It’s an emotional roller coaster being a fan of Indiana University men’s basketball. 

The last three home games I attended this season (Maryland, Michigan, UCLA) ended in a deafening silence throughout The Hall and a “God-damnit, we had that one,” type of feeling on the walk home. The last three games I watched on TV (Purdue, Penn State, Washington) ended in triumph and a feeling like this team can do some serious bracket-busting in a couple weeks.

The rocky first two thirds of this season caused a justified panic from the fanbase, which demanded a significant change from the athletic department. In early February, IU announced that HC Mike Woodson would not be returning after finishing up this season. Since that announcement, the team has been playing like they don’t feel a molecule of pressure, and it’s been great!

It’s a rather exciting time to be a student and a sports fan at Indiana University. After a football season that took the entire nation by surprise, the men’s basketball team is finding their identity late in the season as they push for a spot in the NCAA tournament. Although the drama is far from over for this program, the announcement of Woodson’s retirement and the improved play of the Hoosiers has caused most of the negative feelings of the general public to subside for the time being. All I feel now is a genuine excitement towards the remainder of this season and the unpredictable future of the program.

The Twitter (X) landscape for IU basketball fans put up a valiant effort to try and recruit Brad Stevens to step up for the head coaching vacancy, but to no avail. Michigan’s HC Dusty May became the new candy for IU fans until he signed an extension with the Wolverines just a few days ago. The new focus of the general population of IU fans is all over the place. It seems there’s a new favorite prospect every single week. IU diehards continue to share their ideas about who’s next up for the job, so now it’s my turn…

Realistic & Exciting Prospects

1. Scott Drew – Baylor

Scott Drew is my favorite name in the mix, and I have reason to believe that he is gettable for the Hoosiers. Drew has been the head coach at Baylor for over 20 seasons where he is a 2021 National Champion and a 3-time Big XII Coach of the Year. Drew has proven himself as an elite head coach, an excellent recruiter, and a master of player development. If Scott Drew accepted the IU position, I have 0 doubt the Hoosiers will be national championship contenders at some point under his leadership.

There are a few reasons I think Drew is a realistic hire. The first is that he’s an Indiana man. Before turning around the Baylor program, Drew was a Butler University graduate and a head coach for Valparaiso. There are a few candidates down the list who might not be that interested in the IU job because they don’t fully understand the magnitude of Indiana basketball, but Scott Drew is not like those candidates in that regard. 

My other reason is that I believe Drew has officially done all he can at Baylor. With the team’s current trajectory, it doesn’t look like the Bears are going to be returning to the national championship anytime soon. A generous offer for a fantastic head coach might be just enough for Scott Drew to find a reason to jump ship this off-season.

2. T.J. Otzelberger – Iowa State

As far as long-term home run hires go, T.J. Otzelberger is the biggest there is. Otzelberger is another great Big XII coach that turned a last-place Iowa State team into Big XII tournament champions in one year’s time. What’s most attractive about hiring Otzelberger is his age.  T.J. is just 47 years old with almost a decade’s worth of head coaching experience. His youth and ability to adapt to the new landscape of college athletics would prove to be a great investment from IU if he were to come aboard.

The uncertainties of acquiring Otzelberger are certainly present. This past off-season, Iowa State extended T.J.’s contract through 2032, which definitely seems daunting to IU’s likelihood of landing him. However, the buyout on Otzelberger’s extended contract is relatively manageable, and if there’s one thing that AD Scott Dolson taught his higher-ups at IU this past year, it’s that buying out contracts works like a charm. In my eyes, Dolson should have the green light to buy out Otzelberger’s contract if he agrees to a deal with the Hoosiers.

3. Shaka Smart – Marquette

Another young, successful head coach, Shaka Smart, has come up in the list of possibilities, and I’m all for it. Smart is a hell of a recruiter, a great defensive mind, and has contributed to a positive trajectory of every program he’s coached. He’s also just 47 years young and has been a Division I head coach for over 15 years now. In the 2012 NCAA tournament, Smart and his VCU Rams battled with Tom Crean’s Hoosiers for a spot in the Sweet Sixteen, and although the Hoosiers prevailed, VCU gave them a run for their money.

I don’t think Smart would be a difficult acquisition, but I do think people have questions about his ability to win big games. Despite his Final Four run with VCU in 2011, Smart hasn’t been past the Sweet Sixteen since then. His 3-seeded Texas Longhorns fell in the first round in 2021 and his 2-seeded Marquette Golden Eagles have been eliminated early in both of the last two seasons. 

Although he’s had less-than-successful postseasons recently, I still believe that Shaka Smart would be a phenomenal hire that goes right along with the culture of IU basketball. The IU program even had some recent success from hiring out of Marquette. If Indiana were to land Shaka for 2025 and on, the new IU vs. Marquette non-conference series is going to be a ton of fun. 

Realistic, Not-So-Exciting Prospects

1. Ben McCollum – Drake

Ben McCollum is in his first season as the Drake head coach and has been wildly successful so far. At just 43 years old, McCollum’s youth and 15-plus years of head coaching experience have caused many of the IU faithful to trust him as the next man for the job.

I’m sure that Ben McCollum is a great coach and will probably land a huge gig somewhere down the road, but to me, hiring McCollum is just like hiring Archie Miller all over again. I have no doubt that McCollum would jump over to IU immediately if he is asked, but this is Scott Dolson’s most important hire of his career, and I’d be very surprised if he took a risk on a 43-year-old who hasn’t coached a game of power 5 basketball. If IU took a chance on McCollum and he didn’t pan out, it would be a pretty bad look considering the similarity to Archie Miller’s situation.

