Indiana Is Trying to Pull ‘An A-Rod’ for a Coach

By Will Brinson
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Remember when Alex Rodriguez kept dropping transactional bombs in the media about his future during baseball’s postseason last year? Well, Indiana is doing the same thing, reportedly having offered Tony Bennett of the now eliminated Washington State Cougars the Hoosier head coaching position.
Purportedly, Indiana offered him the job sometime last night, but Bennett got on the horn with ESPN to deny the report more recently today. More interestingly though, is that Indiana expects/wants to have a coach in place by Thursday evening, which may be just a bit premature.
Indiana, obviously, is interested in Sean Miller of Xavier as well and, apparently, Bennett. Both guys seem willing to leave (Miller’s too good to stay in the A-10 and SFGate seems to think Bennett is scrambling to get out of WSU, regardless of where he heads).
But two questions: One, is Indiana really that sure that Xavier is losing against UCLA? Two, are they really that sure that anyone wants to coach there anymore (helloooooo, recruiting violations and forthcoming NCAA punishment)?
Yeah, the Hoosiers head coaching position is still in principle an elite job opportunity, but how long are we going to hold onto these stereotypical notions that certain jobs are better, simply because of history? (Looking squarely at you, Alabama.) Sure the fans are rabid and they always show up, but administrators and fans alike (and look, I’m hypocritically guilty as an NC State fan) need to think more in the “now†frame of mind, which does include greater parity and could very will include hazardous coaching obstacles from the NCAA before they start thinking anyone and everyone will bounce to their school.
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