Indiana AD: Tom Crean not on hot seat
Indiana men's head basketball coach Tom Crean received a vote of confidence from the school's athletic director, saying he fully supports the coach and that his job is not in jeopardy.
Crean’s Hoosiers are 19-11 and 9-8 in the Big Ten this season after a 77-63 home loss to Iowa on Tuesday.
"I'm bullish on Tom," Indiana athletic director Fred Glass told ESPN.com. "He's done a really good job with these guys. It's ridiculous to say that someone is coaching for his job for one game and that it would be up or down in one game."
Glass responded to rumblings about the school is only keeping Crean on the job only because of the massive buyout in his contract.
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If the school fires Crean, he would be owed $12 million. After July 1, that number drops to $7.5 million, $4 million in July 2016 and $1 million for 2017-20.
"And while that's a big number and a significant amount of money, that's not what is keeping him in the job. I think he needs to be the coach ... I want him to be the coach here,” Glass said.
Crean has offset language in his contract should he be fired and get another coach job or go in to television.
"The rise and fortunes of Indiana [athletics] is with Indiana basketball," Glass said. "Everybody thinks the guy with the clipboard, the next guy, can be better. But starting over is overrated. You can't be willy-nilly about it."
In six plus seasons at the school, Crean has a 120-108 record and taken the team to two Sweet Sixteen appearances.
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