Indiana University Men’s Basketball Head Coach Mike Woodson to Retire at the end of the 2024-25 Season Indiana University has made it official: IU basketball head coach Mike Woodson is stepping down at the end of the 2024-25 season.
Here is the full statement from IU AD Scott Dolson:
With this decision made, Coach Woodson and I share the desire to see Hoosier Nation unite beginning on Saturday afternoon in support of these players, coaches, and program.
During a meeting with Coach Woodson on Wednesday, he informed me he wanted to step down as our program’s head coach at the end of the current season. He said it had been weighing on his mind for a while, and that it was an emotional and difficult decision. We have had subsequent thoughtful conversations about his decision and his desire to ensure that the program is in the best position it can be moving forward. At an appropriate time, Coach Woodson will articulate his feelings about his decision and his experiences these last four years.
It’s clear to me from our discussions in the last several days that his No. 1 priority is for the attention to be off him, and instead focused on uniting Hoosier Nation in support of our student-athletes, coaches, and, most importantly, the program. We still have much to play for this season as we prepare for Saturday’s game against Michigan and the remainder of the 2024-25 season, and we want to encourage Hoosier fans to rally around the program and support it in the same positive way that Hoosier fans did during Mike’s All-America and Big Ten MVP playing career.
Coach Woodson is a class act. During the last four years, he has led the program during a transformational time in college athletics and helped us become a national leader in evolving areas including NIL and the Transfer Portal. No one loves IU Basketball more than he does. I want to thank him for coming back to Bloomington and accepting the challenge of rebuilding our program and re-connecting it with its past and its foundation. In pursuit of that goal, it was important to him that he bring back other legendary Hoosier players such as Calbert Cheaney, Randy Wittman, and Jordan Hulls, all of whom share his love and passion for this program. That’s a group of individuals that combined for 375 wins at IU, seven Big Ten championships, two Final Fours, and a national title.
#24 Michigan Holds off Indiana University’s Men’s Basketball’s comeback in a three-point win The #24 Michigan Wolverines held off comeback effort 70-67 Saturday Afternoon in Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers fall to 14-10 on the season and 5-8 in the Big Ten and with seven games left in the regular season time is running out for the Hoosiers as they travel to Michigan State on Tuesday Night. Michigan State beat Oregon 86-74 in East Lansing on Saturday as Spartans Head Coach Tom Izzo tied Former Indiana Bob Knight all the all-time wins lead in the Big Ten with 353 and has to chance to become the winningest coach in Big Ten History at home on Tuesday against Indiana. Friday afternoon Indiana University Men’s Basketball released a statement that Head Coach Mike Woodson would be retiring after the season. Woodson is 66 years old and has 77-50 record with two NCAA Tournament Appearances and 3 winning seasons. After the game Woodson would not answer any questions in regard to his upcoming retirement in the post-game press conference and no players were made available. It’s been a tough month for Mike Woodson and the Hoosiers and when asked how he has handled all of it. “Well, it’s been emotional. We’re dealing with young men, young kids that’s trying to figure it out.” Woodson said after the game. The Hoosiers have lost five in a row and seven of the last eight games.
Michigan improves to 18-5 overall and 10-2 in the Big Ten as the Wolverines keep pace for the Big Ten Lead and a double bye in the upcoming Big Ten Tournament in March at Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis. For Michigan Head Coach Dusty May it was an emotional return to a place that he grew up just southwest Bloomington less than 20 miles from campus and was a student manager and staff member for both Bob Knight and Mike Davis. May was appreciative of the crowd’s reaction to him in pregame introductions and normally does not pay attention to it but coming back to his South-Central Indiana Roots its was hard for him not too. “I heard the ovation, and I appreciate it. I know where I came from. I didn’t score a basket here.” Michigan Head Coach Dusty May said after the game and he praised his coaching staff and players. “I’m not into self-promotion.” May left Florida Atlantic for Michigan in the off season after leading the Owls to the 2023 Final Four and NCAA Tournament last season. He brought Graduate Student Vlad Goldin with from Boca Raton to Ann Arbor and rebuilt the roster with a ton of transfers in his first season that has Michigan competing for a Big Ten Title quicker than anyone expected. May received a huge ovation and some IU fans were chanting “We want Dusty” at the end of the game. Indiana will a couple of months to decide who the next head coach as going to be and there are some that think the first call should be made to Ann Arbor but with over 2 months to go before the National Championship Game in San Antonio in April there will be plenty of speculation as to who the Hoosiers will pursue.
