Fred Glass is ready to be a “powerhouse to be reckoned with” once again

After the firing of Tom Crean, Fred Glass had a lot to say in regards to decision to make the move and where he will be looking in the future. We rounded up all that was said at Thursday’s presser, because quite frankly, it’s all important. Glass isn’t playing any games and will be looking to make a major hire in the future.

First, Glass opened the press conference by reading the original statement which the the program released this morning.

After that, Glass immediately addressed what he is looking for in a coach.

“First I think it starts with the givens. Our number one priority is to play by the rules. We don’t want anybody who’s been associated with any significant NCAA infractions. We want somebody who cares about the wellness of the kids in mind, body and spirit. Therefore we don’t want anyone who has shown a proclivity to be you know, abusive or had any of those situations. Academics are important hopefully everywhere, but here particularly at Indiana we expect the kids to go to class and graduate. No one with significant academic issues. And then someone that fits the culture if you will. Can buy into our values and our priorities. Those are sort of the givens.”

Glass then furthered those sentiments...

“We want somebody that can win Big Ten and National Championships. We want somebody that’s a proven winner. Somebody that’s a proven recruiter that has the ability and desire to recruit in the midwest, especially in Indiana. Someone that’s a good tactician in the games, a developer of talent.”

After that, Glass was asked about the value of the Indiana job since Indiana hasn’t won a national title in years. Glass was quite adamant in his response:

“I think this is one of the best jobs in college basketball and I think through a variety of situations, we haven’t been there since 1987 and I think sometimes those of us that were so close to it at Indiana don’t step back and recognize what an extraordinary job this is. Start out with the tradition and values of the team, those are obvious. We see the five banners all the time. I think that puts us in the top-5 nationally”

“The rabid fan-base that has more people coming to a practice at Hoosier Hysteria than most teams average in a season. The recruiting base here at Indiana, we’re only the 17th-most popular state in the country but we produced 4th-most NBA players in the country. Plus the resources we are willing to put in. We have dramatically increased the resources we put into Men’s basketball over the last nine years to where I think we have one of the most robust budgets in the country.”

“I think it’s a fantastic job. I expect there to be great interest in it.”

“That’s the beauty of the opportunity. The next coach can put his mark on a program that hasn’t had the success that we expect generally in that time frame, but we have all the resources to get there, and I think looking forward can be a powerhouse to be reckoned with, with the right leadership.

“I looking forward to sitting across the table from coaches and saying, here’s what your assistant coaches budget is. Here’s how we travel. Here’s our commitment to recruiting and so forth. That’s why I’m confident that we’ll get the attention of some first class folks.”

From there, Glass moved on to discuss how this season had an impact on his decision.

“I’m always somewhat amused or bemused people say ‘well this guy is coaching for his job in this tournament or this game’ because that just seems inherently silly to me. This was a disappointing year, but the year before was a really strong year. This year wasn’t a disproportionate part of my evaluation, but a part of the whole time Tom’s here.”

After that, he approached fan frustrations.

“Yes, I read every signed email and letter that I’m sent. I talk to fans a lot. I feel I’m fairly accessible to that, so I certainly understand the frustration with this year. But I’d also suggest to you the frustration may have been universal, in my view the opposition to Tom was not.”

When that concluded, Glass moved to discuss the importance of connections to IU in the job search.

“I’ve got some ideas of people, but it’s an open search. I don’t have someone in the bag. I haven’t reached out anybody.”

“I don’t really have a litmus test at all. To me, IU ties is a double check plus. Being a former IU person is a double check plus. Being from the state of Indiana is double check plus. Collegiate coaching experience is certainty a plus, but there’s other ways, evidence to show your ability to take on a job like this.”

“I’m not going to foreclose anybody because they don’t have Indiana ties, and I’m not going to foreclose somebody because they haven’t been a coach in college, but I’m going to acknowledge that I think that’s a plus

“My guess is that the interest in this job will be such that I won’t interview everybody, but I’ll interview everybody that is connected to Indiana University. Any Alumnus of Indiana University that wants to apply to this job, I will personally talk to them.”

From there, Glass discussed the player’s relationship with Coach Crean.

“I think the players are very supportive of Coach Crean. He connects with the guys and I really think they want to play hard for him. Unfortunately, since it’s spring break we have not been able to interact directly with the players, which is unfortunate, we did reach out to them electronically through text which isn’t the way you want to do things but it’s spring break. We have scheduled a meeting with the players for Sunday night.”

In regards to timing, Glass said the move will be given the appropriate time.

“I think as quickly as we can, but we’re gonna give the time it needs.”

“The kind of people we are interested in are the kind of people that are successful and playing basketball still.”

Finally, Glass discussed all the options he had when firing Crean.

“[There’s] three years left on his contract. It seemed to me that at this time I either needed to extend his contract and give him a vote of confidence that he needed through actions and not words with an extension. Be prepared to allow him to go forward without an extension or make a change. I concluded that the extension was not something I was prepared for, even though we have had some success. I just think between and within season it has just been too inconsistent for our expectations. It was very tempting to go forward with the second option, allowing him to go forward without the extension, but that would have been a very hard thing for him to do. Let me tell you what,I gotta tell ya, [Crean] loves Indiana. He loves living here, and he loves his kids going to school here. He felt like he could win and he was willing to bet on himself and I admire that and I appreciate that. In my final analysis, I wasn’t comfortable going forward with that because given that he would only have three years left...I think he would have been on the hot seat from day one.”

In addition to all of this, Glass also addressed some other more minor details.

Glass said that Tom Crean will be getting all the benefits he deserves in the buyout. Crean will be paid $1.3 million periodically per year until reaching the $4 million sum of his buyout. With that said, if Crean finds a comparable job to that buyout payment, then Indiana’s payment will be mitigated by Crean’s new salary, which would likely lead to Indiana not paying Crean anymore.

Glass also stated that he has already received some calls of interest for the job and also reassured fans that resources wont prevent him from getting who he wants.

Overall, Glass was open and honest about the process. It appears like he is ready to make a major move and this will most likely be the most important move of his tenure.