Crean Issues Statement on Holman Incident

IU Coach Tom Crean issued a statement Thursday afternoon on the Eli Holman situation. Holman requested his release from IU Thursday afternoon, and and an incident ensued that resulted in the police being called to Assembly Hall...

Bloomington – After today’s encounter with Eli Holman, Tom Crean doesn’t anticipate that the freshman center will be back with the Hoosiers next fall.

The Hoosiers’ first-year coach issued a statement Thursday afternoon after his meeting with Holman, who expressed his interest in transferring to another school. While the details of the meeting haven’t been made public, Holman became angered and reportedly broke a flower pot in the men’s basketball office.

IUPD was called to the scene after Holman’s outburst, although no arrests were made.

The following is Crean’s statement:

“We met with Eli Holman this afternoon. He had a good meeting with our assistant coaches earlier in the day. I felt like he still was not sure whether or not he wanted to be here which surprised me because everything we have seen from him had been very positive in terms of staying at Indiana and moving forward.

“I have no idea what made him change his mind and arrive at this point. He indicated that he would like to leave Indiana, although I was hopeful that we could work through this situation to come to an arrangement we both were comfortable with and to take some time to make a decision.

“The conversation was very cordial but unfortunately, it did not end that way. His behavior took me, along with the other people in the office, by surprise. We saw him as a danger to himself and wanted to take precautionary measures to help him. We felt bad for Eli and hopefully were able to help him.

“I do not anticipate Eli being back at Indiana. We will do our best to help him move forward and wish him well.”

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