Disgruntled Indiana Hoosiers fans might be about to get their wish regarding head coach Mike Woodson.
Woodson has conveyed to Indiana that he wishes to step down at the end of the 2024-25 season and the two sides are in talks about his future, according to Pete Thamel and Jeff Borzello of ESPN. Woodson is likely to coach the remainder of the season, but is not expected to be back with the Hoosiers next year.
Indiana and coach Mike Woodson are in discussions about the coach’s wishes to step away at end of 2024-25, sources tell me/ @jeffborzello . He’s expected coach the rest of the year, but is unlikely to return next year. The details of the exit are being discussed. pic.twitter.com/3bqvwIZKLx
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) February 6, 2025
The 66-year-old Woodson was a star player for Indiana under Bob Knight in the late 1980s, and the school had hoped he would restore the program’s glory days when he was hired in 2021. He made the NCAA Tournament in each of his first two seasons, but the program has failed to progress despite a high NIL budget. They lost their fourth consecutive game on Tuesday. That defeat dropped the Hoosiers to 14-9 overall and 5-7 in Big Ten play, and they would not be an NCAA Tournament team as things stand.
Woodson has also faced a growing backlash from fans as the program remains in a middling state on his watch. In his own report about Woodson’s future, Jeff Goodman of Field of 68 reported that Woodson has lost the backing of high-level boosters. In total, he is 77-49 over three-plus seasons at Indiana.
Woodson has been on the hot seat for a while, and there were real questions at the end of last season about whether he would be brought back. The Indiana job remains one of the more desirable ones in the sport on paper, and it sounds as if it will be available in the coming months.
