IU has agreement with Marquette's Crean to be new coach

IU has agreement with Marquette's Crean to be new coach
ESPN.com

Trying to put a tumultuous few months behind it, Indiana University will hire Marquette's Tom Crean as its new coach.

The agreement was first reported by ESPN.com's Andy Katz on Tuesday, and University trustee Philip Eskew confirmed the hiring to The Associated Press later in the day. Eskew said Crean had signed a letter of intent with the university and was meeting with his team Tuesday night.

The school has scheduled a news conference for Wednesday at 11 a.m. ET to make the announcement.

The Hoosiers have to hope that this coaching decision goes smoother than the awkward parting with Kelvin Sampson.

He resigned in February amid allegations of NCAA violations. Dan Dakich, an assistant under Sampson and a former Indiana player and assistant under Bob Knight, took over as interim coach for the rest of the season.

The university first contacted Washington State coach Tony Bennett late Saturday night, but he withdrew from consideration.

Crean, who took the Dwyane Wade-led Golden Eagles to the Final Four in 2003, just completed a 25-10 season. Marquette lost to Stanford in the second round of the NCAA tournament.

Crean is 190-96 in nine seasons at Marquette and has taken the Golden Eagles to the NCAA tournament five times. Before that, he was an assistant at Michigan State, Pittsburgh and Western Kentucky.

In September 2006, Marquette gave Crean an extension running through the 2016-17 season. The contract makes him one of the highest-paid coaches in college basketball.