According to espn.com - if Tom Crean hadn’t taken the Indiana job, the Hoosiers would have gone after former UNCW head coach Brad Brownell. 

Really?  I guess I don’t get that.

For the record, I think Brownell is a good coach.  According to a lot of people – he’s a great coach.  He did a nice job here before quitting and taking the job at Wright State.  And obviously he’s done well there too.

But Indiana is a BIG TIME job with BIG TIME commitments.  Boosters, media, winning tradition – everything is bigger.  It would seem to me that Indiana would be a huge transitition. 

Something tells me the boosters in Bloomington are a little more demanding than dealing with Bill Rudisill. 

Handling the media is a little more difficult in Indiana than Wilmington.  Here he dealt with one newspaper guy and two tv stations (and he wasn’t always great at dealing with just the three of us).  The entire sports media of the state of Indiana follows the Hoosiers – plus the national media.   Unless he’s undergone a complete media makeover since leaving here, he would really struggle with that.

And a 15-15 season – as he had in his second year at UNCW -  would probably get him fired.  .500 seasons don’t roll so well there.

Maybe someday Brownell will be a serious candidate at Indiana, but for his sake, its probably best that his next job will be a smaller step up before busting into a BIG TIME job like that one.  I’m afraid he would get swallowed up.

Maybe the now-vacant Marquette job is a possibility.  I hope it is.  He might not be my favorite person I’ve ever covered, but he’s a good coach and deserves a shot.  Just not at Indiana.  At least – not yet.

   kevin

The photo is from Brownell’s playing days at DePauw.