Creaning, as defined by UrbanDictionary. “Kicking a player off the team because you think you have a better one to take his place.” The term “Creaning” derives from the action of Indiana University head men’s basketball coach Tom Crean. When Tom Crean accepted the illustrious Indiana Hoosier job his program was in a bad place, and he took certain liberties to restore the Indiana program, as well as self preserve his dream job. After explaining to already enrolled Indiana players that they no longer had scholarships, Crean used the extra scholarships to bring in his own recruits. One of those recruits was Matt Roth from Washington, IL.
Image courtesy of crimsonquarry.com
Fifth-year senior guard Matt Roth committed to Tom Crean and Indiana in the doldrums and saw his commitment through to the other side. Roth played his heart out for the Hoosiers through 2008-2009 while Indiana finished 6-25 (1-17), and he honored his commitment the next two years despite disappointing seasons in 2009-2010 10-21 (4-14) and 2010-2011 12-20 (3-15). Now that Indiana finished 27-9 in 2011-2012 and is set up perfectly for a Big Ten and NCAA Tournament run in 2012-2013, head coach Tom Crean figured he no longer needed Matt Roth.
Earlier this month, lowest-rated recruit of 2012 Ron Patterson mysteriously developed ”academic trouble”, despite Indiana accepting 69% of applicants, which was enough for Crean to send him to prep school for a year. Now Tom has ”Creaned” another in Matt Roth–the term “Creaned” has existed since he cleaned house upon entering Indiana, not honoring the scholarship promises that went out to past recruits. This year he is Creaning players he recruited himself because he doesn’t believe in a scholarship limit. His 2012 class is rated by most services as one of the best in the nation, including 5-star point guard Yogi Ferrell and 4-star forwards Hanner Parea and Jeremy Hollowell. So Crean continued to target 2012 players with intentions of not honoring a senior guard’s scholarship and possibly telling other committed prospects (Ron Patterson) that they didn’t have a place in Bloomington any longer.
Dustin Dopirak from scout.com wrote a piece saying Matt Roth saw the writing on the wall when Crean told him he would gladly be a reference for his job applications while Roth still had one more year of eligibility. Thanks Coach, thanks for sticking by your guys.
“School has started, and they’ve got their guys that are there on scholarship,” Roth said. “They’ve got the right number of guys. I’m not enrolled and I’m not on scholarship. I never told them I was ready to move on, but I gotta look out for my best interest now. There’s no sense in hoping. I don’t know if it’s even possible now.”
Indiana has been ranked as high as no. 1 in preseason polls, so the powers that be believe a magical season will be in the works. Hopefully Matt Roth can enjoy that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity from whatever cubicle Tom Crean helps him into.
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Creaning
Ian Gold
Half-baked article. Matt Roth was senior who graduated with an undergraduate degree AND masters degree. He has a year left, I believe, due to injuries. He went through senior night, and was never in the plans going forward. He’s been a terrific Hoosier, but has waged a definitive PR effort to play one more year, when he knew from the beginning he was done. Additionally, there is much more to the Ron Patterson story conveniently left out of this article to slime coach Crean. I don’t mind critiques, if they are researched and presented fairly. This seems like a hit piece tossed together with an agenda attached.
Oh….I almost forgot…the players that Coac Crean disposed of when he came in were players failing classes, discipline problems, and the like. Others left on their own due to the Sampson sanctions, and the decimation of the team….again, the article is accurate that players were asked to leave, but the facts were conveniently left off to present a certain image of Coach Crean Mr. gold wishes to propound. Misleading is a kind term for such drivel
I gave Crean an ethical pass for the original Creaning, because he was in fact brought in to straighten up the mess at Indiana. That included players that were failing and had discipline problems.
Another question, do you think Matt Roth could have contributed this year because of his specific skill set?
Ian,
I appreciate your concern regarding Coach Crean and how he manages his team. Unfortunately I see that you have risen up to your “kind of a professional sports writer” description. Professional journalists usually take the time to actually interview, call, contact or in some way get information from the people involved in their article. You did none of the above other than read someone else’s article. Here is another article regarding Matt Roth and his relationship with Coach Crean…http://indiana.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1401618
Here are some other quotes from Matt Roth:
“They did a great job. They tried in every way to make it possible for me to return. I knew it would take a lot of things that nobody could control. I can’t say enough about the way they helped me in job pursuits. I know behind the scenes, they’ve done a lot of great things to help me in the interview process. They’ve really been there and helped me as I’ve tried to find a job, and they’ve helped me try to find a job in the location where my fiance and I want to be as we start our lives.”
“He had me come down to work a couple camps. He was sending texts and calling. He checks up on me,”
While using the urbandictionary.com as your reference source may, in your eyes, give you some sort of street credibility, it doesn’t give you any journalistic credibility.
