OT: The "Dean" Defends Crean

Submitted by michmaiku on

It's a scrambled, self-aggrandizing defense from Izzo-ner.  This line made me vomit a little in my mouth:

"It's not the first time Izzo, the Big Ten's dean of coaches, has defended a colleague."

I'd honestly never registered that he has the longest tenure in the conference. He appears to have none of the wisdom and dignity I'd associate with the honorific.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/story/_/id/12440558/michigan…

 

 

 

UMgradMSUdad

March 8th, 2015 at 1:29 PM ^

It's not that surprising.  I can think of several reasons why Izzo would want to praise Crean.  They've coached together at MSU, their wives are close friends, and, if Crean sucks as much as IU fans think he does, what does that make Izzo whose team barely escaped with the W in this game?

mGrowOld

March 8th, 2015 at 1:45 PM ^

I have an idea. You know how Microsoft has all those "are you sure" warnings baked into some programs? The annoying pop-ups that make you confirm you really want to do something before you're allowed to do it? I think we need one of those here.

When you're ready post a thread you should get a pop-up that reads "if your news is older than one hour it's already been posted-don't do it." It blows my mind that people will read something a day or sometimes even two days later and think nobody here noticed it but them.

Leaders And Best

March 8th, 2015 at 7:43 PM ^

Izzo's coaching tree looked pretty promising just 5 or 6 years ago, but it has been a train wreck since to the point where MSU may not even have a suitable candidate to replace Izzo from his coaching tree anymore. His assistants have failed at some pretty high profile places, and most of them are untouchable now. Even Dane Fife's burgeoning coaching career has plummeted since taking a step down by leaving the IPFW head coaching job for an assistant position at MSU. I am guessing Fife is regretting that decision now.

Tom Izzo's Dying Coaching Tree

Tom Crean - hottest of hot seats at Indiana after a promising start to career at Marquette

Brian Gregory - dead man walking at Georgia Tech after successful stint at Dayton

Mark Montgomery - head coach at Northern Illinois but has not produced a winning season in his 4 seasons to date

Stan Heath - fired from Arkansas (2007) & South Florida (2014)

Jim Boylen - fired from Utah (2011)

Doug Wojcik - fired from Tulsa (2012) & Charleston (2014) after an ugly player abuse scandal

Stan Joplin - fired from Toledo (2008)

 

Leaders And Best

March 9th, 2015 at 1:14 PM ^

If no one has even taken a sniff at him after the past 10+ years at MSU, I doubt they will now. I think Fife has a better shot of landing a future head coaching gig based on his previous experience and younger age.

Stephens is probably around 45 years old so there is still a chance, but his window is starting to close. I am guessing he is rolling the dice on trying to win the MSU job as an in-house successor when Izzo retires.