Malik Reneau led Indiana with 16 points and Mackenize Mgbako recorded his first double double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Bloomington Native Anthony Leal added 12 points as the Hoosiers fought from being down double digits most of the game to fight back and fall in the final minute. Leal hit a three a buzzer that made the score three points, but it was too little too late. Seven-Footer Danny Wolf led Michigan with 20 points and 9 rebounds as Vlad Goldin added 18 points and 8 rebounds as the Hoosiers could not stop Michigan’s twin towers. Tre Donaldson who is an Auburn Transfer added 18 points and sparked Michigan to start the game hitting two three pointers. The Hoosiers and the Wolverines were tied in the early stages of the game 2-2 and 5-5 when Goldin hit a free throw to put them up 6-5 and then Donaldson’s second three pointer gave the Wolverines a 9-5 a lead and never looked back. Indiana would tie the game one more time in the second half but Michigan never trailed throughout the game. Michigan led 43-27 at half and Indiana out scored the Wolverines 40-27 in the second half.
The Hoosiers were down 17 points with 17:18 left in the second half and cut the lead 1 point 53-52 with 9:30 left in the game. Indiana tied the game with 4:08 left with two Luke Goode Free Throws to make it 59-59 with 4:08 left. Michigan led by five points 66-61 with 1:25 left. Malik Reneau scored on a driving layup with 1:01 left to make it 66-63. Trey Galloway would add a free throw to make 66-64 with 12 seconds left. Danny Wolf sealed the win with four free throws in the final 11 seconds before Leal’s three made the final margin of victory three points. Indiana had beaten Michigan four times in a row before Saturday Afternoon as all five games have been decided by five points or less.
Dusty May praised Mike Woodson after the game. “I think he’s a fine basketball coach; I think he’s a fine human being. I think he’s done a lot for this university, with the jersey on and with the suit on.” May said he sat in on some of Mike Woodson’s staff meetings when he was an assistant at UAB and Woodson was with the Atlanta Hawks. “He’s a very, very nice man. He was a big-time player.” May added. There is always going to be respect between players, staff and coaches who have been connected to college sports at any university and for Dusty May and Mike Woodson they have always been and always will be Indiana Hoosiers no matter where they are coaching.
Former Indiana Hoosier Star Grace Berger lands with the WNBA’s Minnesota Lynx Less than a week after she was waived by the Indiana Fever, former Indiana Hoosier Grace Berger has a new WNBA home. Berger, who played for the Hoosiers from 2018-23, was claimed off waivers by the Minnesota Lynx on Friday. Berger will get a fresh start with the Lynx, who are coached by four-time WNBA Coach of the Year Cheryl Reeve, a one-time head coach at Indiana State from 1995-2000. Berger will be joining one of the WNBA’s best teams. The Lynx finished second in the league with a 30-10 record and lost in the WNBA Finals. The Lynx fell to the New York Liberty 3-2 in the best-of-five Finals. Courtney Williams (5.5 apg) is the established distributor for the Lynx. Berger will compete for a roster spot behind her and other guards like Kayla McBride.
Berger was waived by the Indiana Fever on Sunday. She played two years for the Fever after she was drafted in the first round of the WNBA Draft in 2023. In her rookie season, Berger played 36 games and averaged 4.2 points and 1.9 assists at 14.6 minutes per game. Berger helped the franchise sell tickets at a time when they were struggling to do so, particularly in her first game of her career at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. But perhaps in a sign of things to come, Berger did not play in that game, leaving her Indiana Hoosiers fans upset. The Fever were a struggling franchise and only finished 13-27 in 2023. The Fever had the first pick in the 2024 WNBA Draft as a result. The Fever used that draft pick on Iowa’s Caitlin Clark, a point guard like Berger is, and Berger’s already limited playing time slipped even further. Berger only played in 11 games in the 2024 season. She had suffered a thumb injury while playing in the Spanish league during the WNBA offseason. She averaged 2.8 points and 0.6 assists and played only 9.3 minutes per game. Berger has been playing for OGM Ormanspor, based in Turkey’s capital, Ankara. She is averaging 13.3 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.9 assists.
Bloomington South wins the Girls Basketball Sectional Title over City Rival Bloomington North For the first time since 2019 the Bloomington South Panthers have won a Girls Basketball Sectional Championship by beating city rival Bloomington North 52-39 on Saturday Evening at Martinville in the Class 4A Sectional Championship Game. The Panthers who are 22-2 on the season have won 11 Sectional Titles in program history and will take on East Central Saturday Night at 7 PM in the Regional Championship game at Bedford North Lawrence.
Violet Hall led the way with 19 points, Angela Rojas-Cepero scored 12 points, pulled down 9 rebounds and had 5 steals. Ava Robbennolt led Bloomington North with 13 points and end the season 13-11 for second year head coach Kiley Jarrett. Bloomington South jumped out a 9-0 lead as the Cougars committed 5 turnovers and did not score their first basket until an Ava Robbennolt three with 3:25 left in the quarter as the Panthers led 9-3 at the end of the first quarter.
