- Indiana University basketball coach Mike Davis phoned in sick for a home game against Iowa on February 11. Coming at a time of increasingly disorganized and inept play by his team and open speculation from week to week about whether he’ll be fired, the claim of illness strained credulity. If I were a reporter covering this one, they’d have to show me the vomit. (February 11, 2006)
- Mike Davis’s resignation as Indiana University basketball coach gets us halfway there. The remaining half—selecting a new coach—is the scary part, given the administration’s recent history of awful personnel decisions in athletic matters. Mike recently said he thought the university needed “one of its own” to be the coach, so they “could embrace him.” The idea—getting a former IU player to come back to coach—has proven popular among a certain segment of IU Nation—the clubby crowd of Varsity Club veranda-schmoozers which finds something sinister about “outsiders” and believes that only “one of our own” can really, really understand the situation. The Star this morning heaved up the names of five former players it thought really, really fit the bill: Dan Dakich, Keith Smart, Randy Wittman, Jim Crews, and Steve Alford. Nobody from IU will be calling me for advice, but my observation is that none of these has credentials anywhere close to what IU should be seeking—if, that is, IU is serious about being a premier college basketball program. The window of opportunity is open for Indiana to make a wise decision. We’ll see if it does. (February 16, 2006)
- The $800,000 buyout given IU Coach Mike Davis brought up the inevitable question of how much the university has had to pay coaches and others no longer working for the university since Bob Knight was fired in September of 2001. The current answer, courtesy of the Indianapolis Star, is: $3,266,876. Except for Davis and football coach Gerry DiNardo, who was fired in 2004, all the individuals have already been paid in full. The headcount: Michael McNeely, former athletic director, $839,467; Mike Davis, $800,000; Gerry DiNardo, $616,564; Cam Cameron (football coach, fired in 2001), $498,908; Bob Knight, $283,026; Jason Lewis (executive associate athletic director), $86,800; Brian McNeely, former assistant football coach (and son of Michael), $47,011; Lauren Rochet, assistant athletic director, $36,800; Stephane Rochet, former strength coach, $23,800; and Deanne Droegemueller, former director of executive services, $34,500. (February 17, 2006)
- Indiana University President Adam Herbert agreed to give Mike Davis $350,000 more than the university was legally obliged to pay in his “negotiated” settlement package, according to the Indianapolis Star. Davis was legally entitled to two years of salary (at $225,000 annually), or $450,000 in total. Indiana offered him $800,000, which Davis accepted. (February 17, 2006)
- Word seeps north from Bloomington that at least three current IU players are headed out the door with Mike Davis. They include D.J. White, who has missed most of the season with a twice-broken foot, starter Robert Vaden, and guard A. J. Ratliff. The university should offer them all—and any additional teammates who want to hop aboard—a limo ride to the airport and a one-way ticket to any place in the United States. The last time IU’s athletic administration was confronted with pouting players (led in 2001 by Dane Fife) who threatened to quit the team, it caved in instantly and gave the job to the sorely unqualified Mike Davis. This time the poohbahs need to find big raisins and tell the lads the limo will be at their front door within five minutes. Next year’s team is going to be a mediocrity, anyway, and it won’t make much difference how many of the current crop stay or go. (February 17, 2006)
- Mike Davis really made this easy for IU. He resigned. The perfect time to have fired Davis was last year. Rumor then was that Greenspan wanted to fire Davis, but President Herbert intervened and saved Davis’s job. This year Greenspan might have faced the same situation. The race card loomed over all the proceedings. I suspect that was why Herbert, in his remarks at the resignation press conference, was exquisitely careful to pre-emptively mention loudly and clearly—at least twice in a few short paragraphs—that it was Mike Davis who “initiated conversations”—that precious word, “initiated”-- with the university and proposed that he, Davis, resign. The sweetest words Greenspan could ever hear were “I’m resigning.” (February 17, 2006)
- Mike Davis’s record in five-plus seasons at Indiana was 109-76 (51-40 in Big Ten play) on the day he resigned. It was noted by many that following a legend like Bob Knight was difficult. To put this in perspective, The Star provided these interesting facts: Gene Bartow was forced out at UCLA with a 52-8 record in two seasons as John Wooden’s successor. Bill Guthridge succeeded Dean Smith at North Carolina and lasted three years before resigning under pressure, even after a trip to the Final Four in his final season; Guthridge was replaced by Matt Doherty, one of “Carolina’s own,” and Matt lasted but three years before being forced out. Rugged, indeed. (February 17, 2006)
