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Get ready for it, because it's going to be bad. It has already started, but it will get worse. Between now and the Indiana Hoosiers' final game of this 2007-08 season, whenever that is, you're going to hear gushing compliments and testimonials about interim Indiana coach Dan Dakich.
At first you'll be impressed, then numb, then maybe even resentful. Which is a shame. Because everything everybody is saying -- and will say -- about Dakich is true.
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| Dan Dakich won't have to go begging for forgiveness when he screws up ... because he won't screw up. (AP) |
Dakich has never been that guy. He'll never be that guy. He's just not wired that way, which is why he is respected by his players and competing coaches and even the most cynical of media. But it's also why he found himself available last spring after being forced out at Bowling Green with a 156-140 record in 10 seasons. To win big at a place like Bowling Green, you typically have to recruit players who have too much talent for the Mid-American Conference but too much baggage for major conferences. Players with a horrible high school transcript or a legal entanglement or something of that ilk. That's how smart coaches win and advance in this business.
Dakich is too dumb for that. He's so dumb, he refused to stay at West Virginia when the Mountaineers hired him in 2002. Dakich won't talk about it, but people at West Virginia at the time say the program was teeming with potentially big-time NCAA violations centering around one player, and when Dakich realized just how stinky the situation was, he bolted. Dakich took a beating in the media for being the latest runaway coach, but he never explained himself then. And he won't now. I've asked for details. He refuses to give any. It's what makes him so infuriating, and so special.
Full disclosure: Dakich is one of a handful of coaches whose number is in my cell phone. We talk on occasion, rarely about basketball. It's more fun to talk about the size of his head (friends call him "Mench" after the moon-sized skull of infamous baseball player Kevin Mench) or the state of his golf game (I've seen him shoot a 73) or the athletic accomplishments of his 13-year-old son.
We never talked about the Indiana job that just came open, the one abandoned by Kelvin Sampson. I tried, believe me. When it was clear Sampson was in trouble and likely to be replaced by someone on staff, I called Dakich. Sent him text messages. Nothing. No response, because that's not the Dakich way. He doesn't traffic in anonymous information. If he can't say something with his name on it, he won't say it. Which makes him beyond infuriating. And beyond special.
Dakich, or at least Dakich's character, might be something of an unknown for college basketball fans -- but people in the business know. This is why Dakich's first game as interim coach at Assembly Hall, last Tuesday against Ohio State, sounded like a two-hour makeout session on ESPN. Brent Musburger and Steve Lavin couldn't say enough nice things about Dakich, the TV lovefest continued Sunday in the Hoosiers' loss at Michigan State, and I'm telling you, that was just the beginning. Indiana will be on TV a lot between now and the end of the season, and in the NCAA Tournament when unique storylines are gold, Dakich's midseason ascension to head coach at his alma mater -- Indiana, no less -- will be priceless.
By the time the Hoosiers are eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, assuming they don't win the whole thing, you're going to be on Dan Dakich overload. Hopefully, though, the message will get through to his Indiana bosses. The Hoosiers certainly could make a sexier hire than Dakich -- this is the first and last time any derivative of the word "sexy" and "Dakich" will appear in the same sentence -- but they might not be able to make a better one.
Dakich is perfect for this exact program at this exact time. Hoosier Nation continues to be divided over Bob Knight, and Dakich would bridge that divide; he played for Knight, coached for him, then went his own way. After being slimed by Sampson, Indiana needs a coach whose ethics are beyond reproach, and Dakich is as pure as it gets. Despite working for Sampson, who created an atmosphere where telephone cheating was obviously accepted and possibly encouraged, Dakich's name doesn't appear anywhere in the latest NCAA report. That's a trustworthy man right there.
Is that a great basketball coach? Honestly, I don't know. But I do know that in Knight, Dakich learned from the best pure coach in basketball history. And I know he won enough at Bowling Green to get a job in the Big East. And I know his refusal to get his hands dirty cost him that Big East job, and contributed to his downfall at Bowling Green.
So is Dan Dakich good enough to be the permanent head coach at Indiana? Not sure. I'm still trying to decide if Indiana is good enough for Dan Dakich.