The Cougars fought back in the second quarter to tie the game 19-19 with 1:42 left when the Panthers scored the final four points to head into the locker room up 23-19. Bloomington South outscored Bloomington North 20-6 in the third quarter to lead 43-25 going into the final ten minutes. The Panthers scored 9 points and struggled on free throw shooting as the Cougars scored 14 fourth quarter points, but the third quarter struggles were too much to overcome.
On Friday Night Bloomington South beat Terre Haute North 59-19 and Bloomington North beat Martinsville 46-40 in the Semifinals. Bloomington South had 10 different Panthers scored led by Julia Lashley with 19 point and 9 rebounds. Audrey Craft added 11 points as the Panthers finished 23-43 from the field and 8-25 from three-point range. The Bloomington South defense shined through holding Terre Haute North to 7 points in the last 18 minutes and 30 seconds of the game.
Bloomington North had to overcome a ten-point halftime deficit to take out the host school. After trailing 22-12 at the break the Cougars outscored the Artesians 38-18 in the second half. Bloomington North and Martinsville were tied 31-31 going into the final ten minutes and the Cougars defense went to work with a 41-40 lead the held Martinsville scoreless for the final 4:26 of the game. Ava Robbennolt led the way with 13 points and Lulu Frank added 12 points.
Bloomington South Girls Swimming completes the Sectional Three Peat The Bloomington South Panthers ran away with the Girls Swimming Sectional Title on Saturday at Columbus North. The Panthers finished with 503.5 points to took take home their third straight sectional title and 24th in program history. East Central finished second with 335 points. Bloomington North finished 3rd with 295 points and Edgewood finished fifth with 162 points.
The Panthers took home eight Sectional titles with Junior Harper Eakin won the 200 and the 500-yard Freestyle. Freshman Hadley Laughlin won the One Meter Diving event. Senior Anna Asplund 100-yard freestyle and the 100-yard backstroke. Sophomore Emily Wang won the 100-yard breaststroke along with the 200 Yard Medley Relay and the 400 Yard Freestyle Relay. Sophomore Mridula Muthukmaran of Columbus North won the 200 Yard Individual Medley and the 100-yard Butterfly. East Central Junior Audrey Bumgardner won the 50 Yard Freestyle, and the Trojans won the 200-yard Freestyle Relay.
The Diving Regional will take place on Tuesday Night at Jasper High School at 6 PM as the top four finishers on Saturday advanced to Tuesday and will include Laughlin’s teammate Junior Lucinda Miksza who finished 3rd will compete on with East Central Senior Bree Clarey and South Dearborn Sophomore Brynn Hamlett. The State Finals will be held Friday and Saturday at the Indiana University Natatorium on the Indiana University Indianapolis Campus.
Bloomington South Boys Wrestling protects their home gym Taking Home the Regional Title The Bloomington South Panthers scored 183 points and took home their first IHSAA Boys Wrestling Regional Championship since 2019 on Saturday in their home gym on the Southside of Bloomington. Floyd Central finished second with 120 points and Terre Haute South third with 80.5 Points. Edgewood finished with 9th with 40 points. Bloomington North finished 13th with 7 points. It’s the 18th Regional Championship for Bloomington South in program history. Monroe County finished the day with five Regional Champions, five runners up, two third place finishers and one fourth place finisher as 13 advanced to the Semi State on Saturday at the Ford Center in Evansville. There were 20 wrestlers that represented Monroe County in the Regional as you had to win your first match to be guaranteed a top four finish and place in the Semi State. For the other seven wrestlers that represented the county on Saturday that dream of advancing came to an end.
The Panthers took four take home Regional Titles on Saturday with Cam Meier-120, Armin Pratt-132, Evan Roudebush-139 and Wyatt Cooksey-150 Pounds. Jaxsen Jean-106, Nick Russell-123, Mark Hand-126, Hunter Fender-157 Pounds all finished second and Brian Conley-132 and Denny Algood-175 Pounds finished third and all advance to the Semi State Saturday at the Ford Center in Evansville. Two Panthers fell in the first round and did not advance to Semi State are Wayne Harden-144 and Oliver Piwoszkin-190 Pounds. Edgewood’s John Orman took home the regional title at 132 pounds and Michael Neidigh finished second at 150 pounds to advance to the Semi State. Calyeb Sides-126 and Reid Lanman-138 pounds fell in the first round and did not advance to the Semi State. Bloomington North’ Miguel Tedrow was the only Cougar to advance as he finished fourth at 165 Pounds. Ryan Watkins-106, Trae Hopkins-132 and Isa Muhammad-285 Pounds all fell in the first round.