The 'Crean and Crimson' Era of IU Basketball

Seeing "The Crean and Crimson era of IU basketball" as the title of blog post by Terry Hutchens finally got me excited about the hiring of Tom Crean as IU's next basketball coach. And more I read about Crean, the more I think this is a really solid hire for IU:

I like the hire on several levels. I was not looking forward to a coach who was too old because I felt they needed a younger coach to build a program around. At the same time I wasn't crazy about coaches who had only led a program for a couple of years because I've never thought of Indiana as a place that should be a proving ground for anyone. And so while I thought Tony Bennett would have been a good fit on many levels, his inexperience as a head coach was a less than favorable point with me. With Crean, you have a 42-year-old coach with nine years of head coaching experience at a good school. He's a Midwestern guy, has coached in the Big Ten, he's a proven recruiter and he runs a clean program.

Here's a nice look at his profile. Inside the Hall has a link dump about the hire.

I found out about the hire last night before going to bed. I was in a bit of shock to really know how I felt about the hire. It's now a new day--both for me and the Hoosiers. I'm excited.

But it won't be easy.

So welcome to Bloomington, Tom. Just business as (un)usual around these parts. Fix a broken program. And do it within a year. Maybe two. (Full column by Bob Kravitz)

Let the Crean and Crimson era begin!