Tom Crean to Louisville? At this point, it seems unlikely

Listen, we still love Tom Crean content here at this blog, even though he’s no longer Indiana head coach. So when Crean’s name comes up as a potential replacement to a blue-blood basketball school that’s only 90 miles down the road from Indiana and just now fired its longtime scandalous head coach, we’re going to have to post about it.

Here’s Lisa Kerney, an ESPN anchor, suggesting that Crean could be a candidate for the Cardinals:

Tom Crean, right now, does not have a coaching job in basketball. For all of his eventual undoings at IU, he did bring the program out of a harrowing scandal and back to respectability.

But would he really be willing to do the same for Louisville? That’s hard to imagine.

While Crean could clean up the school’s image, I can’t imagine he would be willing to take on this task at this point in his career. In addition, it’s unclear whether Crean would be an interim coach for just the 2017-18 season, or hired on a permanent full-time basis. And it looks like Louisville president Greg Postel, who’s an interim president himself, wants to waste no time in hiring an interim head coach:

At this point, I think Crean’s best bet is to do a year or so on television - his previous appearances as a TV analyst have been really good - and yuk it up with Seth Greenberg and Fran Fraschilla during halftime of an East Carolina-South Florida 9pm start. Then, he and his agent can reach out to schools next hiring season with a clearer mind of where he’s interested in coaching. Personally, I think he’d thrive in a football school where a basketball coach with a ton of energy and the ability to recruit top talent nationally would bring fans to the stadium during the winter.

But at this point, anything’s on the table.

Indiana plays Louisville at the KFC Yum! Center on Saturday, December 9 at 2pm. Imagine the atmosphere if Crean is on the other sideline of IU for this one.

But don’t think about it too long, because it’s unlikely to happen.