Indiana basketball head coach Tom Crean doesn’t shy away from the media and isn’t afraid to speak his mind. Although the Hoosiers aren’t in the NCAA tournament for the third straight year, he is making the most of his “offseason” time.
Coach Crean was contacted late in the season to see if there was interest should Indiana not be playing in the postseason. When IU lost on the first day of the Big Ten Tournament, he agreed to do so.
“It’s an opportunity to spend a lot of time immersed in basketball for a couple of days so I think it’s going to be fun,” Crean said. “I think anytime you are asked by a network like Turner to do something of that magnitude you have to take it very serious.”
Crean and family will head south to Atlanta to join Seth Davis, Steve Smith and Matt Winer in studio working the FIRST FOUR games on truTV on Wednesday, March 16 as well as the Second Round games on Thursday, March 17 and Friday, March 18, which will air across TBS, CBS, TNT and truTV.
Monday, Tom Crean received a very large package from Turner Sports full of statistics and media material of all 68 teams to analyze. There is no real offseason for coaches. In between recruiting and watching film, Crean has been studying the teams to make sure he’s prepared. And being out of state for three days won’t hurt in recruiting.
“We’ve got our days measured out and I know where I need to be…If anything, it’s great noteriatey for the program in the sense that you are representing Indiana, not just representing Turner Sports.”
Indiana already has Cody Zeller and Austin Etherington coming in next season but he is also looking for a player from the junior-college ranks and signees that may be looking to go elsewhere after a coaching change.
Crean will be a hit on television. He brings a unique element of knowing the coaches, teams and tournament better than any of those three analysts.
Radio and television is nothing new to Crean either. He does hundreds of interviews yearly with his pregame and postgame interviews with Don Fischer on the IU Radio Network and press conferences. Add-in the videos he records before home games that play throughout Assembly Hall. Plus each week he has a weekly radio show and television show that adds to his media demands.
The biggest thing I’m interested in seeing whether Crean will criticize teams, coaches and situations. That’s one thing Crean will have to be careful in doing because little things like that could come back to haunt him while at Indiana.
“For somebody that loves the game, and loves to study and watch it, its another opportunity to take it a step further.”
The only question is whether Crean will be able to sit still for an extended period of time…Hoosier fans are use to their coach walking up and down the sidelines all game long.
(Audio via Dustin Dopirak)