Sources -- Woodson unlikely to return to Indiana next season - ESPN

Men's basketball coach Mike Woodson is not expected to return to Indiana next season, sources told ESPN on Thursday.

Woodson, 66, is expected to coach the rest of the year, sources said, but he and the Hoosiers are in discussions about the coach's wishes to step away after this season. The details of the exit are being discussed.

The Hoosiers are heading toward their second consecutive season without an NCAA tournament appearance, losing four straight games and six of their past seven.

While the financial terms of Woodson's exit are not clear, his contract calls for him to be paid more than $8 million if he's fired. His contract allows for the buyout to be paid in annual million-dollar lump sums, which makes it more manageable for the school from a budgetary standpoint.

Following an offseason rebuild that included one of the better transfer portal classes in the country, headlined by Oumar Ballo (Arizona), Myles Rice (Washington State) and Kanaan Carlyle (Stanford), Indiana entered the season with considerable expectations. The Hoosiers were No. 17 in the preseason AP poll and behind only Purdue in the preseason Big Ten media poll.

Indiana had one of the largest NIL budgets in the Big Ten and in the country this season, which is expected to be a significant selling point for the job.

The Hoosiers suffered back-to-back blowout losses to Louisville and Gonzaga in late November before seemingly righting the ship and winning nine of their next 10 games. But they've won just one game in the past month and dropped to 14-9 overall and 5-7 in the Big Ten.

In ESPN's latest Bracketology, the Hoosiers are not even listed among the Next Four Out.

Following Indiana's latest loss, a 76-64 defeat at Wisconsin in which the Hoosiers