IU Athletics Director Fred Glass fired Tom Crean as the school’s head basketball coach Thursday, and now Glass will have to find someone to fill the void. Glass said in his press conference he is seeking a proven winner and recruiter in the next head coach while having IU ties is “a double-check plus” for the job. Here are some candidates that fit the description.
Archie Miller — Dayton
The 38-year-old Miller has done nothing but win in his first job as head coach at Dayton in the Atlantic 10 conference. In six years under Miller the Flyers missed out on the NCAA tournament the first two seasons but have now made four straight including a trip to the Elite Eight in 2014.
2017 was Miller’s best year at Dayton, as he went 24-8 overall and 15-3 in conference play while the Flyers won back-to-back Atlantic 10 regular season titles. Miller is also the younger brother of Arizona head coach Sean Miller and served as an assistant at Arizona before becoming the Dayton head coach.
He’s also been an assistant at Western Kentucky, North Carolina State, Arizona State and Ohio State throughout his career. His overall record as head coach at Dayton is 139-63.
Gregg Marshall — Wichita State
Marshall, 54, is a proven winner in his 19 seasons as a head coach at the mid-major level. Currently in his 10th year at Wichita State, Marshall has taken the Shockers from an 11-20 season in year one to six consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, a Final Four and an undefeated regular season in 2013-14.
In his previous coaching job at Winthrop, Marshall led the Eagles to seven NCAA Tournament appearances in nine years out of the Big South Conference and six regular-season titles. He is 455-173 in his career as a head coach and is the winningest coach of all time at Winthrop and Wichita State.
Chris Mack — Xavier
Mack has been successful in all eight seasons at Xavier, as he only missed the NCAA Tournament once in his tenure. He’s led the Musketeers to four Sweet Sixteens in eight seasons, including this year after his squad finished seventh in the Big East regular season standings.
Mack is an Ohio guy, and his only tie to the state of Indiana is that he played at Evansville for his first two seasons before transferring to Xavier to finish out his collegiate career. Mack replaced Sean Miller as head coach at Xavier in 2009 when Miller moved on to Arizona and has racked up a 186-90 career record since.
Steve Alford — UCLA
Alford may be the biggest and most familiar name for IU fans that could fill the void as the next Hoosier head coach. Born and raised in Indiana, Alford earned the Indiana “Mr. Basketball” award as a senior at New Castle High School and was the leader of the 1987 IU basketball national championship team.
Alford fits everything Glass wants out of a head coach as an IU alumnus and with a proven track record among Power-5 conference schools. Alford started his head coaching career at Manchester, a Division III school in Indiana, and took the Spartans from 4-16 in his first season to 31-1 in his final year, when the Spartans were national runners-up.
He then moved on to Missouri State and led the Bears to the Sweet Sixteen in his final and fourth year.
Alford went from Missouri State to Iowa, for eight years, before moving on to New Mexico and his current job at UCLA. In Alford’s first two years as UCLA head coach, he took the Bruins to two consecutive Sweet Sixteens before dropping off and missing the tournament last season. This year Alford’s squad secured a 28-3 regular season record and earned a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Billy Donovan — Oklahoma City Thunder
Donovan has shown his ability to win at both the collegiate level and professional level. In 19 years as head coach at Florida, Donovan took the Gators to 14 NCAA Tournaments while making four Final Fours and winning two national championships back-to-back in 2006 and 2007.
The 51-year-old Donovan is currently in his second season as head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder in the NBA. Glass said in Thursday’s press conference he wouldn’t count out a coach who is currently in the NBA.
Donovan has compiled a career record of 502-206 in his collegiate coaching career thus far and a 95-56 record thus far as an NBA head coach.
Fred Hoiberg — Chicago Bulls
Hoiberg is in his second season as the head coach for the Chicago Bulls but was previously the man in charge at Iowa State for five seasons. At Iowa State, Hoiberg’s teams made the NCAA Tournament in each of his final four seasons, with their furthest advancement coming in 2014 when the Cyclones made it to the Sweet Sixteen. Hoiberg also enjoyed a decorated playing career.
He was named Iowa “Mr. Basketball” his senior year of high school and chose to play for his hometown team, Iowa State.
He averaged 15.8 points per game during his four-year career in Ames, Iowa, and had a 10-year career in the NBA. In his five years as a collegiate head coach Hoiberg has a record of 115-56 and currently a 75-77 record in year two in the NBA.
Dane Fife- Michigan State (assistant)
Fife played at IU for four years and was a senior starter on the 2002 team that finished as national runners-up. Fife holds the IU record for most steals in a career at 180 and was named the Big Ten defensive player of the year as a senior. Fife was an assistant at IU from 2003-05 before taking over as head coach at IPFW at the age of 25. During his first year in Fort Wayne, Fife led the Mastodons to 10 wins, the most since they moved to Division I, and improved every year. In his fifth season IPFW captured his first ever winning season as a Divison-I head coach and went 18-12 in Fife’s sixth and final season. Fife went to Michigan State to become an assistant coach under Hall-of-Famer Tom Izzo in 2011. Since making his home in East Lansing, Michigan, the Spartans have posted a 161-58 record including two Sweet Sixteen appearances, one Elite Eight appearance and one Final Four. Fife is 82-97 in his career as a head coach.
Michael Lewis- Nebraska (assistant)
Lewis played for IU from 1997-2000 and is a native of Jasper, Indiana. He was previously the IU all-time assist leader with 545 until Yogi Ferrell passed him up during the 2015-16 campaign. Lewis was an assistant at Eastern Illinois for six seasons, before bouncing around a bit and finally ending up at Butler. In his five years at Butler the Bulldogs made the NCAA Tournament four times. Lewis just finished his first year at Nebraska this season and still has a strong connection with the IU basketball program, but has yet to land his first job as a head coach yet.