- Many followers of IU basketball have remarked that Mike Davis sometimes has said some bizarre things, that made you wonder if he isn’t a little unbalanced, wacky. He’s been accused, too, of “playing the race card.” My take is this: First, Mike Davis is not an emotionally secure, self-confident person, nor is he “media-savvy.” He was not equipped by life experience to handle the intense scrutiny and pressure of the major college job he was handed. And from the day he took over, he has been surrounded by the hateful mutterings, carping and bitching of a huge number of Bob Knight loyalists who regarded Davis as a traitor—a traitor, mind you--for accepting the job in the first place, and who ever since have worked publicly and privately to undermine Davis. Knight, as well, was publicly hostile to Davis and to Indiana University, and persists to this day. Indiana’s fan base contains a small segment of racists, as well, and they’ve contributed their venom to the mix. Davis has also endured constant chatter from these detractors, and from some in the media, about former IU player Steve Alford, the man many of them have long hoped would “come home to Indiana” to coach the team. I think if we put ourselves in Davis’s shoes, and realize what he has had to deal with, we can forgive him for feeling paranoid and surrounded by many who wished him ill. And in our sick culture of victimhood, Davis sometimes seemed to yield to the temptation to blame his troubles on racism. I believe that most IU fans bore Davis no malice, ever, and that most people wanted him to succeed. The truth, it seems to me, is that Mike Davis proved to be a fine human being but a very poor basketball coach. He was cruelly placed—by a group of cowardly and incompetent Indiana officials at the time—Miles Brand and Clarence Doninger and the university trustees, especially—in a job for which he was woefully unprepared and in which he had no realistic chance to succeed. Mike Davis did the best he could. He gave it his best effort, and remained a fine gentleman throughout the whole sorry mess. His best simply was not nearly good enough. His teams played like they had little knowledge of even basic basketball fundamentals. Too often they looked spiritless and lost on-court. The won-lost record was far below expectations. It was the team’s poor on-court performance which cost Davis his job. And so Mike Davis moves on, at least better off financially. He can go to his next job much wiser and tougher, and time will tell if he can become a better coach. The daunting prospect now facing IU Nation is the school’s history of poor management and poor personnel decisions. (February 18, 2006)
- One thing IU athletic director Rick Greenspan will discover if he goes into the open market for a coaching replacement is that the top coaches are paid far, far more than IU has ever imagined paying. Thad Matta at Ohio State is an example. He has an eight-year contract with $11 million guaranteed--roughly 1.375 million per year, Matta is young and promising, not a proven top-tier product. With an athletic department in deficit (due, it can be fairly argued, mostly to the huge payouts to Knight, Cameron, DiNardo, McNeeley and others no longer working for the university) the past few years, the odds are slim IU can afford a top-rank coach. (February 18, 2006)
- Steve Alford is the name most often mentioned for IU’s next basketball coach. It depends on whether the university decision-makers decide with their heads or with their hearts. If it’s heads—if it’s a decision based on facts and credentials known at decision-time--then a case cannot be made that Steve Alford is the best candidate. His Big Ten record is below .500, considerably worse than outgoing coach Mike Davis’s. If hearts rule, then Steve will be the next coach, the Prodigal Son come home to make everything right in IU’s world once more. I hope the decision will be based on facts and credentials. But something tells me IU will bring back Alford--in which case IU will need to be lucky, too. (February 18, 2008)
- The Mike Davis matter could not pass without the Indianapolis Star’s obligatory in-depth analysis of all its checklist questions, and Sunday it got to the biggie: Was racism a factor in Davis’ tenure at IU? Mike himself said no: “I got a fair shake. Every night we lined up the score was 0-0. (The IU Administration) gave me an opportunity and they stuck by me the last couple of years, but I didn’t get it done.” Others weren’t so sure. The Star tracked down a still-angry and contentious (and still unemployed) Nolan Richardson, the former Arkansas basketball coach whose lawsuit against the university which fired him after Richardson challenged the athletic director to fire him was thrown out of court, said he wasn’t familiar with any details of the Davis situation, but was willing to predict Davis’s future: “. . .he’ll probably never surface again. If (fired black coaches) resurface, it’s in the capacity of assistant coach.” Former Georgetown Coach John Thompson said, “The fact that you ask that question gives the answer.” A local black attorney, Milt Thompson, said he was “probably one of (Davis’s) last apologists, but the bottom line is winning.” Indianapolis radio show host Amos Brown said he felt Davis’s departure “was about a lack of performance.” The Star noted that Davis’s teams have a 42-38 record over the past three seasons, with five games left in Big Ten play. (February 19, 2006)
