Indiana coach Mike Woodson won’t return next season

By Canadian Press on February 7, 2025.

Indiana coach Mike Woodson is leaving his alma mater on his own terms.

The 66-year-old Woodson, who has been under fire most of the past two seasons because of underperforming teams, decided to step down at the end of this season, the school announced Friday.

The Hoosiers missed last year’s NCAA Tournament for the first time since Woodson took the job in 2021-22, and they re in danger of being left out of the 68-team field again this season.

“He said it had been weighing on his mind for a while, and that it was an emotional and difficult decision,” athletic director Scott Dolson said in a statement, acknowledging Woodson made his decision clear during a meeting they had Wednesday. “We have had subsequent thoughtful conversations about his decision and his desire to ensure that the program is in the best position it can be moving forward.”

Woodson was not available for comment following the announcement.

Indiana (14-9, 5-7 Big Ten) heads into Saturday’s matchup against Michigan having lost four straight losses and six of seven. The Hoosiers were this season’s preseason pick to finish second in the Big Ten.

The news comes just three days after Indiana never recovered from a 26-4 deficit at No. 21 Wisconsin, prompting Woodson to question his team’s mental toughness.

In an odd twist, Woodson faces first-year Wolverines coach Dusty May, a former student manager and a Bob Knight protege who some Indiana thought might succeed Woodson. May also attended high school in southern Indiana.

But Woodson sounded nearly as frustrated with his team Tuesday night as Hoosiers fans were with their coach.

“We have a game like we did at Purdue where we really competed for 40 minutes, then we come in here and we lay an egg based on how we started the ballgame,” he said. “You spot teams on the road 20, it’s going to get tough to get back in them. Again, that’s on me, man. We’re pushing and pulling and scraping and just trying to get what we can get. Guys just didn’t step up again tonight.”

Even worse, the struggles come just months after athletic department officials made a big investment in names, images and likeness payouts earlier this year to help Woodson win.

Indiana was ranked as high as No. 14 in the AP Top 25 in late November, but was only 65th in the NET rankings heading into Tuesday night,

Instead, a series of missteps have sabotaged the Hoosiers’ high hopes.

Thye blew a late lead in a home loss to Maryland and blew another lead at rival Purdue last Friday when Woodson said he couldn’t get the attention of guard Myles Rice to call time out as Rice raced up the floor with less than 10 seconds to play. The result: Rice turned the ball in over in a 79-76 game and it led to Purdue’s game-sealing free throws. Then came the Wisconsin game.

The continual errors have led fans at home games to loudly chant for Woodson’s ouster.

Dolson wants that to stop and hopes an early announcement about Woodson’s impending departure calms the waters.

“It’s clear to me from our discussions in the last several days that his No. 1 priority is for the attention to be off him and instead focused on uniting Hoosier Nation in support of our student-athletes, coaches, and, most importantly, the program,” Dolson said. “We want to encourage Hoosier fans to rally around the program and support it in the same positive way that Hoosier fans did during Mike’s All-America and Big Ten MVP playing career.”

Indiana hired Woodson in 2021 to revive a struggling program and mend fences between a fan base still split over Knight’s firing in September 2000. Knight did not return to Assembly Hall until February 2020. Knight died in November 2023.

Woodson got off to a strong start, posting back-to-back 20-win seasons in his first two seasons with the Hoosiers, beating Wyoming in a play-in tournament game in March 2022 for Indiana’s first NCAA tourney win since 2015. The Hoosiers also beat Kent State in a first-round game in March 2023.

But he enters this weekend with a 77-49 mark over four seasons, no Big Ten titles and no Sweet 16 appearances.

“During the last four years, he has led the program during a transformational time in college athletics and helped us become a national leader in evolving areas including NIL and the transfer portal,” Dolson said. “No one loves IU Basketball more than he does. I want to thank him for coming back to Bloomington and accepting the challenge of rebuilding our program and re-connecting it with its past and its foundation.”

Before coming to Bloomington, Woodson spent his entire coaching career in the NBA. He went 315-365 in nine seasons as a head coach, six with the Atlanta Hawks and three with the New York Knicks.

___

Get poll alerts and updates on the AP Top 25 throughout the season. Sign up here. AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/ap-top-25-college-basketball-poll and https://apnews.com/hub/college-basketball

Michael Marot, The Associated Press