Published: March 24, 2008 12:21 pm         

Indiana needs to keep Dakich, but not as coach

Anyone who witnessed Indiana University’s walk off the plank last Friday night can’t be sold on Dan Dakich as the person who’ll lead the Hoosiers in 2008-09 and beyond.

That is unless your name is Dan Dakich.

Against Arkansas, IU again showed off its own unique version of a triangle offense — dribble, launch ridiculously long jump shots, stand around.

Defensively the Hoosiers made the ’Hogs, 31-point losers to North Carolina two days later, look like 1994 national championship Razorbacks. Someone named Sonny Weems is one more meeting with IU shy of being projected as an NBA lottery selection.

Yet Dakich, the person IU’s administration thought best suited to sift through the rubble left behind by the Kelvin Sampson debacle, made certain to get in his two cents.

Addressing the media recently, Dakich reminded everyone listening how he’s IU to the core, which is difficult to dispute considering he’s got a framed diploma backing him up.

Dakich studied at IU, played for and coached under Bob Knight at IU. Even put the defensive clamps on one Michael Jordan during a victory against North Carolina in the 1984 East Regional semifinal, or so legend has it.

Dakich is as Indiana University as a human being can be. But it shouldn’t be enough to erase the ‘interim’ from his job title.

The minute Sampson separated himself from campus, the Hoosiers immediately flipped the switch to go from Final Four contender to a group of sulking underachievers who weren’t about to lower their shoulders and plow through brick walls for Dakich.

Whatever the ‘it’ factor is required to rally young men during turbulent times, the interim coach didn’t have it. Not with this group.

Indiana’s two best players, D.J. White and Eric Gordon, will likely be on NBA rosters at this time next year. But if guards Armon Bassett and Jordan Crawford resist the temptation to transfer, the cupboard is not bare in Bloomington.

As for who’ll coach them, my guess is either one of two current Sweet 16ers — Xavier’s Sean Miller, 39, or Washington State’s Tony Bennett, 38.

At the moment Miller makes better sense because: A) his three best players at Xavier (Drew Lavender, Stanley Burrell and Josh Duncan) are seniors and, B) recruiting the hoops-fertile soil of Indiana is not foreign to him.

Also, Miller’s Musketeers are a joy to watch in that they play lockdown defense like few other programs in the nation. From the glory seasons of the Knight era Indiana fans learned to appreciate the importance of a flypaper ‘D’.

For IU administrators paid large dollars to make large decisions, what to do with Dakich qualifies as one of life’s blood-is-thicker-than-water moments.

Dakich is a tremendous ambassador for his alma mater, a company guy put in an extremely difficult spot once IU penned a $750,000 check to Sampson and told him to walk.

The university needs to find a job for Dakich. A good job. Just not as men’s basketball coach.

IU desperately needs a coaching clean slate for its highest-profile sport so to rid itself of the impurities of the 2007-08 season. Fresh ideas. Youthful enthusiasm. A play-by-the-rules mentality.

Both Miller and Bennett would bring these qualities to Assembly Hall, but only one man can get the job.

As long as Indiana University doesn’t botch this latest search for a coach like it did with the Sampson hiring, it’s a win-win situation.

And, really, when was the last time any of us said that?



Mike Beas writes for The Herald Bulletin in Anderson. He can be reached at mike.beas@heraldbulletin.com.