Dan Dakich

Dakich was first a graduate assistant coach at Indiana under Bob Knight from 1985–87 and then an assistant coach at Indiana from 1987 to 1997.

Dakich was the academic monitor on the Indiana basketball staff his last seven years and, under his guidance, every four-year player on the program graduated.[5] He also assisted in the development of six All-Americas and three national Player of the Year candidates, including 1993 Player of the Year Calbert Cheaney.

From 1997 to 2007 he served as the head coach at Bowling Green State University where he compiled a record of 156–140 (.527). He coached one player who signed a professional contract, former Indiana Pacers guard Keith McLeod. During Dakich's tenure, BGSU never made it to the NCAA tournament. Dakich had losing seasons in four of his last five years with BGSU, and resigned as head coach in 2007.[6]

Briefly in 2002, Dakich was named head basketball coach at West Virginia University (WVU) to succeed Gale Catlett. When Dakich learned that people affiliated with the basketball program may have been guilty of NCAA recruiting rules infractions, he returned to Bowling Green as head basketball coach after only a week at WVU.[7] WVU voluntarily reported results of its internal investigation to the NCAA, and the university was not penalized as a result of the infractions. The focus of the investigation, Jonathan Hargett, was banned from WVU athletics for his role in the reported violations.[8]

At the end of the 2008 season he served as the interim head coach at Indiana University, following Kelvin Sampson's resignation due to NCAA recruiting violations.[9] Under Dakich's guidance, the Hoosiers went 0–2 in postseason play, losing in the first rounds of the Big 10 and NCAA tournaments. After the season, IU declined to offer Dakich the job and hired Tom Crean.

Dakich spent 16 years with Knight, four as a player and twelve as an assistant. Dakich has said the reason he stayed so long, was Knight promised him that he would be Knight's successor at IU.[11] In recent years their relationship has deteriorated. In 2017 Dakich said that he had 'lost all respect' for Knight after Knight failed to attend a ceremony honoring the undefeated 1976 IU basketball team.[12]

In October 2019, Dakich was suspended from his show for failing "to adhere to the journalistic principles valued by" Emmis Communications, which owns WFNI.[13]

In March 2020, Dakich responded to the firing of Scottsburg (IN) High School basketball coach Brent Jameson by "calling a player a 'methhead', urging listeners to go 'take a dump' in Scottsburg and threatening, 'I may just drive down there and beat the hell out of every school board member.'" He also called Scottsburg "a town full of 'meth and AIDS and needles'". Dakich responded by saying, "Tone is important people. . . . Sometimes you can’t get tone out of newspaper articles and things. Sometimes what's funny when said or trying to be funny doesn't come across."[14]

According to reporter Ian Kennedy, Dakich criticized Dr. Nathan Kalman-Lamb and Dr. Johanna Mellis, co-hosts of The End of Sport podcast, using "sexist and misogynistic" language for their discussion of the ways college athletes are mistreated and exploited. Dakich reportedly called Kalman-Lamb "a d-bag" and declined "'going at it' in a pool with Dr. Mellis, saying that if he did, because it was a public place, he’d 'have to get divorced'".[15][16]