Indiana fans give Mike Woodson, Dusty May warm welcomes as Hoosiers embark on coaching search

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) — Indiana Hoosiers coach Mike Woodson walked through the tunnel, down the line of student managers, trainers and assistant coaches and shook every person’s hand Saturday.

Then the dapper-looking soon-to-be ex-coach went back to work as if nothing had changed.

One day after athletic director Scott Dolson announced Woodson would not return to his alma mater next season, he was back, designing plays, barking out signals, working the refs and doing anything he could to right the Hoosiers’ sinking ship.

And for that, Indiana’s boisterous fans seemed appreciative.

Instead of calling for Woodson’s ouster, they cheered during Woodson’s introduction and were roaring as the Hoosiers charged back from an 18-point deficit to tie the score with 4:08 before losing their fifth straight, 70-67 to No. 24 Michigan.

“It’s been emotional,” Woodson said in his first public 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 didn’t take direct questions about the decision in his postgame news conference and Indiana did not make any players available to talk, either.

But the Hoosiers (14-10, 5-8) didn’t want to embark on yet another coaching search — their fifth in 20 years — with a national television audience witnessing the ugliness that has unfolded during a losing streak that put Indiana’s NCAA Tournament hopes in jeopardy and cost the 66-year-old Woodson his job.

Dolson’s statement, released Friday, included a plea for fans to show their support for the program’s players. And for the most part, the fans behaved as Dolson strolled through the crowd and greeted fans.

There was a smattering of boos when Woodson called a timeout less than five minutes into the game with Indiana down 14-5 and again with Indiana trailing 43-27 at the half though the pep band drowned out most of the boos while playing the school’s fight song.

By game’s end, though, the crowd was on its feet, roaring even louder as the Hoosiers finally tied the score at 59 with 4:08 to play. It also seemed to send a not-so-subtle message to first-year Michigan coach Dusty May, a Bob Knight protege, that he should consider leaving Michigan (18-5, 10-2), return to his home state and restore the glory of a five-time national champion.

“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.”

Of course, the Hoosiers also had high hopes for Woodson when he was hired in 2021.

Back then, the longtime NBA coaching veteran promised to hang banners, make deep postseason runs and mend fences with the long lingering rift among Knight loyalists who were still angry about Knight’s firing in 2000.

And though Woodson started his college coaching career with back-to-back 20-win seasons and NCAA Tournament wins each year, things went sour last season when Indiana missed the tourney and especially this season when Indiana was projected to finish second in the Big Ten.

But a series of miscues led to the mounting losses and intense pressure to move on from one of the best players in Hoosiers history. The question now is how will the Hoosiers — and their fans — respond over the final four home games of the Woodson era before potentially saying farewell to his Hoosiers in his hometown, Indianapolis, at the Big Ten Tournament.

“I wish I knew,” Woodson said when asked why there hasn’t been more success 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.”

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