- It took a Freedom of Information Act filing to pry the documents out of Indiana University’s clawing fingers, but the Louisville Courier-Journal got it done, and brought us the news that the school had inserted a couple of protective clauses in its “separation agreement” with Mike Davis which may at least give potential transfers and their ex-coach a moment’s pause. Davis signed an agreement not to say anything nasty about IU and to refrain from trying to influence any current IU players to transfer. A violation of either clause will cost Davis $40,000, and $80 grand for both. The players, of course, can skirt the problem by simply saying it was their idea, not Mike’s, to leave. Legally, it’s probably a tough case to prove, but at least IU was bright enough to get the language into the document in the first place. (February 24, 2006)
- Former IU basketball star Mike Woodson, now the coach of the NBA Atlanta Hawks, says a former IU player should be chosen to replace Mike Davis. Asked by the Indianapolis Star’s Terry Hutchens who the best candidate would be, Woodson answered, “Bob Knight.” If not Knight, Woodson continued, then “Randy Wittman would be my choice, probably.” Woodson, the Big Ten’s MVP in his senior year (1980), said a former player was crucial to “bring us all back together” and to bring back the “support system” of former players to help recruit and rebuild the program. Woodson’s comments suggest that these “former players” have not been supporting the program recently. It seems reasonable to assume that their disappearance from the support structure is somehow connected to the firing of the man who coached most of them—Bob Knight. Knight’s hostility to Davis and the university is widely known, and there have been press reports that Knight had asked some of his former players to stop supporting the IU program. Here’s an intriguing story that’s gone unreported. We can at least hope that some brave soul out there will document and report it someday. (February 25, 2006)
- A source so very close to the bowels of college basketball—let’s call him Deep 18-Wheeler--called on a secure phone from an undisclosed location this morning to make a powerful case that Steve Alford will be the next Indiana coach. Alford is now at Iowa where, except for this season, he had a distinctly mediocre (below .500) record going into the 2005-2006 Big Ten campaign. Alford has been unpopular with Iowa fans not only for that but for several positions he’s has taken regarding player discipline issues. Deep 18-Wheeler noted that Alford’s team this year has over-achieved and is in a position today to win the Big Ten or place in the top two or three positions, and is assured an NCAA tournament bid. Barring a huge collapse, this year’s record will be the “what-have-you-done-for-me-lately” trump card that will entrance IU decision-makers and cloud the shabby prior years. Once that occurs, Deep 18-Wheeler continued in his trademark raspy whisper, then all factors—all of them—argue strongly in Alford’s favor. D-18-W argues that Alford offers a resounding YES! to all the key questions Indiana can ask, most notable these: Will he consistently win 20 games a season—after the first couple, with an empty cupboard? Will he win his share of Big Ten titles and Big 10 Tourney championships? Will his teams go to the NCAA tourney almost every year? Will he keep the basketball program clean and free of NCAA trouble? Will he bring in big dollars in fund-raising? Will he re-unite the basketball “support system” and fan family? Will he re-energize alumni support, as new football coach Terry Hoeppner has done? Will he re-establish recruiting credibility for IU with Indiana high school players—the university’s natural base? Will he be able to recruit effectively outside the state? Is he “one of our own”? “The answers are all yes,” the caller hissed, as if speaking from deep space. “There are lots of plusses, very little downside risk. I think Steve is the most logical choice.” There was a faint click, then silence. I was left holding the receiver, wide-eyed, nodding in agreement. (February 25, 2006)
- Last night’s IU-Penn State game in Bloomington provided another reminder of the need for federal legislation covering attendance computations at sporting events. As we exited Assembly Hall, the loudspeaker informed us that “announced attendance at tonight’s game was 17,234.” Anyone actually attending the game knew that this was baloney. There were thousands of empty seats, mostly in the student section. Indeed, this morning’s Indianapolis Star, not usually a stickler for such minutia, noted that actual attendance was “closer to 13,000.” The university—indeed, probably all sports franchises do this—uses the gussied-up term, “announced attendance” which is code for “tickets sold.” This enables it to hide—from anyone not actually present—the unpleasantness of empty seats, which often signal fan protests or indifference. If institutions insist on using this artifice, then they should be required to also report actual turnstyle count. How else will future historians or archaeologists know the truth? (February 23, 2006)
