And there were also 4 or 5 wins that could have easily been losses. I mean, what was our BEST win???? Blowing out Oregon?? Beating Purdue at home? (would have lost that game if Enright hadn't stepped up in the last 45 seconds and Purdue played like shit). Win at home against Whisky when we gave up a big lead, went down by 4 points then "home jobbed" the hell out of them to pull it out of our ass?? THis team was poorly put together, poorly coached, only won games when they got really hot from outside (fools gold IMO), and didn't understand what it meant to put on the Cream and Crimson. I know you like to stay on the positive side, but I just did not see much to be positive about all year long.@hoosiers94 yeah, doubt it. Just saying an acceptable step forward doesn’t need perfect, or momentous improvements, or 20 million bucks in NIL. There were 5-6 wins out there this year, as uneven as they were, and as poorly as they finished the year.
But after the finish, and after today, not sure logic can possibly lead to CDD figuring all those things out. He’s the central figure here in all these issues. It’d take a lot of hope to believe he’ll improve in all those areas.
I think we definitely need to bring in a high caliber assistant coach. It appears we have 3 recruiters in Adams, Johnson, and Clark with Norton being an extremely young coach who may or may not know what he's doing. Get someone who can help with coaching.
It is 'the program' that stinks.I would take it one step further:
Indiana has done a good job of convincing me that whoever is coach doesn’t matter. The program continues to erode to levels I never thought possible.
At one point I would've said too many hands in the cookie jar.
But this is Dolson's (and Whitten's) baby now.
,
It’s not going to be appreciably better next season. If Dolson can’t see he screwed up then he needs to be fired too. But Cignetti saved his ass by pulling a Jimmy Chitwood.
@cavanagh Drew Adams won't be at IU much longer. I think the overall talent will improve because the current roster has like three or four high-major players on it. Do I think they get anyone as good as Lamar Wilkerson? Probably not. I do think they dramatically improve on spots #2 through 13. I just don't think it's wildly optimistic to predict that Ryan Carr plus the staff with a full season to prepare can do better than Acimovic, Jason Drake, Josh Harris, Conor Enright, Reed Bailey, Ristic, etc.
Devries may get better players, run better stuff, leading to better records. He may even get us in the tournament most of the time & hang around top 5 in conference. What I can’t get past, & what leads me to believe he’ll never get us to perennial top ten status is what happened in the second half of almost every game. He had no answers & was out-coached in just about every second half. He just ain’t the guy. Knowing that, I'm conflicted as to whether to join the sunshine pumpers & just be happy if they’re in the tournament or hope he tanks so we can try again. I’d love to be mistaken.
It’s not going to be appreciably better next season. If Dolson can’t see he screwed up then he needs to be fired too. But Cignetti saved his ass by pulling a Jimmy Chitwood.
you're right. It's not getting better next year. And you're not off base about Dolson. Yes he lucked into Cig. But he shit the bed on Devries. Long contract with big money and big money buyout. On an unproven commodity. wtf
I really don't know anything at all about the guy. But I don't like the vibe. I hope this is true.... Drew Adams won't be at IU much longer. ...
@hoosiers94 Can't really argue much on all the questions and concerns with DeVries. But you're WAY off on him "getting lucky" hiring Cignetti. Cignetti has been Cignetti for years. Dolson was the first high major AD that 1)took a chance hiring a guy that hadn't ever won at the highest level 2)took a chance at a guy that most thought was too old 3)Convinced Cignetti that IU was the place for him to cement his legacy 4)Realized what he had, before he had done all these incredible things, and setup the contracts for Cig and his staff, to be amendable.
Winning a Natty was lucky. But Cig was always going to be successful, and Dolson knew that. And luck had nothing to do with that. And luck has had nothing to do with how he's been able to keep Cig at IU.
DeVries had many of the same traits and accomplishments, before arriving at IU. He spent years as an assistant under solid coaches (not Saban level, but solid and accomplished), he won consistently, he built a program that was basically dead. He was widely lauded as a worker and very smart coach. He's not Cig, no one is. He's not RMK, no one is. And we're seeing that he might not end up being even someone like Matt Painter. But its not hard to see why Dolson thought he was a good person to get IU bball back on good footing.
