LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) — Good vibes should be percolating around Indiana University men’s basketball in ways you wouldn't expect. Not for a program that missed the 2024 NCAA Tournament, lost a McDonald’s all-American to a de-commitment and publicly fussed at its fan base in March.
The Hoosiers hit big in the transfer portal. They’re showing up in nearly every preseason Top 25. They’ll have a player — center Kel'el Ware — taken in the first round of the NBA Draft for the second consecutive season.
All good?
No, not all good. This week there’s been a pungent airing of dirty laundry.
At Indiana, with coach Mike Woodson, the drama never sleeps. He thinks his head coaching job at IU is a lifetime appointment. Critics should return to their rooms, lock the doors and turn out the lights.
Even critics who openly confess their fandom and have worked overtime to try to lift the program from its two-decade malaise.
Well, it’s an episode I wish didn’t have to release but here it is. My recent meeting with Mike Woodson was sad and frustrating and here are the details. https://t.co/FymFeGSHa4
— HoosierHysterics! (@HoosierHystrcs) June 25, 2024
In the latest edition of the popular Hoosier Hysterics podcast, hosts Eric Pankowski and Ward Roberts said Woodson summoned Pankowski from Los Angeles to Bloomington this spring to tell him he will end the program’s association with the Hysterics’ annual fan fest, golf outing and fantasy camp.
Folks who believed the Hysterics had too much access/influence and did too many silly things celebrated the news. I get that. Sometimes they went too far and turned the spotlight on themselves.
But they are missing the broader message: Woodson will not tolerate even minor criticism, from them, from fans, from anybody. He’s Bob Knight — without the three NCAA titles.
He’s … out of touch … incredibly thin-skinned for a guy who coached in New York City … creating another unnecessary mess.
Just coach the team and win games. The rest will take care of itself.
Apparently, Woodson believes that going 19-14, losing twice to Purdue, three times to Nebraska, finishing tied for sixth in the Big Ten and missing the NCAA Tournament was a good season for IU basketball.
Woodson and Anthony Leal, one of his seniors who grew up in Bloomington and should know better, launched this discussion in early March with clumsy comments about “true fans,” after IU’s Senior Day win over Michigan State.
Woodson bristles at any criticism. He believes fans should come equipped with one gear — blind support.
A discouraging word is never to be heard.
Over the last six seasons, the Hysterics did not stake their preferred place in the IU media/fan hierarchy on criticism. They’re fans, obsessive fans who make their living in Hollywood. Pankowski hit it big producing “Carpool Karaoke,” and working with “The Ellen DeGeneres Show.” Roberts, a native of Peru, Indiana, has multiple credits as an actor and director.
They’ve also backed the women’s basketball program and said that they will continue to do that, along with the IU men’s soccer team and IU volleyball.
They adore the program. And their adoration came with benefits. For several years, they had access to IU players and assistant coaches that media members who covered the team on a daily basis were not given.
That created more listeners for the podcast. It also created legitimate detractors who thought they were too involved in recruiting and trading in favors. Did they do dumb things and go too far sometimes?
Yes, they did. An interview with an basketball recruit during a football tailgate comes to mind. But IU never stopped them until they started criticizing the program. In fact, they encouraged them.
They assisted Indiana’s Name/Image/Likeness effort. On the flip side, coincidentally, Pankowski said he provided job opportunities for Woodson’s two daughters.
What could go wrong?
Last season went wrong. And this week the Woodson/Hysterics relationship has veered wildly off the road in a publicly available podcast of more than 1 hour and 22 minutes.
IU got blown out by Connecticut and Auburn last season. Before point guard Xavier Johnson went to the sidelines with injuries, he was kicked out a game against Rutgers for appearing to take a shot at the groin of a Rutgers’ player.
The Hoosiers lost 10 of 14 games, including a pair to Penn State and its first-year coach. They tumbled out of consideration for the NCAA Tournament by January. Fair game, all of it.
Former IU basketball star Brian Evans criticized Woodson and Johnson publicly on an Indianapolis radio show. Evans agreed to an interview with the Hysterics, an appearance he’d made in previous seasons.
He repeated those criticisms and said he was not thrilled with the direction of Indiana basketball.
According to Pankowski, Woodson was not pleased. The coach directed Pankowski to make time to visit Bloomington for a three-person meeting that also included IU athletic director Scott Dolson.
Pankowski said Woodson told him he was unhappy with the Evans interview. The Hysterics would be cut off from the special access they received to IU practice. No more fantasy camp, fan fest or golf outing. On social media, many celebrated their demise on Tuesday. Not surprising. The Hysterics weren't for everybody. Nobody is.
Pankowski said Woodson told him that in three seasons he had only fired one person, assistant coach Dane Fife, a former IU player that Pankowski said Woodson called “Dan Fife.”
(I e-mailed an interview request for Woodson to the IU basketball media relations department Tuesday morning. There has not been a response.)
Pankowski said Woodson said the criticism around the program last season included death threats and racial denigration. If that is true, that is deplorable.
And one of Woodson’s final messages was: “I’m going to be the head coach here as long as I say so.”
None of this is surprising.
It’s ridiculous. But it’s not surprising.
It’s embarrassing. But it’s not surprising.
It calls for an adult to take charge in the room. But it’s not surprising.
It reinforces the narrative that washed over the program toward the end of last season that any serious discussion about Woodson’s return for Year Four was squashed because of Woodson’s strong connection to powerful boosters and influential members of the IU Board of Trustees.
Forget any idea of a graceful early retirement so IU could recruit Florida Atlantic coach Dusty May, a former IU student manager who landed the Michigan job.
Woodson is 66 and has not taken the Hoosiers to the Sweet Sixteen in his first three seasons. May is 47 and took Florida Atlantic to the 2023 Final Four. It was not an outrageous concept. Pockets of IU fans endorsed it.
Woodson convinced the folks who mattered that the primary reason for the 19-14 record was Johnson’s injury. With the proper NIL assistance, the staff could quickly build a team that will contend in the Big Ten this season.
The talk in the coaching grapevine is Woodson had “whatever he needed” in NIL opportunities.
IU had enough to recruit five players. Three newcomers figure to be starters. The group, led by Arizona center Oumar Ballo, Washington State guard Myles Rice and Stanford guard Kanaan Carlyle, is a consensus pick as one of the top three portal classes.
On Wednesday night, Ware will follow former Hoosiers Jalen Hood-Schifino and Trayce Jackson-Davis into the world of NBA basketball. An upbeat night for IU basketball on the national stage.
From the outside the vibe will be one of a program headed back to the Top 25. But up close, the primary smell is one of dirty laundry.
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