Indiana Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson walked through the tunnel, shaking hands with student managers, trainers, and assistant coaches on Saturday.
Despite being informed the day before that he would not return to coach next season, Woodson went back to work as if nothing had changed. He continued designing plays, giving signals, and working with the refs to try to turn things around for the Hoosiers.
Indiana’s passionate fans showed their support. Instead of booing Woodson, they cheered when he was introduced and roared as the Hoosiers made a strong comeback from an 18-point deficit to tie the game at 59 with 4:08 left before ultimately losing 70-67 to No. 24 Michigan. This loss marked Indiana’s fifth straight defeat.
“It’s been emotional,” Woodson said in his first comments since the announcement. “We’re dealing with young men, trying to figure it out. But we still have seven more games and it’s my job, as their coach, to push them to realize they can still win basketball games.”
Woodson did not take direct questions about his future in the postgame press conference, and Indiana did not make any players available for interviews.
The Hoosiers (14-10, 5-8) did not want to go through yet another coaching search—this would be the fifth such search in 20 years—especially with their NCAA Tournament hopes on the line. The team has struggled during a losing streak, and Woodson’s job is in jeopardy because of it.
In a statement released Friday, athletic director Scott Dolson asked fans to show support for the players. For the most part, fans followed Dolson’s request, though there were some boos when Woodson called a timeout early in the game with Indiana trailing 14-5, and again when the Hoosiers were behind 43-27 at halftime. However, the pep band played the school’s fight song to drown out most of the boos.
By the end of the game, the crowd was on its feet, cheering even louder when the Hoosiers tied the game at 59. The fans’ energy seemed to send a message to first-year Michigan coach Dusty May, a former assistant under Bob Knight, that he should return to his home state and consider taking over as Indiana’s coach.
“I think they have a good team and if the breaks go their way, I think they have a great chance to be one of many Big Ten teams in the NCAA Tournament,” May said, downplaying his interest in succeeding Woodson. “I heard the ovation and to come where I came from — I never scored a basket at Indiana — it was nice. I appreciated it.”
When Woodson was hired in 2021, there were high hopes for the team. He was a longtime NBA coach, and fans expected him to bring banners, deep postseason runs, and mend the rift with Knight loyalists who were still upset over Knight’s firing in 2000.
Though Woodson had back-to-back 20-win seasons and NCAA Tournament wins, things went wrong last season when Indiana missed the tournament, and the team struggled this season despite being projected to finish second in the Big Ten.
A series of mistakes led to losses and intense pressure for the university to move on from one of their greatest players. Now, the question is how Indiana and its fans will respond during Woodson’s final four home games of the season, potentially ending with a goodbye in his hometown of Indianapolis at the Big Ten Tournament.
“I wish I knew,” Woodson said when asked why the team has struggled this season. “The rosters are changing every year and that’s no excuse. You put the right pieces in place and I think our guys have wonderful intentions. … It just hasn’t worked out these last three, four weeks. My job as the coach is to continue to push them, keep them in a good frame of mind and, hopefully, something good will click.”