Despite what Dolson said recently about the job DeVries has done... I'm pretty confident that if he doesn't take some pretty noticeable steps forward, in a lot of areas, over the next 12 months... that Dolson will fire him. He's been the AD for about 6 years now, and he's fired 3 coaches, all with substantial buyouts he had to figure out. He isn't going to sit around and let IU bball have seasons like they had this year, just happen... But he also isn't stupid enough to fire someone after 1 season.
I don't understand why we can come out like a house on fire so many first halves, then tank in the second half? Everyone says 'adjustments!'.
But how can a staff game plan pretty well, but not have 'if they do this, we'll run this' plans ready?
So I see us try different things in the second half. Not sure it's bad adjustments, or that we haven't practiced those possible adjustments coming into the game, so we stink at them?
@hoosiers94 Can't really argue much on all the questions and concerns with DeVries. But you're WAY off on him "getting lucky" hiring Cignetti. Cignetti has been Cignetti for years. Dolson was the first high major AD that 1)took a chance hiring a guy that hadn't ever won at the highest level 2)took a chance at a guy that most thought was too old 3)Convinced Cignetti that IU was the place for him to cement his legacy 4)Realized what he had, before he had done all these incredible things, and setup the contracts for Cig and his staff, to be amendable.
Winning a Natty was lucky. But Cig was always going to be successful, and Dolson knew that. And luck had nothing to do with that. And luck has had nothing to do with how he's been able to keep Cig at IU.
DeVries had many of the same traits and accomplishments, before arriving at IU. He spent years as an assistant under solid coaches (not Saban level, but solid and accomplished), he won consistently, he built a program that was basically dead. He was widely lauded as a worker and very smart coach. He's not Cig, no one is. He's not RMK, no one is. And we're seeing that he might not end up being even someone like Matt Painter. But its not hard to see why Dolson thought he was a good person to get IU bball back on good footing.
Despite what Dolson said recently about the job DeVries has done... I'm pretty confident that if he doesn't take some pretty noticeable steps forward, in a lot of areas, over the next 12 months... that Dolson will fire him. He's been the AD for about 6 years now, and he's fired 3 coaches, all with substantial buyouts he had to figure out. He isn't going to sit around and let IU bball have seasons like they had this year, just happen... But he also isn't stupid enough to fire someone after 1 season.
He is very lucky that Whitten vetoed Pat Fitzgerald or we wouldn't have Cig.
But come on. EVERYBODY saw with his 11-0 JMU season that he was high major material. But what P4 program had an opening?
For once we were the lucky, yes lucky, program with an opening. Cig was going big time that year regardless, if some big conference job had an opening.
Cig was smart enough also to view Indiana as a sleeping giant. Part Indiana/Whitten/Dolson and previous upgrades. But also a little additional luck.
OMG, I hope that didn't happen.He is very lucky that Whitten vetoed Pat Fitzgerald or we wouldn't have Cig.
.. He's been the AD for about 6 years now, and he's fired 3 coaches, all with substantial buyouts he had to figure out. ...But this time time it's one of his own contracts he will need to buy out. Not sure the others were his call? I hope you are right.
But we have very little chance of not improving next year. So can bet DeVries gets year three. It would be amazing if we are worse instead of clearly better. Unfortunately that will be viewed favorably even if it really isn't a tough thing to achieve.
@openwheel Cig had a handful of very good years prior to that, and did it at multiple stops. He was on other major programs radar. And Dolson created that opening. He had to find the money for Allen's buyout. Its not like some fortuitous event where the prior coach retired, and some fairy dropped the idea in to Dolson's head to hire an unproven, over 60 year old, that had never coached a high major team before. Dolson hired him because his history, his mentality, and his approach fit what IU football needed, at that time. He knew Cignetti would win more than he lost, at IU, and that's what he, and IU needed. He was criticized by many when he made the hire because of Cig's age, and because he had never coached at a high major. And when Cig came in guns blazing, most scoffed, if not made fun of him, and Dolson for the whole thing. Dolson responded by getting Cig basically everything he asked for, and needed, to build a program.
IU turning the football program around wasn't luck. Going to two CFP's and winning a natty in years 1 and 2, that was pretty lucky. But Cig was always going to win, at IU, and Dolson knew that.