- Among the former players who by acclamation seem to be the only acceptable choice for the coaching job at IU is. . .Jimmy Crews, who not only has the former player credential but was personally hired by current IU athletic director Rick Greenspan when Rick was at Army. And here comes the gratitude part: Crews’s record after five years at Army (going into Army’s February 25 game against Bucknell) was 19-87. Even the most battle-hardened Kool-Aider will have trouble rationalizing that as the kind of track record we need at IU. (February 25, 2006)
- While many in Hoosierland are clamoring for Iowa Coach Steve Alford’s return to take the Indiana job, Iowa fans have been voting with their feet---attendance at Carver Arena has dropped 23 percent in the past four seasons (from an average of 15,5000 in 2000-2001 to 11,900 for 2004-05). And attendance this year is slightly below last year’s. Meantime, a website devoted to getting rid of Alford—www.firestevealford.com—blazes away with angry fans who have dubbed Steve “Alfraud.” Can’t be much fun coaching, in college or anyplace else. (February 26, 2006)
- Steve Alford’s Big Ten won-lost record in six full seasons was 41-55 (.427) as the 2006 season began. His Iowa teams have finished 8th, 6th, 8th, 8th, 4th, and 7th in those six seasons. Only one of Alford’s teams has had a winning Big Ten season (9-7 in 2004). NCAA appearances in that time: one. Even if Iowa this year wins all its remaining games (two in the league, plus the Big Ten and NCAA tournaments, Alford cannot finish 2006 over .500 overall in conference play. Will Rick Greenspan notice this? (February 28, 2006)
- Coach’s reality show, Knight School, has begun airing on ESPN. A large group of young men are competing for one walk-on position on Knight’s Texas Tech team. For many of us in the Midwest, it was our first extended encounter with Coach since He was fired in 2001 at IU and took His caravan west to Lubbock. The camera followed Coach’s every move. Many of the youngsters are clearly awed by His presence and by His impressive understanding of the game and ability to teach it. Knight is at His hands-on best in these teaching moments—shouting instructions, encouragement, stopping play to demonstrate a point, pushing the players, demanding, inspiring. Regret flashed through my mind, because it is obvious that Indiana University players haven’t had 10 minutes of that level of instruction in the five-plus years since Coach vamoosed. But then the camera followed Coach and His assistants into a closed room where they evaluated players and decided who to keep and who to cut. Coach asked His assistants—His son, Pat, and former IU player Stew Robinson among them—for their choices, evaluations. It was then immediately apparent that Coach is the same mean asshole He always was. In just a short couple of minutes He interrupted and harangued one assistant, Chris Beard, for providing player numbers out of order (Beard said something like 15, 2, 29, 8, 14, instead of using number order), then insulted Robinson for reciting his numbers too fast for Coach to keep up. He interrupted several times to make sarcastic comments, and caustically informed all three that His vote outnumbered all three of theirs. It was obvious Knight was compelled to do this even though He was on national TV. The scene only served to make Coach look like a rude jerk, and still the same frustrating mix of brilliant teacher and angry, demon-gnawed man many of us in Hoosierland had grown so accustomed to. (February 23, 2006)
- Another veteran sports observer—Bill Benner, formerly of the Indianapolis Star, now of the Indianapolis Business Journal—has weighed in with his view that although “IU doesn’t have to hire ‘family,’ it will, and will hire Steve Alford to coach the basketball team. But a Cosmic Question looms over all: What if Coach won’t allow Steve to take the job? What does poor Steve, who has pledged eternal fealty to Coach, do then? This is far from idle speculation. Would Steve be regarded as a traitor if he took the IU job? Mike Davis was when he accepted it. Coach would not be happy. And bad things when Coach is not happy. Steve could be expelled into the outer darkness. I can’t say I envy Steve's position if word breaks that he has the offer and the phone rings that night and it’s from Lubbock. (March 7, 2006)
- The Little Child Who Led Us (in 1981), Isiah Thomas, was spotted in Bloomington the afternoon of March 7 by two witnesses who told reporters they saw Thomas walking into the office of Indiana University President Adam Herbert. Thomas denied any interest in the IU coaching position and said he was in town merely to visit dear friends—Scott May and Jim Thomas. He did not explain why he was looking for the two in Herbert’s office. The Gnu York Knicks, where Thomas now labors as general manager, were in Indianapolis for a Tuesday night game with the Pacers, so the cover story was plausible, if that’s what it was. Isiah was quoted in this morning’s Star saying he hoped “they keep it (the coaching job) in the family.” He added that, “I hope Randy Wittman is strongly considered.” When asked why, Thomas chirped, “Because I love him.”