Oh, maybe it does as the definition of “golding” is:
“Golding; Is the name given to a person or persons. Who are Money hungry, Only cares for themselves, Nasty individual who enjoys bringing down other’s. To his or her level. Which is lower than scrum off a snakes dick. A golding has very low self respect, usually Fat, untidy and smell like shit. Also feels the needs to buy Friendship’s. But in general a very lonely sole.”
So maybe it does have some things right.
Fans of IU need to get a taste of reality. If you want your team to continue to rise like they are under Crean, he better do what he is doing and opening spots for top recruits to come in. Coach Cal has done that for years and look at this success at Memphis and Kentucky. If it is within the rules, so be it. This is a business and Crean’s job is to win games period. Stop living in some Utopian world thinking these guys are altruistic or something. Crean was hired to win basketball games, period. Ian isn’t saying anything about violating NCAA rules. He just is questioning some ethics. It speaks to a larger narrative about motives in major college athletics. Sorry you IU fans feel so offended by it, but you are living with your heads in the sand.
That said thank you for your comments. I have to say they were very well written. BTW, we are looking for more writers. I am not being sarcastic either. If you really don’t like Ian, then you can write on our site and refute each and every one of his articles. It would be welcomed.
Mr. Russell,
I believe the response from the Indiana fans isn’t because we have our heads in the sand, it is because Mr. Gold wrote a poor article that exposed his lack of effort and his lack of knowledge regarding Coach Crean, Matt Roth, the 2008 roster situation and even the urbandictionary. Having your coach described as taking “liberties”, not honoring commitments,etc. and using incorrect examples to back up these descriptions is poor journalism that reflects poorly on everyone involved…including our program. That is the reason you are receiving comments not due to the naivete of our fan base.
I won’t even comment regarding the comparison to coach Calipari and heads in the sand.
Thank you for suggesting we could write for yardbarker.com. That is truly a generous offer and reflects well on the wonderful education we have received from Indiana University.
I think it is slanderous to compare Crean with Cal. I do believe that Crean actually cares if his kids get their degrees, while Cal cares only about winning games and championships. UK is nothing more than a NBA springboard with little regard to education.
Ha, I love the definition for Golding. Sadly I’m none of those things except currently untidy. I am not being sarcastic when I support Ari’s comment that you should write for the site.
In truth, you need to put away your fan ideals and start connecting dots. What Crean did is not uncommon, but it’s wrong. The quotes you pulled about Roth were from Jeff Rabjohns, who does a tremendous job, but whose job is to service the Indiana fan. They were also posted last night after Roth was contacted by multiple people inside the program explaining the negative press that his former quotes were generating.
Mr. Gold
Again, it isn’t the lack of sophistication of the Indiana fans that is the problem that you suggest. You could have called Matt Roth yourself and found out the situation. You could have read about the 2008 situation and would have known that those players were not “creaned.” Drugs, alcohol and academics drove those players out. If the definition of “creaning” is to replace another player with a better one then why would coach Crean replace players from a 25-8 team with walk-on players? Are you saying that he “creaned” an entire team so that he could replace them with players picked from campus tryouts or last minute offers to players like Matt Roth? To use this as an example of “creaning” is just demeaning to coach Crean and makes you look like a lazy writer.
I think you do Jeff Rabjohn’s a disservice. Rabjohn’s job is to drive business to the Rivals site just as it in your interest to bring people in to yardbarker with your articles. I wouldn’t insinuate that you would be deceptive in your article in an attempt to cause controversy and gain attention…Never, nope ever, would I suggest that.
I’ll restate because it’s not clear. 97% of coaches would have done the same thing Crean did upon entering Indiana and in many of the “Creaning” instances he wasn’t wrong. Also, please don’t say that Roth had already graduated, because many seniors have already graduated because extra credits earned during summer semester.
On towards a productive conversation…
I think the only two questions to address here are “is Matt Roth eligible to play for Indiana this season?” and “Does Matt Roth have an interest in playing basketball at Indiana?”. If your answer to both questions is yes, then what other conclusion can you come to?
I don’t believe those are the only two questions to address. The question is did Tom Crean treat Matt Roth fairly and Matt Roth’s response is yes he did. Not only did Matt Roth receive a full scholarship and 4 years with Indiana University, the University paid for his undergraduate degree and his Master’s degree. Matt Roth gave his senior speech during senior’s night knowing he was playing his last home game.
I am eligible to play for Indiana University and I have an interest in playing for Indiana University but that doesn’t give me the right to expect to play for Indiana University this fall. You again attempt to place Matt Roth in a role that he himself denies.
