Dakich chosen by Greenspan over fellow assistant coach McCallum

EVANSTON, Ill. – With one quick pump of his fist, Dan Dakich announced to the thousands of IU fans in attendance of IU’s 85-82 win over Northwestern that he is ready to lead the IU men’s basketball team. \nFor how long is anybody’s guess. \nIU Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan announced during press conference Friday night that Dakich, who had been an assistant coach since November, will replace Kelvin Sampson as men’s head basketball coach on an interim basis. \n“He has an opportunity to make something special happen out of a tough situation,” Greenspan said of Dakich.\nDakich did not attend Friday’s press conference but addressed the media following IU’s game against Northwestern. \nHe said it was hard for him to enjoy his first win as the Hoosiers coach. \n“I have a lot of emotions about this,” he said. \nBut it could be worse, he admitted. \n“Let me put it this way,” he said, “I feel a lot better about that this is my first win than if this was my first loss.” \nGreenspan said he did not believe Dakich would be “auditioning” to remove the interim tag and said it could be weeks before a search begins for IU’s next coach. \n“That will come in time,” Greenspan said. “We understand that’s something we have to do, but I don’t think we have to do it today or tomorrow.” \nDakich, a 1985 IU graduate, spent 10 years as head coach of Bowling Green and 12 years before that as an IU assistant coach under former IU coach Bob Knight. \nHe was hired as IU’s Director of Basketball Operations last summer and moved to the bench in place of former assistant coach Rob Senderoff when he resigned. Senderoff was implicated in an IU report that detailed more than 100 impermissible phone calls made by the IU men’s basketball coaching staff – the same report that ultimately sank Sampson. \nDakich said Greenspan called him into the athletic director’s office at about 10:40 a.m. Friday to ask him to coach the team for the rest of the season. \nDakich is well known in IU basketball lore for holding legend Michael Jordan to 13 points during Jordan’s final collegiate game in the 1984 NCAA tournament. IU beat the Tar Heels to advance in the tourney. \nMcCallum, an IU assistant coach for two years, was head coach at Ball State for eight seasons and head coach at Houston for four years before joining Sampson’s staff at Oklahoma. \nGreenspan did not specifically address why he picked Dakich and not McCallum for the interim position. \n“I felt it was the right choice,” he said at the press conference. \nMcCallum was not accused of any wrongdoing as an assistant at Oklahoma, and neither coach was mentioned in the NCAA violations report – which both coaches believed was “important for the public to understand,” Greenspan said.\nMcCallum has been on the IU coaching staff for the past two years; Dakich has been on the IU coaching staff for the past four months. Dakich led IU’s practice Friday, though Greenspan said several players did not attend the practice. All players traveled with the team to Evanston for the game against Northwestern, which Dakich said was “a testament to all things I think are good about Indiana University and Indiana University basketball.” \nAssistant coach Jeff Meyer, who was implicated in the NCAA allegations, will remain on staff, Greenspan said. \nGreenspan said he and Dakich had discussed the possibility of hiring another assistant coach to fill Sampson’s void but had “nothing conclusive.”\nSports editor Matt Dollinger contributed to this report.