Indiana head coach Mike Woodson will step down after this season, school announces
In a statement sent on Friday, Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson said that Woodson had informed him of the 'emotional and difficult decision'
Mike Woodson's tenure at Indiana won't get a fifth season.
The Hoosiers head coach will step down at the end of the current season, with the school confirming the news on Friday. Woodson is expected to coach the rest of the season, but has been reportedly discussing the financial terms of his exit.
In a statement sent on Friday, Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson said that Woodson had told him that he wanted to step down at the end of the season. Dolson added that the "emotional and difficult decision" had been "weighing on" Woodson's mind.
"Wed have had subsequent and thoughtful conversations about his decision and his desire to ensure that the program is in the best position it can be moving forward," Dolson said. He said that Woodson will speak about his decision later, "at an appropriate time."
The news was first reported on Thursday amid a skid, where the team lost six of its last seven games.
Woodson joined Indiana in 2021, taking over a program that failed to break through to the Final Four under Tom Crean and seemingly hit rock bottom under Archie Miller. To reverse the decline, it turned to Woodson, an All-American under Bob Knight who had coached in the NBA for two and a half decades, but never in the college ranks.
The Hoosiers found early success under Woodson, breaking a five-year NCAA tournament drought in his first season and reaching the AP top 10 at one point in his second.
The third year is where it started to go really wrong. After the departures of All-American Trayce Jackson-Davis and five-star one-and-done Jalen Hood-Schifino, Indiana failed to keep up with any of its Big Ten rivals, finishing sixth in the conference and failing to qualify for a third straight trip to the NCAA tournament.
This season was supposed to be better after a strong transfer portal class including Oumar Ballo (Arizona), Myles Rice (Washington State) and Kanaan Carlyle (Stanford). Indiana was ranked No. 17 in the preseason AP Poll, but back-to-back non-conference losses to Louisville and Gonzaga humbled them quickly. Now, a failure to improve has sent them back to the drawing board.