Should we now move on and finally admit what Matt Roth says himself…that he wasn’t “creaned”, that he had little expectation of being on the team this year having already given his senior speech, that he had neither enrolled in classes to be eligible nor had he even worked out with the team.
stopped reading at UrbanDictionary
Here you go, do investigation before you go telling the world false information. Lol, another journalism moron!
http://indiana.rivals.com/content.asp?CID=1401618
Jaybob,
How is that “setting the record straight?” Give IU credit for a hell of a spin here. They have a great resource program for their ex-athletes, which actually should be commended. They treated Roth pretty well as they really didn’t push to make space. The truth is, they needed his scholarship for someone else. He already got what he needed from the University, they can say they did him justice, but if they really wanted him Crean and crew would have fought for it. That said it is just another example of players being cogs in the system serving their prime purpose to make money for their schools. The players are the commodities and the way the market sells right now is that younger players are more valuable than the older ones. To slice it any other way would be dishonest. Look Crean is one of the better guys in this system, as proven by how he dealt with Roth post his decision. That said it’s clear they needed to make space, so they moved on. Roth is also smart not to make waves. He sees he can use this to further whatever he wants to do. Being a boat rocker will only alienate you. It’s too bad because at the end they all are really being screwed.
Very good point, and I understand what you are saying. The thing is though, is Roth knew after this past season if wouldn’t be likely he would be back. I am very passionate against the oversign, and that is my only dislike with Coach when it comes to recruiting (sorry UK and other fans, he doesn’t cheat!).
Another thing to point out is that Christian Watford told Crean he would 99% be gone after this season. Coach Crean felt he would have an open scholarship there. Plus, a player’s parent told Coach Crean they would pay for their son to go to IU, to help with the scholly crunch (that is not assumption, but fact) if need be. I’m not sure why the parent isn’t paying so Roth can be on the team, but it is what it is.
Coach Crean does over-recruit, but this isn’t all on him too. He was told there would be scholarships available, but it didn’t happen for him and the team. (please don’t think I am being aggressive with my comment lol, just giving this side of the story)
I guess you wouldn’t have known this but Matt Roth was recruited by Sampson and not Crean.
I understand you have an agenda in this article but your bending of the facts and inaccurate info. just show how clueless you are in regards to this so called “Creaning”.
Here is a timeline.
Matt Roth commits to Sampson in August of 2007.
Sampson fired in February of 2008.
Tom Crean hired in April of 2008.
Matt Roth enrolls at Indiana with the class of 2008 in June.
Yeah, he was a recruit in Crean’s first Indiana class.
IU fans were making excuses for K. Sampson, right up until his final week. They will do the same for CTC, aka Clappy the Clown.
No, that is not the entire truth. While some supported Sampson there were many that did not. If you go to the Indiana scout site you will see that there were many Indiana fans that had a strong dislike from the moment his name was mentioned and continued their vocal disdain for him his entire tenure, this includes some of the moderators. You may wish this to be true but seeing how you address coach Crean I think you have an agenda that may give you a faulty memory.
Sorry Rocko, I feel you are only acknowledging the Roth quotes that are positive for Indiana. You might say I am only acknowledging the bad, but those were the ones that raised the red flags. I also respect Jeff Rabjohns greatly, but his quotes in that rivals piece were after Roth had a secomd to cool down and organize his words.
You are not going to convince me or others that Matt Roth was content not playing for Indiana and that it wasnt Crean and staffs decision to send him on his way. That’s fine, at this point I appreciate your opinion, I really do, and we’ll agree to disagree.
Yes, we will have to agree to disagree but I believe that I have swayed others. :-) They just haven’t told you!
You should join the discussion over at Hoosiersportsnation.com. There are multiple threads discussing this.
Ha, the lions den, no thanks. If you’d like you can share my twitter handle and I’ll address questions and comments accordingly. I have a weekly column on BeyondU where I do just that. @Einsane
Not the lion’s den! But if you want to get the pulse of the hoosier fan then you need to get better information that what you used here. There are true discussions regarding coach Crean over there and may give you a better insight to what he is doing.
I’ll share the twitter handle!
I have read all the responses and I see both side to a point, but if you have followed Crean through his years at MU you can see the pattern. Even Buzz Williams at MU does the same thing and who did he learn this from? Some Indiana fans say they don’t like the oversigning but Crean was under the assumption there would be available spots. Why does he coninue to oversign most years. Even on the Indiana sites, fans are questioning who will have to go in order to make room for the next guy that commits. My one question is if Patterson was the next 5 star stud ready to take Indiana to the promised land would he still be out? NO WAY, they would have found an excuse to make someone else go away. You know this is true. Crean will continue to oversign and when it doesn’t work out, Crean the next one. Mark my words. Last note, why is it acceptable to oversign with the notion that a parent is willing to pay if you can’t cut someone. Does this make it ethical? You still knowingly oversigned.