After many years of tumultuous and turbulent seasons Indiana basketball fans can exhale with a big breath of relief. They are receiving one of the best basketball coaches in the nation as well as a man whom will bring great character and respect along with him.

     Tom Crean said that it was an easy decision when he got the phone call asking him to become the next Hoosiers coach to say yes. "This was a heart decision," Crean said with his voice cracking. "This was not a business decision or a legacy decision. I'd had other opportunities to walk away (from Marquette), and none of them felt like this. I'm going to miss those people a lot, but I'm excited to be here."

     Indiana basketball fans without a doubt are as eager to have him in Bloomington. They thought that they had a long term Coach in Kelvin Sampson to help solve Indiana's whose but his scandal only set the school back. By giving Crean an eight-year deal worth 18.24 million, an average of $2.3 million each season it is safe to say that Tom Crean is here to stay.

     Before Indiana's troubles can be laid to rest Crean's job will be to clean up the mess. He has to restore Indiana's national prestige, just as he did at Marquette, and he will be challenging his players to complete the task with the same energy and passion that he will bring to the program. "I'm going to look for people who understand why we wear the candy-stripped pants and why we wear Indiana on our jerseys," Crean said. "It's going to take time."

     The media, the fans and even Crean understands how difficult this will be to rebuild the Indiana basketball program back up. The Hoosiers are still facing a June hearing in front of the NCAA infractions committee stemming from the phone call scandal that led Sampson to resign from the team.

     "I'm taking over a very challenging situation, and I know it is and you know it is," he said. "But that lit something in my heart because Indiana is bigger than any one person. I can't tell you with eloquence how I feel. It's Indiana. It's Indiana."

     For the Hoosier fans its a great day to have a coach that's some humble and happy to be a part of Indiana legacy. The Hoosiers have always been one of the best college basketball programs in this country and even though they have been done for some years, today was a great step forward to get them back to greatness.