Indiana coach Tom Crean and Georgia Tech coach Brian Gregory shared one season on Michigan State coach Tom Izzo’s staff. That was enough to bind them together.
“We’re all part of the Michigan State family, so nothing ever changes here,” Crean said Thursday, as his team prepared to play Kentucky in the South region semifinals Friday.
This season, Crean has presided over the restoration of one of college basketball’s proudest programs. He has led the Hoosiers out of NCAA and academic turmoil and a 6-25 record in his first season, 2008-09, and into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2002. In quieter moments, he has been a confidant and guide to Gregory, who one year ago next Wednesday was chosen to take over a Tech team that had eroded in former coach Paul Hewitt’s final seasons.
Though hardly insubstantial, Gregory’s renovation project isn’t quite as epic as what Crean faced when he arrived from Marquette. However, “it’s not about similarities,” Crean said. “It’s about, you just try to help somebody with the experiences that you’ve gone through.”
Crean coached in 1989-90 for former Spartans coach Jud Heathcote and then from 1995-99 for Izzo. Gregory coached in East Lansing, Mich., from 1990-96 and again from 1999-2003. The 1995-96 season was Gregory and Crean’s one season together. Their priority on toughness and rebounding has an obvious source in Izzo.
The two talked at length last summer on the recruiting trail about the process of rebuilding, Gregory said, “obviously with the basketball issues, but a lot with the non-basketball issues, the culture, the change of attitude and direction that needed to be [implemented].”
One Crean message centered on not losing focus in the face of adversity and discouraging results.
“You’ve got to make sure you keep your vision intact,” he said. “It’s not anybody else’s responsibility to see your vision but you, and that’s your responsibility to get it across to them.”
Their wives, Joani Crean and Yvette Gregory, have spoken often, as well.
“When you take over a venture like rebuilding an Indiana, rebuilding a Georgia Tech, there’s a lifestyle commitment that encompasses the entire family,” Gregory said.
As the season began, Crean and Gregory continued the conversation over text messages and phone calls.
“What you learn is there’s a lot of trap doors, and the more aware you are, the more you miss those trap doors,” Crean said. “You’ve got to make sure you don’t step in the wrong one. There’s always things that are in a program that you didn’t see coming.”
Crean followed Tech’s results this season, and vice versa. Indiana went from six wins in 2008-09 to 10 to 12 to a 27-8 record this season.
“My heart is pulling for them, there’s no question about that,” Gregory said.
Tech appears far from the glory that attends the Hoosiers, who finished fifth in the Big Ten and earned a No. 4 seed in the NCAA tournament, then beat New Mexico State and Virginia Commonwealth to gain the regional semifinals.
The Jackets finished 11-20. In three games this season, they scored fewer than 40 points. Their 54-36 loss to Miami in the ACC tournament was the lowest point total in an ACC tournament game in the shot-clock era. Shortly after the season, Gregory dismissed leading scorer and rebounder Glen Rice Jr. from the team.
Crean is confident Gregory is on the right path.
“I think he’s doing a great job,” Crean said. “He’s a very tough guy, and I think that when you have that kind of toughness, he’s going to persevere. He’ll be successful.”
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