Mike Woodson’s tenure at Indiana won’t get a fifth season.
The Hoosiers head coach is not expected to return to the program next season, according to ESPN, but is expected to coach the rest of the season. He is reportedly still discussing the financial terms of his exit, as he is due an $8 million payout if fired.
The news arrived Thursday amid a skid in which the team lost six of its last seven.
Woodson joined Indiana in 2021, taking over a program that failed to break through to the Final Four under Tom Crean and seemingly hit bottom under Archie Miller. To reverse the decline, it turned to Woodson, a former 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.