What’s clear, though, is that Davis’ biggest sin is not being Bob Knight. It’s generally accepted that you don’t want to be the person who replaced a legend, but in a Woodenization-type situation like Indiana’s, it’s not exactly clear you want to be the next guy, either. Even if you’re presumably one of “our guys.” (Steve Alford, are you listening?)

Look at UCLA. Cunningham, a player under Wooden in his pre-championship days, stepped down as Wooden’s assistant when Wooden retired in 1975. Bartow (an outsider!) took the job, went 52-9 in two years. But the thin-skinned (by his own admission, and by Wooden’s estimation, too) Bartow, buckling under the constant criticism of not being Wooden, couldn’t get out of town fast enough when Alabama-Birmingham offered him the chance to start the school’s athletic department. (Bartow is now a scout for the Memphis Grizzlies.)

Cunningham (an insider!) stepped in — and stepped out in two years. His record was 50-8, but like Bartow, he won no titles. Exhausted from working endless days to try to keep up with the Wooden legend, Cunningham couldn’t get out of town fast enough when Western Oregon State (is that a real school?) offered him the athletic director’s job. (Cunningham is now A.D. at UC-Santa Barbara.)

If fan message boards are an accurate barometer, Alford, a member of the 1987 Indiana championship team and a state schoolboy legend, is the people’s choice to replace Davis, even though Alford at Iowa has a lower winning percentage than Davis has at Indiana. (Plus, Davis hasn’t gotten into hot water over being seen as way too protective of a player tied to criminal conduct, as Alford was with Pierre Pierce.)

Here’s how Woodenization would affect Alford. He would come in as the perceived savior, our guy finally taking the reins to make Indiana basketball what it used to be. When that inevitably doesn’t happen — what with Indiana prospects no longer genetically programmed to stay in-state — Alford will get his own backlash, with fans angry and disappointed that our guy would let them down. He’d be wrung out like Cunningham at UCLA. If Indiana wants you, Steve Alford, Lord, don’t go back there.

Now it is possible for a coaching position to be de-Woodenized. Perhaps if Williams continues to win at North Carolina, and Brown at Texas, they would throw off the shackles of Woodenization, probably onto their successors. But Alford might not be the person to do it. Certainly not in a situation where Indiana’s leadership isn’t helping matters, what with four athletic directors over the last six years, and the school’s president working on lame-duck status for the next two years.

Actually, the clamor for Alford reminds me: About 20 years ago, there was another situation in which Indiana fans demanded one of their local teams pick Alford, figuring he could turn around a moribund program. As I recall, though, that team picked another player, much to fans’ initial chagrin. But as I also recall, that player turned out to be an Indiana legend himself in time. Perhaps we are seeing history repeating itself. Perhaps there is one person who can de-Woodenize the Indiana job. He even has a UCLA connection!

So, Reggie Miller, have you ever thought about coaching college ball?

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