Quote Originally Posted by Dawg61 View Post
Maryland is currently #3 and has a National Championship since Knight left. I'd rank the B1G programs like this.

Michigan State
Wisconsin
Ohio State
Michigan
Maryland
Indiana
Purdue
Illinois

Which pretty much puts Indiana as a middle-tier B1G school. You're drunk if you think Ohio State and IU are even the last 15 years.
I actually very specifically said that Ohio State and Indiana have not been even the last 15 years. Ohio State has had more success, no question. But we're talking about program status, not just most recent success. I definitely disagree that Michigan's program right now is ahead of Indiana's. They had a great two-year stretch under Beilein, but that's it. Maryland has been mediocre for the most part since 03 or 04. You're going to tell me they've surpassed Indiana as a program because of their preseason ranking this year?

I just think a lot of fans make a mistake when evaluating a program based primarily on recent success. At this very moment, Ohio State is a better product because Thad Matta is there. At this very moment, because of two consecutive recruiting classes, Maryland looks set up to have a great year. But if either one lost their coach today along with Indiana, I would argue Indiana would be the one most desired by coaching candidates and would be best set up to have immediate success with the right coaching hire. That's what I base program status on, primarily.

People thought Alabama wasn't the same program anymore and had clearly fallen behind others like LSU and even Tennessee. Sure, Saban would have success anywhere, but he's had far more success at Alabama than he did at Michigan State. Why was Alabama able to hire Saban, and why did he have so much success so quickly? Because it's Alabama. Their program status may have taken a slight hit during the down years, but they just made bad coaching hires.