Montieth: Hiring Woodson was the right choice for IU—despite what detractors say

Ray Tolbert isn’t sure when he last drove to Bloomington to attend an Indiana University basketball game. He guesses it was in 2016, November, when the Hoosiers played No. 3 North Carolina at Assembly Hall, a marquee matchup televised nationally by ESPN.

“[Tom] Crean was coaching, I believe,” Tolbert said. “I think. Was he the coach? I think so.”

Tolbert then burst into laughter.

“That’s how long it’s been!” he said. “I can’t even remember.”

Tolbert plans to make the trip from Indianapolis to Bloomington far more often now that his former teammate, Mike Woodson, has accepted the challenge of restoring IU’s basketball program. He’s not alone in his enthusiasm. When news of Woodson’s hire became public on Sunday, cell phones belonging to former IU players across the country lit up. Tolbert’s CliffsNotes summary of the texts would go something like:

“Man! Woody! Woody!”

The cries had been growing louder for an “IU guy” to take over the program after 20 years of trying it with outsiders. Woodson quenches that thirst and goes beyond. He’s not just an IU guy; he’s a state of Indiana guy, an Indianapolis native and a Broad Ripple High School graduate who never lost contact with his homeland. That was nearly a necessity given that he had 11 siblings, all of whom still live in Indianapolis, but he also has maintained a network of Indiana friends despite scattering himself throughout the country while playing for six NBA teams and coaching for seven.

It’s no wonder his homecoming has generated so much excitement—from those who know him best and from him as well.

“I’m not going to lie to you; this was long overdue,” said Randy Wittman, his teammate for two seasons at IU.

“You won’t find anyone who loves Indiana [more] and is more passionate about Indiana basketball than Mike Woodson,” said Isiah Thomas, his teammate for one season at IU.

All of which, in the long run, means little. The positive buzz in the IU bubble is fun but has nothing to do with how well Woodson will perform. Hires based on emotion and nostalgia often fail in the sports world, and the excitement over bringing back a popular athlete to coach a team or run a franchise fades quickly when losses mount.

Woodson has plenty of detractors, too. The negative reactions have homed in on his NBA coaching record (315-364), his lack of college experience outside of playing more than 40 years ago and the fact that he turned 63 just a couple of weeks ago. That’s plenty of fuel for anonymous and scathing online critiques:

“My IU friends are apoplectic.”

“Pure incompetence and delusion.”

“This is more disappointing than the Archie Miller hire four years ago.”

“Half the team in the [transfer] portal and a 63-year-old that has never recruited on the way!”

And on and on, into the infinity of cyberspace.

Dismissing the doubt

So, which is Woodson? A knee-jerk hire made to appease the IU basketball “family,” or an underrated coach more qualified than some people realize? Woodson’s closest friends in the basketball world swat away the doubts like ill-advised layups. And the more you listen, the more logical they sound.

Age?

Tolbert is quick to count the rings on some of college basketball’s towering coaches. Not championship rings, age rings. Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim, 76, just took his team to the Sweet 16. Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski, 74, won a national championship at 68. North Carolina’s Roy Williams, 70, won a title at 66. Johnny Wooden won his 10th and final title in 1975 at 64.

Thomas, meanwhile, recalled Ronald Reagan’s quip when the age issue was brought up in the 1984 presidential debate. “I am not going to exploit, for political purposes, my opponent’s youth and inexperience,” the 73-year-old Reagan said then.

Lack of college coaching experience?

Woodson has a losing record in the NBA, but his teams weren’t accused of underachieving. He coached six seasons in Atlanta, guiding his teams to an improved record in each one, from 13 wins in 2004-2005 to 53 in 2009-2010. He later coached two seasons and part of another in New York, with his best team winning 54 games and a division championship before losing to the Pacers in the second round of the playoffs in 2013.

He’s also been an assistant in Milwaukee, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Detroit, New York and Los Angeles, with the Clippers. Aside from what he learned playing for Bob Knight, he can draw from his experiences with such highly regarded coaches as Larry Brown, Doc Rivers and George Karl. He has tapped, directly or indirectly, virtually every coaching tree in the NBA.

Taking the knowledge gained in the NBA and applying it at the college level doesn’t seem nearly as difficult as doing it in the opposite sequence, something few coaches have done successfully. Besides, there are recent precedents in Woodson’s favor. Just a few years ago, he would have been a contrarian hire. Now, he’s practically trendy.

