BLOOMINGTON -- Tom Crean spent the last nine years of his life coaching the men's basketball team at Indiana University, but he's working out of a different office these days - the one in his Bloomington home.
Crean was fired from the university ten days ago - Archie Miller was named as his replacement over the weekend.
“I would say the first week felt like about a month,” said Crean. “The most fortunate thing is that I was literally on my way to Florida when I found out that this was a reality.”
The transition hasn't been an easy one, but Crean doesn't seem to hold any grudges against the place he's called home for nearly a decade.
Even after the news, Crean returned to IU to watch the women play in the NIT.
“I didn’t know if it would be hard, but it wasn’t hard at all,” said Crean. “I made my 21-year-old go down there with me. She didn’t want to.”
His team was also on spring break during his firing, so their final meeting didn't come until last Tuesday.
Crean said that part, by far, was the most difficult.
“They were in the weight room when I went over there, and I just said ‘what are you scrubs doing?’ I tried to get through, I tried to have a plan of what I was going to say, and I did a heck of a job getting through it,” said Crean. “It was hard; there were some constant tears. We exchanged some really special moments.”
Tom says like any other season; he second guesses his recruiting, schedule, anything involving the program that could have led them to this point.
“What’s going to happen is, they’re going to get a new coach and I’m going to get a new team, but there’s always going to be us,” said Crean.
He said the support he's received from the community and the university has been helpful in the transition.
“People have been so great with the letters, with the stuff I was getting to the office, notes. 15-20 letters and stuff each day brought to the house,” said Crean. “It’s been awesome. The last thing you want to feel when you’ve been somewhere for nine years is that it didn’t matter.”
Watch the video above for Crean's full interview with RTV6's Dave Furst.
