Over the Years with Indiana Basketball Coach Mike Woodson

Take a walk through Indiana basketball coach Mike Woodson's college and NBA playing career as well as his coaching stints in the NBA. His 11 years playing in the NBA plus his assistant and head coaching jobs have provided the Hoosiers with a new perspective from a man who lives and breathes the game.

© Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Take a walk through Indiana head coach Mike Woodson's life as a player all the way to his NBA playing and coaching career and finally his first college coaching position with his alma mater, Indiana.

1958 — Michael Dean Woodson was born in Indianapolis. He's the second youngest of 12 children.

High School — Coach Bob Knight visited Broad Ripple High School to watch Woodson play. Knight got into an angry exchange with Woodson's coach who didn't think he would fit into Indiana's program at the time.

1976-77 —  Nonetheless, Woodson elected to go to Indiana weighing around 185 pounds at the forward position. The Hoosiers were coming off of a 32-0 season and Coach Knight's first NCAA title with the team after the Hoosiers defeated Michigan 86-68 in the 1976 NCAA Tournament.

Woodson scored 500 points and averaged 18.5 points per game in his freshman season.

1977-78 — It's Woodson's sophomore year, and the Hoosiers finished with a 21-8 overall record capped off by a 12-6 Big Ten finish good enough for second in the conference. The Hoosiers advanced to the Sweet 16 round of the NCAA Tournament and lost to Villanova by just one point.

Woodson started in 28-of-29 games this season and averaged 19.9 points per game, finishing off the year with 577 points.

1978-79 — Woodson served as captain in his junior season. In the last regular season game versus Illinois, Woodson scored a career-high 48 points, which then prompted Knight to question why Big Ten coaches had left him off their first team All-Big Ten. The next day, Woodson was put on the list.

The Hoosiers didn't make the NCAA Tournament that year but instead went on to beat rival Purdue 53-52 in the NIT championship. 

That season, Woodson finished with 714 points, averaging 21 per game.

1979 — Woodson was selected to play in the 1979 Pan American Games and was coached by Knight. The U.S. team led by Woodson as captain went 9-0 and to no surprise won the gold medal. Woodson averaged 18.3 points per game while the team averaged just over 100, the first time a U.S. team achieved such high numbers in the Games.

1979-80 — In Woodson's senior season, the Hoosiers entered with a No. 1 ranking to their name. Adversity struck when Randy Wittman broke his foot and Woodson missed seven weeks due to back surgery. Woodson returned on Valentine's Day to bring back some spark to the team that ended up finishing 13-5 and first in the Big Ten. 

Dec 15, 1979; Lexington, KY, USA; FILE PHOTO; Indiana Hoosiers forward Mike Woodson (42) and head coach Bobby Knight talk on the sideline against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena during the 1979-80 season / © Malcolm Emmons-USA TODAY Sports

The team advanced to the 1980 Sweet 16 before Purdue got its revenge and knocked the Hoosiers out in Woodson's last game as a Hoosier.

Woodson ranks fifth on Indiana's all-time leading scorers list with 2,061 total points. Despite missing seven weeks in his senior season, Woodson was named the Big Ten's Most Valuable Player and a National Association of Basketball Coaches All-American.

NBA Playing Career

1980 — Woodson was selected as the 12th overall pick in the 1980 NBA draft by the New York Knicks. Woodson averaged 4.7 points per game in the regular season and 2 points per game in the playoffs. 

1981 — Woodson then played for the New Jersey Nets, now the Brooklyn Nets, for seven games until being traded to the Kansas City/Sacramento Kings.

1981-86 — The now shooting guard stayed with the Kings for five seasons and averaged 16.3 points per game. The Kings made the playoffs twice in that span (1983-84, 1985-86) with Woodson's best performance in the 1985-86 season averaging 18.7 points per game.

1986-88 — The Kings traded Woodson to the Los Angeles Clippers the same month his mother Odessa died. In two seasons, he averaged 17.5 points per game shooting 44.1 percent from the field.

1988-91 — Woodson played for the Houston Rockets for three seasons and made the playoffs two years with the team. In the five total postseason games, Woodson had 9.8 points per game and shot 34.6 percent from the field.

1990-91 — With some overlap, Woodson split his playing time between the Rockets and the Cleveland Cavaliers where he rounded out his NBA playing career.

NBA Coaching Career

1996-97, 1998-99 — Woodson served as assistant coach to Chris Ford's Milwaukee Bucks.

1999-01, 2000-01 — He then moved on to become an assistant coach with the Cleveland Cavaliers, his former team.

2001-02, 2002-03 — Under Larry Brown, Woodson was assistant coach for the Philadelphia 76ers.

2003-04 — Woodson and Brown worked together again, this time for the Detroit Pistons, who won an NBA championship

2004-10 — Woodson earned his first head coaching position with the Atlanta Hawks. In the first season, the Hawks held a 13-69 record but improved in the next two seasons to 26-56 and 30-52 respectively. In the 2007-08 season, Woodson and the Hawks picked up some momentum advancing to the playoffs for the first time since 1999. 

This season marked the first of three consecutive playoff appearances. Woodson totaled 206 wins with Atlanta before moving on to coach the New York Knicks where his professional career had started.

Apr 24, 2010; Milwaukee, WI, USA; Atlanta Hawks guard Mike Bibby (10) talks with head coach Mike Woodson during game three of the first round of the 2010 NBA playoffs against the Milwaukee Bucks at the Bradley Center. The Bucks defeated the Hawks 107-89 / © Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

2011-14 — Woodson worked as assistant coach under Mark D'Antoni and was named the interim head coach after D'Antoni's resignation. In the 2011-12 season, the Knicks  clinched a playoff spot but ultimately fell to the Heat.

Woodson's interim status was removed, and he became the head coach of the Knicks the following season. The Knicks won the Atlantic Division title for the first time since the 1993-94 NBA season and also set the single-season record for three-pointers. However, New York was eliminated by the Indiana Pacers in the second round of the playoffs. 

Feb 24, 2013; New York, NY, USA; New York Knicks head coach Mike Woodson talks with power forward Amar'e Stoudemire (1) during the first quarter against the Philadelphia 76ers at Madison Square Garden / © Anthony Gruppuso-USA TODAY Sports

The 2013-14 season wouldn't be so successful as Woodson's team got off to a poor 3-13 start. The Knicks missed the playoffs for the first time in four seasons, and Woodson was fired as head coach.

2014-18 — Woodson found himself in Los Angeles again, this time as assistant coach under Doc Rivers for the Clippers. The team only missed out on the playoffs in Woodson's final season as their assistant coach.

2020 — Woodson returned to the New York Knicks to be the assistant coach under Tom Thibodeau but then left to take the job as the Indiana Hoosiers' head coach.

2021- current — Woodson is hired as Indiana basketball's head coach where he led the team to a 21-14 overall record and the Hoosiers' first appearance in the NCAA Tournament since 2016. Indiana defeated Wyoming in the First Four but fell to Saint Mary's in the First Round.

Indiana enters this season ranked No. 13 in the Associated Press Poll and returns four starters in Trayce Jackson-Davis, Race Thompson, Miller Kopp and Xavier Johnson. 

Indiana head coach Mike Woodson instructs his team during the second half of the Indiana versus Rutgers men's basketball game at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall on Wednesday, March 1, 2022 :: © Rich Janzaruk/Herald-Times / USA TODAY NETWORK

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