It’s unbelievable how bad the entire Indiana athletic program is now.

At a place like Missouri, which has TWO Big XII titles, in softball, the baseball facility is upgraded. The hoops facility, thanks to Wal-Mart money, is nearly brand new. The football stadium has a great facade from a renovation in recent decades.

Compare that to IU, which supposedly has the best basketball and men’s soccer programs in the Big Ten, both historically among the best in the nation. Memorial Stadium is an ugly hunk of junk, though it’s getting renovated slloowwwllyyy. Assembly Hall has history, and its quirks range from the charming (what the hell are those curved walls in front of the main seating section?) to the absurd (balconies. No further comment needed).

IU soccer is now shit. Yes, shit. Three straight years without a Final Four? (No, it’s not a College Cup. It’s a plaque trophy, like very other NCAA-sanctioned championship).

Football remains mediocre, despite a “good” year.

The basketball job just got turned down by a dude who coaches in freaking Pullman, Washington, and couldn’t even get good candidates two years ago.

It’s amazing how far Indiana has fallen overall. I know we can talk about who is to blame, but honestly, it doesn’t matter unless it’s someone who we can fire right now.

Like Rick Greenspan, the guy who wants to rush the hire so it happens before the Final Four. God forbid they let a coach have a chance to decide if they want to try and resurrect a once-great program.

Indiana does not get Bennett.

Indiana will not get Miller.

Indiana will likely not get Dixon.

Indiana will set itself back another decade. What a blown opportunity to get a guy to save the program like Williams saved KU, Pitino saved Kentucky, and Howland saved UCLA. A rebuilder, who stays for a decade and gets IU back to national prominence. Instead, Greenspan wants to rush the whole thing as if IU remains that desirable a job.

This is not a place that can call a quality, already employed, candidate and say “Hey, we wanna hire you. Decide within the next few days, OK?” The school has got to wine and dine prospective coaches. IU must allow these dudes to visit Bloomington with their family, look at housing, spend a week, see how they would like spending more than a decade there.

Instead, they’re looking for that Final Four weekend splash, which will be a thud.

History means less than nothing.

So yeah . . . keep the laughable Knight coaching tree (sapling?) away from Bloomington.