Dakich has title at Indiana, and the residual pressure
INDIANAPOLIS – Dan Dakich passed his first test as Indiana’s new men’s basketball coach Saturday night.
Tonight, the former Indiana player and Bob Knight assistant will fulfill his lifelong dream: being introduced to the home fans as coach of the Hoosiers.
To Dakich, who laments the circumstances surrounding Kelvin Sampson’s resignation last week, it will be a bittersweet moment.
“I’m obviously thrilled to be sitting here, I’m not thrilled at the circumstances and I hope that’s obvious, too,” Dakich said Monday night on his first weekly radio show. “But I do want to thank a ton of people who sent me e-mails, text messages, letters and phone calls. The messages they left were unbelievable to me and my family. It tells me the magnitude of Indiana basketball, regardless of how things go, and it’s just been an incredible thing for me personally.”
For Dakich and the 12th-ranked Hoosiers (23-4, 12-2 Big Ten) it’s been a tumultuous couple of weeks.
Since the university released an NCAA report accusing Sampson of five major rules violations Feb. 13, basketball has taken a rare backseat to rumors, speculation, criticism and consternation.
Many fans questioned whether Sampson should have even been hired at a school that prides itself on not having committed a major NCAA violation since 1960. Some critics responded by booing Sampson during pregame introductions at the last three home games even though the Hoosiers continued to chase their first outright Big Ten title since 1993.
Sampson’s resignation Friday and Dakich’s subsequent promotion were followed by a threatened players’ boycott that never materialized Saturday at Northwestern. The result: an 85-82 win that was more impressive in demonstrating the Hoosiers’ resilience than their play.
Still uncertain is how fans might react to the players, six of whom skipped Dakich’s first practice Friday. Dakich has repeatedly downplayed the supposed rift, reflecting on the hypothetical situation of how he would have acted in a similar predicament when he played.
“You don’t miss practice, ever. But this isn’t ever. This is extraordinary circumstances,” he said. “I go back to when I played and if coach Knight had been let go after 25 games or something, there probably would have been mayhem for me.”
Some players were apologetic for what transpired.
“It was an emotional time for us,” guard Armon Bassett said. “We were not going to sit out the game, we just had some things going on and we’re sorry about that.”
Now that it’s back to basketball, the Hoosiers should be motivated by all the usual things.
A victory over the Buckeyes (17-10, 8-6) would keep Indiana even in the loss column with Wisconsin and Purdue at the top of the Big Ten. D.J. White is still trying to secure conference player of the year honors, and Eric Gordon still has a chance to set the Big Ten’s freshman scoring record.
“It’s been tough, but the decision has been made,” Gordon said Saturday. “We’ve just got to keep playing and finish out the season.”
It’s been an especially tough two weeks Dakich, who knows he’ll only be embraced by the ardent Hoosiers fans as long as he wins.