Curt Cignetti, he was taking the job at a somewhat advanced stage in life. He was successful in the NBA as a head and assistant coach, so he knew his way around a dry-erase board. And he was legacy. He was IU royalty, someone who came directly from the Bob Knight tree and helped bring The General back to Assembly Hall before he passed.

As much as you may have wanted to ignore them, the numbers spoke too loudly. He is now 16-38 in Quad 1 games during his four years, including 28 losses by double digits. This year, IU has not beaten a team that appears headed to the NCAA Tournament. They came into this season with the No. 2-ranked transfer class in the country, and it’s been a mild competitive disaster. Heading into the Michigan game Saturday night in Bloomington – and won’t that be interesting – the Hoosiers are 14-9, nine of those wins coming against Quad 3 and 4 teams. They are 5-7 in the Big Ten, losers of six of their last seven.

It just never happened for Woody in Bloomington but, then, some of us thought it was an uninspired selection from the start. To his credit, he helped develop some individuals for the NBA – Jackson-Davis, Hood-Schifino and Kel’el Ware -- but his teams always lacked a sense of direction. What was the IU culture? Was there an established culture the way there was when Woodson’s mentor roamed the sidelines?

You ask: Why now?

Here’s why. Now: Dusty May, Michigan’s coach and The People’s Choice to replace Woodson, will be on the other sideline Saturday afternoon when the Wolverines come to town. How ugly might that turn? Already, versus Illinois, we heard “Fire Woody” chants at the Hall. Under normal circumstances, I would expect May to get cheered and Woodson to get hammered with boos from disgruntled fans. But if Scott Dolson can pry a retirement (with full benefits) out of Woodson prior to the Michigan game, that should partially assuage fans and inspire a somewhat different or at least muted response.

Suffice to say, it would have been ugly, the past coming together with (knock on wood) the future.

Let’s be honest: IU fans are not know for their gentle nature.

So now what?

Three phone calls:

Brad Stevens is the first. He’s turned it down in the past, but you’ve got to kick the tires on the former Butler genius-in-residence and see if he’s ready to jump back into coaching and the college game. Would he come back? Probably not. But you’ve got to try.

Dusty May is next on my to-do list. Did a great job at Florida Atlantic, getting it done in his first year at Michigan and he’s a native-born Hoosier with Bob Knight ties. His buyout is relatively tame at $5 million. This is May’s dream job, but would he jump just one year into his Michigan tenure?

Chris Beard is my third phone call. Yes, there’s baggage there, a domestic abuse charge filed and later dropped, but that should not dissuade the Hoosiers for targeting the current Ole Miss coach. The guy has had massive success everywhere he’s gone, and he coached for both Bob and Pat Knight over the years. His buyout is just $4.5 million.

IU basketball is turning a corner – again. Dolson has got to get this one right, and he’s got to be given the freedom to choose the candidate he wants. After the Curt Cignetti hire, Dolson deserves the opportunity to operate independently. I do not want to hear Quinn Buckner’s name any time during this process.

Now watch as IU catches fire late in the season and Woodson not only leads them to an NCAA Tournament berth and the Hoosiers somehow win a couple of those post-season games….

Nahhhhhh.

(I’m posting this Friday morning; more is expected to happen on the Woodson front later today, at which point, I will happily update. )

And there it is. Vice President and Director of Athletics Scott Dolson released this statement at 4:11 p.m.:

During a meeting with Coach Woodson on Wednesday, he informed me he wanted to step down as our program’s head coach at the end of the current season. He said it had been weighing on his mind for a while, and that it was an emotional and difficult decision. We have had subsequent thoughtful conversations about his decision and his desire to ensure that the program is in the best position it can be moving forward. At an appropriate time, Coach Woodson will articulate his feelings about his decision and his experiences these last four years.

It’s clear to me from our discussions in the last several days that his No. 1 priority is for the attention to be off him, and instead focused on uniting Hoosier Nation in support of our student-athletes, coaches, and, most importantly, the program. We still have much to play for this season as we prepare for Saturday’s game against Michigan and the remainder of the 2024-25 season, and we want to encourage Hoosier fans to rally around the program and support it in the same positive way that Hoosier fans did during Mike’s All-America and Big Ten MVP playing career.

Coach Woodson is a class act. During the last four years, he has led the program during a transformational time in college athletics and helped us become a national leader in evolving areas including NIL and the Transfer Portal. No one loves IU Basketball more than he does. I want to thank him for coming back to Bloomington and accepting the challenge of rebuilding our program and re-connecting it with its past and its foundation. In pursuit of that goal, it was important to him that he bring back other legendary Hoosier players such as Calbert Cheaney, Randy Wittman, and Jordan Hulls, all of whom share his love and passion for this program. That’s a group of individuals that combined for 375 wins at IU, seven Big Ten championships, two Final Fours, and a national title.

With this decision made, Coach Woodson and I share the desire to see Hoosier Nation unite beginning on Saturday afternoon in support of these players, coaches, and program.

So there is is. Woodson will finish out the season, but nothing further. I hope the Assembly Hall fan base treats him kindly and respectfully. He’s as good a Hoosier as there’s ever been. That he tried and failed to resurrect a program that’s been down the better part of several decades does not diminish what he provided as a player, and tried to provide as a coach.