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Indiana missed the 2025 NCAA tournament and the Mike Woodson era in Bloomington is over.
Here are five takeaways from his four-season tenure as IU’s coach:
Indiana failed to compete for Big Ten or national titles
One of Woodson’s stated objectives when he took the job in the spring of 2021 was to compete for Big Ten and national titles.
While Woodson mentioned on more than one occasion that the Hoosiers finished second in the conference in the 2022-23 season, the program never seriously challenged for the league crown under his leadership.
In the 2022-23 campaign, Indiana finished 12-8 in the Big Ten and tied for second with Northwestern. Purdue won the league by three games.
In Woodson’s other three seasons, the Hoosiers finished 9-11 (9th), 10-10 (tied for 6th) and 10-10 (9th). Woodson’s Big Ten record was 41-39, good for a winning percentage of 51.2 percent.
As for the national titles Woodson spoke of, Indiana never got out of the first weekend of the NCAA tournament. The program was embarrassed in its March Madness losses under Woodson, which included a 29-point drubbing against Saint Mary’s in 2022 and a 16-point loss to Miami (FL) in 2023. The Hoosiers missed the Big Dance in Woodson’s final two seasons.
Indiana lacked a culture and identity under Woodson’s leadership
When Curt Cignetti became Indiana’s football coach in late 2023, he immediately spoke about his plan to flip the culture and identity of the program. Cignetti had a proven process; if embraced by all, it would translate into wins.
The messaging was consistent, Cignetti’s plan was carried out daily and success followed.
Woodson never communicated what he wanted his program’s culture and identity to be under his leadership. And the results showed.
The only consistent theme of Woodson’s tenure was collecting talent and figuring out how it would fit together later. While it was a common refrain that Indiana was among the most talented teams in the Big Ten, Woodson’s rosters were poorly constructed.
Woodson also failed to connect with the fanbase or articulate a vision of what he wanted Indiana basketball under his guidance.
Many glazed over all this in his first two seasons as the program reached the NCAA tournament. However, it was a red flag in seasons three and four as Woodson failed to offer reasonable explanations for the program’s shortcomings and what he would do to fix those shortcomings.
3-point shooting was never prioritized
In a baffling continuation of the Archie Miller era, Indiana never emphasized 3-point shooting in Woodson’s four seasons.
The coaching staff never prioritized recruiting more shooting nor did they develop shooting from the players who stayed in the program for multiple seasons.
In three of Woodson’s four seasons, Indiana ranked 200th or worse nationally in 3-point shooting percentage. But the shooting percentages don’t tell the real story.
The volume of 3-point attempts and point distribution on 3s does.
None of Woodson’s four teams ranked higher than 320th nationally in 3-point volume, defined by 3-point attempts divided by field goal attempts.
Each IU team under Woodson’s leadership ranked 323rd or worse nationally in the percentage of total points scored on 3-pointers.
Woodson helped develop Trayce Jackson-Davis into a program great
The most significant accomplishment of Woodson’s tenure was the leap Trayce Jackson-Davis took in his junior and senior seasons.
Woodson convinced Jackson-Davis to stay at Indiana after taking over in the spring of 2021 and his career took off in a Hoosier uniform.
Jackson-Davis led Indiana to back-to-back NCAA tournament appearances. As a senior, he was a first-team All-American and arguably the second-best player in the country behind Zach Edey.
For his career, Jackson-Davis finished third in school history in scoring, first in rebounding and first in blocked shots.
Woodson’s work with frontcourt players was his biggest strength as Indiana’s coach. Woodson helped turn around Kel’el Ware’s career. In Woodson’s final season, Malik Reneau and Oumar Ballo were two of the more reliable frontcourt scorers in the Big Ten.
Woodson never embraced the grind required to be successful at Indiana
The Indiana basketball coaching job is a grind. From working with players on and off the court, recruiting responsibilities and media obligations, it’s a 365-days-per-year position.
Woodson never embraced it.
During the spring and summer evaluation periods, he never recruited from dawn to dusk, which should be the expectation.
His outreach to the student body in Bloomington was minimal. Rather than connecting with the fanbase at large, he chose to engage the high-level donors who could deliver NIL resources.
This season, Woodson iced out long-time IU radio voice and Hall of Fame announcer Don Fischer and stopped talking to him before and after games.
Had Indiana won enough games under Woodson’s leadership, much of this would have been overlooked. But the Hoosiers did not, and now the program is searching for its 31st head coach.
Category: Five Takeaways
Filed to: Mike Woodson
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