Juwan Howard played 22 seasons in the NBA, then served as an assistant coach for six more before becoming head coach at Michigan. He was voted Big Ten Coach of the Year this season and his team missed the Final Four by two points. Penny Hardaway played 15 NBA seasons and was a four-time All-Star. Now three years into coaching Memphis University, his team won the NIT championship on Sunday and could have been competing for an NCAA championship if his best player had not been ruled ineligible and entered the NBA draft.

Those coaches’ lack of college-coaching experience obviously hasn’t been an obstacle. Woodson, who played 10 complete NBA seasons and part of an 11th, has coached far more games than either of them.

“I think he’s going to be a better fit in the college game than in the NBA,” Landon Turner said of Woodson. “In the NBA, you’re dealing with a bunch of hardheaded millionaires. In college, he can help mold these guys into better players and better men.”

“It’s not an adjustment at all,” added Thomas, who has coached in the NBA and in college. “Basketball is basketball. It’s not like you’re getting ready to see something you haven’t seen before or experienced before.”

Will they come?

It’s also not like Woodson had to be talked into the job. He was an assistant with the Knicks this season and could have remained in that less-demanding position for the foreseeable future. His interest in coaching college basketball is sincere, so much so that he applied for the head position at IUPUI two years ago, according to a close friend.

The most basic truth of coaching, however, is that you go only as far as your talent can take you. In college, that talent has to be recruited. Can a 63-year-old coach with no college recruiting experience go into a high school player’s home and convince him to go to Indiana?

Tolbert burst out laughing at that one.

“Let me say it like this, man,” he said. “Mike Woodson has NBA experience. How many kids dream of going to the NBA? He can be the coach who brings in players who normally wouldn’t come to Bloomington, because they know they’ll get an opportunity to learn the pro game.”

Today’s high school athlete likely knows nothing of Woodson’s career, but Woodson will have stories to tell. About coaching some of the game’s greatest players. About the time he scored 48 points in a game at Illinois his junior season at IU, a record for a Bob Knight player. About being voted the Big Ten’s Most Valuable Player as a senior in 1980 despite playing just six conference games after recovering from career-threatening back surgery. About scoring 48 points in 32 minutes as a reserve for the NBA’s Kansas City Kings.

If the kids aren’t impressed by all that, their parents, grandparents or other older relatives probably were, especially if they grew up in Indiana.

“He’s a Midwest guy,” Woodson’s IU teammate Randy Wittman said. “Parents still know who he is.”

‘My captain’

Recruiting—in fact, leadership—is about establishing a connection, and nobody doubts Woodson can do that. He could fill an arena with people who call him a close friend, a feat accomplished with his calm, sincere and authoritative demeanor.

Wittman, an NBA veteran player and coach, hired Woodson as an assistant when Wittman landed his first head coaching position, with Cleveland. “Mike and I are very close,” Wittman said.

Thomas said Woodson was a major influence in his decision to attend IU and he considers him one of his closest friends today. They talk at least a couple of times a week.

“He’s one of my mentors, role models,” Thomas said. “I can’t say enough good things about him.”

Turner, whose career at IU overlapped two seasons with Woodson’s, still refers to him as “my captain.”

“Right away, he put me under his wing,” he said.

Tolbert, who played three seasons with Woodson at IU, was there, too.

“I always gravitated to Mike,” he said. “He looked out for the younger players. I could always depend on Mike. He’s one guy I can definitely depend on today. If I reach out to Mike, he will always get back to me. Every time.”

Woodson’s IU career was six years removed from that of George McGinnis, but Woodson sent his fellow Indianapolis native shoes and team gear from many of his NBA coaching stops. They talk frequently; McGinnis views him as a teammate.

The Woodson resume overflows. Big Ten playing experience. NBA playing and coaching experience. Leadership skills. People skills. Enthusiastic support of family and friends. Former teammates ready to rush to his aid at the drop of a text, or at the very least return to attending games in Bloomington. The opportunity to finally earn a paycheck in his home state and, even better, at the college he attended where a beleaguered and humbled fan base awaits.

This marriage should work.•

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Montieth, an Indianapolis native, is a longtime newspaper reporter and freelance writer. He is the author of three books: “Passion Play: Coach Gene Keady and the Purdue Boilermakers,” “Reborn: The Pacers and the Return of Pro Basketball to Indianapolis,” and “Extra Innings: My Life in Baseball,” with former Indianapolis Indians president Max Schumacher.