JM, it is a fact that whenever someone from here, mathboy in particular, pointed out to the Peegsters that Crean had soured the Indiana HS coaches that was vehemently denounced as a total fabrication. Now that is accepted as absolute wisdom by the Indiana faithful. To the best of my knowledge, he (and others) was (were) never given credit for the perceived insight and recognized as having been unfairly treated. He could vouch for what I am posting as correct.
Your post is on point.
At the risk of generalizing, I believe that fan bases defend their coaches to an extreme on opposing message boards, and that the same posters rip the same coach apart on their home board.
I know that Crean was destroyed on the reputable IU boards during the last two years of his tenure when he began consistently missing on high level in-state recruits.