2. Mick Cronin – UCLA

If there’s one guy who I’m certain wants the IU job, it’s Mick Cronin. Cronin is a respectable head coach that made strides at Murray State and Cincinnati before joining UCLA in 2019. Cronin took an 11-seeded UCLA squad to the Final Four in 2021 and has had relative success with the Bruins since then. 

Despite another solid season in 2025, Cronin and UCLA seem to be at odds with one another. He has had multiple press conferences this season that definitely raise some questions about his desire to continue with the program. After defeating Indiana at Assembly Hall this season, he didn’t deny having an interest in the head coaching vacancy in his post-game presser. 

While Cronin is a fine head coach, he doesn’t seem to be that much of an upgrade in my opinion, and he doesn’t fit the IU identity. His complaints about his own players and program also rub me the wrong way. If IU were to offer Cronin, I’d bet he’s coming, but I’d also bet he was far from the first guy they tried to reach.

3. Brad Brownell – Clemson

I haven’t heard a lot of people talk about Brad Brownell as a possibility, but he definitely deserves a spot on the list of potential suitors. Brownell is an Indiana man who has turned a historically terrible Clemson program into a great team. I don’t think I watched a single Clemson basketball game before the turn of the decade. Brownell brought the Tigers to the Elite Eight last year, and has them just outside the top 10 this season. 

Brownell is 56 years old, which puts him on the older side of the hiring search. Although he wouldn’t be a very flashy hire, I believe Brownell is a solid and likeable head coach. I doubt that IU extends him an offer this off-season, but if they did, he’d likely say yes.

Controversial Prospects

1. Chris Beard – Ole Miss

It wouldn’t take much convincing to get Chris Beard over to Bloomington, and he’d definitely get IU back to playing winning basketball, but by no means is he a safe hire.

The topic of Chris Beard is the most divisive among the IU faithful. In terms of coaching basketball games, Chris Beard is one of the best on IU’s short list of candidates. From his time at Little Rock, to Texas Tech, to now, he has proven time after time that his teams can play with the best of the best. In a recent interview, Rick Pitino weighed in that Chris Beard is a no-brainer for Indiana. I see no reason that Beard would stick with Ole Miss if Indiana were to offer him the job, but there are massive reasons that Indiana wouldn’t offer him.

Beard was removed from his job at the #1 team in the country in 2022, Texas, after a domestic violence incident was reported at his house. In 2023, Ole Miss decided they couldn’t pass up on a great coach in Beard, who was looking for a rebound. He’s turned a perennially irrelevant Ole Miss program into a tournament team, but I doubt that Scott Dolson, making the biggest hire of his career, will want to endure the PR nightmare that comes with hiring Beard.

2. Todd Golden – Florida

Todd Golden is right up there with Otzelberger as one of the best young head coaches that has proven themselves at the power 5 level. At 39 years old, Golden is the second youngest head coach with a team in the AP Top 25. He would be a great coach for the new-look Hoosiers, but it might be tough to get him here.

First, Florida is playing some of the best basketball they’ve played since the Billy Donovan days. A deep tournament run likely means Golden and UF will strengthen their relationship, and Golden won’t entertain any change of scenery this off-season. If Golden’s Gators go down early in the tournament though, it’s more likely that he’d open up his options, but IU will also have their reasons not to call on Golden.

Earlier this school year, Golden was the subject of some eyebrow-raising allegations of Title IX violations. He was recently cleared of all of his charges, but he’d still probably be a divisive hire around the IU community. Personally, I’d love to see Golden on the Assembly Hall sideline, but he is not necessarily a safe hire for Scott Dolson. 

3. Will Wade – McNeese State

Another great young coach that IU could probably get for a relatively cheap price is McNeese State’s Will Wade. There is no doubt that Wade is a terrific coach. He’s poised to make his second NCAA tournament with the Cowboys in as many years, which is beyond impressive out of a mid-major coach.

Wade is well-known for turning the LSU Tigers into a serious SEC threat for a few years, but was let go due to recruiting violations. Although everything that Wade was charged with is now somewhat legal in NCAA recruitment, it wouldn’t surprise me if Indiana wanted to stay away from Wade considering his situation’s similarity to the Kelvin Sampson scandal in the early 2000s.

Unrealistic Prospects

1. Bruce Pearl – Auburn

IU fans love to dwell on the fact that Bruce Pearl once said Indiana was his dream job a few years ago, but it probably isn’t happening with IU and Pearl anymore. Pearl has been wildly successful this season, and since Auburn football hasn’t been successful for a while, Pearl is essentially the man at Auburn. After their first round exit last year, I believe this is the year the Tigers go way deep in the tournament, and if that’s the case, Pearl won’t be going anywhere. Maybe he would’ve jumped ship if Indiana had offered him in 2021, but it’s not looking like Pearl would want to move on anymore.

2. Nate Oats – Alabama

Nate Oats is another successful SEC man who probably has no reason to leave his current post. In his short span with the Crimson Tide, Oats has won two SEC tournament championships and reached the Final Four last year. The Tide look even better this season than they did in 2024, so barring an early upset loss, Oats will likely stay in the good graces of the Alabama community and will stick around for the foreseeable future.

3. Tommy Lloyd – Arizona

I don’t see a reason for Tommy Lloyd to up and leave a great program like Arizona. Arizona holds men’s basketball as the focal point of their athletics, Lloyd has all the resources he could ever want including great international recruiting, and the Wildcats have been balling under his leadership. Lloyd would be an awesome Hoosier basketball coach, but I can’t imagine he’d move from where he is right now and absorb the heavy pressure that the new Hoosier head coach will be under.