At 12:15 p.m. ET on Thursday, Notre Dame and Princeton tipped off in Buffalo to open the first round of the NCAA Tournament. At 12:16 p.m. ET on Thursday, Indiana announced it had fired basketball coach Tom Crean after nine seasons in a Hall of Fame worthy news dump.
Crean being fired came as little surprise to the college hoops world, considering he’d been on the proverbial hot seat for a few years and just lost in the first round of the NIT to Georgia Tech on Tuesday. However, what was stunning was the timing of the announcement, as the Hoosiers attempted to bury it in the excitement of the start of the first full day of the NCAA Tournament.
That news dump caused the internet to go nuts with jokes, both about Crean — long a favorite meme of college basketball Twitter — and Indiana’s timing of the announcement. We’ll start with the Crean jokes, because screencaps of a confused looking Tom Crean are always a winner.
Look, a person getting fired is a bummer for him and his family, and hopefully Crean lands back on his feet, but any reason for Twitter to break out the “Best of Crean” facial expression collection makes for a great timeline.
— CJ Fogler account may or may not be notable (@cjzero) March 16, 2017
my weird adult son needs a job pic.twitter.com/ZSawIrJdcN
— BUM CHILLUPS AKA SPENCER HALL (@edsbs) March 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/AceAnbender/status/842411258095800321
https://twitter.com/Ethan_Booker/status/842410611938099200
Pros: Won Big Ten last year, 3 Sweet 16s in last six years after one trip in previous 17 years
Cons: pic.twitter.com/OiVyoU4owv— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) March 16, 2017
— Timothy Burke (@bubbaprog) March 16, 2017
oh how the tables have turned https://t.co/8Zy98QWW2Q
— Robby Kalland (@RKalland) March 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/thrillis4/status/842411741296369664
tom crean has resting i just got fired face pic.twitter.com/gUSIC2TmpF
— PFT Commenter (@PFTCommenter) March 16, 2017
Then there were plenty that piled onto Indiana for their impressive effort to dump the Crean firing right on tip-off of the tournament.
AHAHAHA THEY ACTUALLY TIMED IT FOR THE EXACT MOMENT THE NCAA TOURNAMENT TIPPED THIS IS THE BEST NEWSDUMP https://t.co/IFlW7bbMRn
— Rodger Sherman (@rodger) March 16, 2017
Almost feels like a Friday news dump by doing it as the tournament games are starting. https://t.co/OOIXvZlWuf
— Chris Herring (@Herring_NBA) March 16, 2017
Unimpressive newsdump, Indiana. You were an hour and a half from 4-wide games including a potential ND-Princeton close ending. Do better. pic.twitter.com/o4GL0AFytE
— Richard🇬🇾Johnson (human) (@RJ_cfb) March 16, 2017
Congratulations to Indiana for topping the Bruins firing Claude Julien during the Patriots Super Bowl parade. https://t.co/gvb26bNHSM
— Jason Schwartz (@JasonSchwartz) March 16, 2017
What a time for a news dump in college hoops: literally as the NCAA Tournament begins. Stupid, short-sighted decision by Indiana to do this. https://t.co/QQ7pLz9Wdm
— Tim Bontemps (@TimBontemps) March 16, 2017
https://twitter.com/NicoleAuerbach/status/842409752395157505
Only thing that would have made it better would have been to do it Friday at the same time. https://t.co/im6Ylqeb0C
— Bryan Fischer (@BryanDFischer) March 16, 2017
Crean will have a job again soon. He won the Big Ten as recently as last year, after all, but it’s not the internet if jokes aren’t made at someone else’s expense, whether they’re let go during March Madness or otherwise.
