Whether or not Indiana returns to its winning ways next season, the Hoosiers will have at least one link to their glory days.
Calbert Cheaney will be a fixture at Assembly Hall once again.
Cheaney, the Big Ten's all-time leading scorer and the 1993 Wooden Award winner, has been hired as Indiana's new director of basketball operations. He replaces Drew Adams, who left coach Tom Crean's staff this spring to work for ex-Indiana star Steve Alford at New Mexico.
"It was a pretty easy decision," Cheaney told reporters Monday at a news conference in Bloomington. "Since Coach Crean got the job here, we had established a friendship, a relationship together. The day he called me, it was an easy decision because he's done such a great job of laying the foundation with this program."
What Crean hopes is that Cheaney's track record of success rubs off on the current team. Cheaney spearheaded the last great era of Indiana basketball under Bob Knight, making the Hoosiers a fixture in the top five from 1991 to 93 and leading them to the 1992 Final Four.
Three straight 20-loss seasons are proof rebuilding Indiana is still a long way from a return to the Final Four, but there's reason for optimism Cheaney's arrival could coincide with the Hoosiers' return to relevance. The core of last season's team returns, guard Maurice Creek should be healthy once more and highly touted incoming center Cody Zeller will be the first of Crean's prized recruits to make his debut.
Crean said Cheaney had made a handful of trips to Bloomington the past two years, occasionally even practicing with the team. Cheaney will not be an on-the-court coach in his new role, but he will make observations about the players and be involved in on-campus recruiting.
"I really enjoy teaching," Cheaney said. "I really enjoy trying to transfer some of the knowledge that I've had over the years to other players to help them in this world, not just as players, but as people."
Katy Perry Vinessa Shaw Rebecca Romijn Nadine Velazquez Pink
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