Tom Crean fired by Indiana Hoosiers

The Tom Crean era is over.

Right before the NCAA tournament began Thursday with the Indiana Hoosiers not part of it, the school announced that Crean had been relieved of his duties.

The move comes as no surprise at all and yet a bit of a surprise depending on how you look at it. Crean’s performance and consistent underachieving made this seemingly an easy call to make. Crean spent nine seasons in Bloomington and coached IU to a 166-135 record, making the NCAA tournament four times and missing it five times.

But Crean’s massive buyout was so big that it almost made it smart to keep him for one more season. The face they’ve already canned him shows just how bad it’s gotten there that the school is already willing to bite the bullet there.

Alas, the Crean era is over in Hoosierville. It will be interesting to see who Indiana is able to replace him with this offseason. This certainly becomes the biggest job that should be available this offseason.