On Tuesday evening, the sun set over Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, as Indiana’s first day without a head basketball coach came to a close. It was a scene symbolic of the change taking place in Bloomington over the coming weeks, despite things continuing to go on as they always have, on the IU Athletics campus just north of 17th Street.

It goes without saying that the Indiana Basketball program is one steeped in deep tradition, and above all else, a tradition of success. Yet, as March Madness got underway last week in the Hoosier state — yes, with many games being played right inside Assembly Hall — Indiana was again left out of the tournament, for the fifth straight year.

The natural next step was a predictable one — Indiana Head Coach Archie Miller has been fired after four years of coming up short in Bloomington. 

For a team that many Hoosier fans feel has lost its way over the last decade, the decision to part ways with Miller shouldn’t come as a total surprise, though Athletic Director Scott Dolson was quick to point out that fans had no influence over his thought process. 

Year in and year out, Indiana Basketball is expected to compete for a national title; since Miller took charge in Bloomington, the program has been nowhere close. Five straight whiffs at missing out on the NCAA Tournament altogether meant that it was time for a major change.

“It’s a results-oriented business and ultimately the results are what they are,” Dolson told media on March 15. “I think Archie has a plan, but unfortunately the results weren’t at the level that I felt at the end of the day was in our best interests to move forward.”

For Scott Dolson, nothing happened overnight. It’s the news that Hoosier fans have waited on for quite some time now, and the evidence has been right under their noses for four years.

In 2017, Indiana suffered two home losses by 20 or more points, each to Indiana State and Purdue Fort Wayne. In the following year, Indiana began the season 12-2, then proceeded to lose 12 of its next 13 games, putting Indiana firmly out of the NCAA Tournament picture, despite all of the talent in Miller’s hands. Last season showed wild inconsistencies, where Indiana seemingly looked like a different team each night. And this year was only more of the same.

Archie Miller could never win a game against rival Purdue. Under Miller, Indiana never finished with a record at or above .500 in the Big Ten. 

The pressure that had built up in Bloomington year after year was almost like a ballon that finally popped, and everybody in town knows it.

“There’s a lot of dust on five NCAA banners,” Assembly Hall Public Address Announcer Chuck Crabb said. “We really haven’t been necessarily a big factor in current basketball and what those recruits would be looking at. The new head coach will have to be one that has to be mindful of the past but also understand the present and develop the future.”

Going forward, as Scott Dolson selects a new head coach, the decision will be about more than just winning alone. Perhaps just as important will be the ability to re-establish the identity of Indiana Basketball, and modernize the brand.

And those two ideas go hand in hand.

“It’s building that ability to mention Indiana Basketball and people know who we are, what we stand for from a recruiting standpoint,” Dolson said. “I want to be a part of that system, and I think that to me is just something that’s really, really important.”

For IU, getting back to playing in March will certainly be a start. But for Indiana’s fifth head coach since the great Bob Knight, expectations will be more than just getting into the tournament.

More likely than not, those expectations will also include hanging a sixth banner inside Assembly Hall.