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Tom Crean left Marquette and inherited a mess at Indiana. Now he has the tall task of returning the Hoosiers to prominence
By Didier Morais
Posted: 11/12/08, 7:37 PM EST Section: Basketball 2008
Tom Crean can't help but smile at his current predicament. At this point, there's not much else he can do.
During the past off-season, the first-year Indiana head coach and former Marquette front-man was hired to salvage a basketball team in peril. In the process, he inherited a program plagued by recruiting violations and NCAA sanctions stemming from former coach Kelvin Sampson's time as head coach.
Since Sampson's resignation in mid-February, six scholarship players transferred, two declared for the NBA Draft, and three others graduated. That left senior forward Kyle Taber and sophomore guard Brett Finkelmeier, neither of whom played critical minutes last season, as the only two returning players from last year's roster. Of the team's 13 eligible players, eight are true freshmen.
Certainly not the start Crean had in mind. But he has accepted the adverse circumstances, and has prepared his team for a season filled with stress and uncertainty.
"We're going to be our own reality show this year, no question about it," Crean said in his weekly press conference. "Anything could happen. But that's where we're at. If we don't smile and enjoy it a little bit, then it's going to be a very disheartening experience."
It's that mentality that made Crean such an attractive candidate to Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan.
Now, Greenspan and Hoosier Nation expect him to clean up Sampson's mess and return the Hoosiers' program back to prominence in college basketball. Except it's hard to achieve that goal when your team's leading returning scorer - Taber - averaged 1.3 points.
But that's out of Crean's control. Unfortunately for him, he has paid a hefty price for Sampson's mistakes, losing three athletic scholarships for this upcoming season due to the NCAA sanctions. Sampson's errors will have lingering consequences on the IU program for years to come.
Still, the scandal shouldn't have been much of a surprise to Hoosiers fans. Greenspan knew Sampson's history when he took the gamble of hiring him.
During the past off-season, the first-year Indiana head coach and former Marquette front-man was hired to salvage a basketball team in peril. In the process, he inherited a program plagued by recruiting violations and NCAA sanctions stemming from former coach Kelvin Sampson's time as head coach.
Since Sampson's resignation in mid-February, six scholarship players transferred, two declared for the NBA Draft, and three others graduated. That left senior forward Kyle Taber and sophomore guard Brett Finkelmeier, neither of whom played critical minutes last season, as the only two returning players from last year's roster. Of the team's 13 eligible players, eight are true freshmen.
Certainly not the start Crean had in mind. But he has accepted the adverse circumstances, and has prepared his team for a season filled with stress and uncertainty.
"We're going to be our own reality show this year, no question about it," Crean said in his weekly press conference. "Anything could happen. But that's where we're at. If we don't smile and enjoy it a little bit, then it's going to be a very disheartening experience."
It's that mentality that made Crean such an attractive candidate to Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan.
Now, Greenspan and Hoosier Nation expect him to clean up Sampson's mess and return the Hoosiers' program back to prominence in college basketball. Except it's hard to achieve that goal when your team's leading returning scorer - Taber - averaged 1.3 points.
But that's out of Crean's control. Unfortunately for him, he has paid a hefty price for Sampson's mistakes, losing three athletic scholarships for this upcoming season due to the NCAA sanctions. Sampson's errors will have lingering consequences on the IU program for years to come.
Still, the scandal shouldn't have been much of a surprise to Hoosiers fans. Greenspan knew Sampson's history when he took the gamble of hiring him.
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