- In the Cosmic Story Not Yet Being Pursued Department is this: “Keeping it in the family” is quite a popular mantra these days when the Indiana basketball job is discussed. And on the only two occasions I know of where a former player—Isiah Thomas and Mike Woodson—has been quoted and voluntarily mentioned a “family” name, it has been that of Randy Wittman. Nobody in the family is yet lobbying publicly for Steve Alford. So the Cosmic Question would be: How do family members feel about Steve? Do they like him, or dislike him? Do they even consider him “family”? (March 8, 2006)
- The Star’s IU beat writer, Terry Hutchens, in his blog provided a string of statistics which bring into sharp relief the decline of the IU basketball program. He listed IU’s NCAA tourney seedings starting in 1980 when the NCAA first began seeding teams. They support the widely held-belief that IU basketball has gone sharply downhill since 1995. Indiana made the NCAA tourney in 23 of the 24 years from 1980 to 2003 (missing only in 1985). From 1980 through 1994 (14 appearances) Indiana’s average seed was 3.1--by year its seeds were 2,3,5,2,4,3,1,4,2,8,2,2,1, and 5. From 1995 onward, IU’s average seed was 6.4 (starting in 1995, the seedings were: 9,6,8,7,6,6,4,5, and 7). For the entire 23 appearances, IU’s average seeding was 4.4. (March 8, 2006)
- Another poll by the Indianapolis Star reveals that 64% of those polled think having Bob Knight return to coach Indiana University basketball would be a bad idea. More men (30%) than women (21%) wanted Coach back on the throne. And younger folks (under age 35) were much more in favor (35 percent) of Coach returning than the over-age-55 crowd (15 percent). When Steve Alford’s name was mentioned, 43% thought it would be a great idea to have him coach IU, 21% said no, and 36% were just not sure. (March 9, 2006)
- Not far behind Associated Press on the March Troublemakers List was that citadel of unbridled capitalist greed, The Wall Street Journal. It published a massive story on the money river flowing through college basketball, complete with a list of coaching salaries at 50 schools. It isn’t clear why some schools don’t appear on the list—such as the University of Louisville where Rick Pitino’s salary is rumored to be higher than anyone the Journal did list, and others such as Purdue and Texas Tech (home of the legendary Coach). The highest salary listed is Tubby Smith’s $1.9 million at Kentucky. Close behind are Florida’s Billy Donovan at $1.7 million, Tom Izzo at Michigan State ($1.6 million), Jim Calhoun of Connecticut at $1.5 million, Roy Williams of North Carolina and Mike Kryzewski of Duke, both at $1.4 million, Rick Barnes of Texas ($1.3 million), Tom Crean of Marquette (1.1 million), and John Calipari (Memphis) at $1.2 million. Three coaches--Bill Self (Kansas), Kelvin Sampson (Oklahoma), and Mark Gottfried (Alabama)—are at $1.0 million The Journal’s data came from 2003 forms the schools are required by federal law to issue. In some cases, the paper noted, coaches have signed later deals at higher pay, such as Ohio State’s Thad Matta who just got an $11 million deal for eight years at Ohio State, an annual rate of $1.375 million. Mike Davis ($780,000) of Indiana and Steve Alford ($800,000) of Iowa, Bruce Weber of Illinois ($700,000), and Bo Ryan of Wisconsin ($700,000) were the other Big Ten coaches included. (March 10, 2006)
- "If my diploma came from Bob Knight University like those guys, I’d be rooting for Oklahoma, too. But my diploma says Indiana University, and I’ll be rooting for the Hoosiers.”—Todd Leary, former Indiana University basketball player, referring to public statements by two other former IU players, Steve Downing and Pat Knight, that they would be rooting for Oklahoma, not Indiana, when the teams played (Indiana won) in an NCAA basketball Final Four matchup in 2002. Both Downing and Pat Knight joined former IU Coach Bob Knight at Texas Tech after Knight was fired at Indiana. Leary’s quote was resurrected this week in an IU blog by Indianapolis Star sportswriter Terry Hutchens. (March 16, 2006)
- The Chicago Tribune’s NBA beat writer, Sam Smith, closed his column in today’s paper with this note: “. . .Randy Wittman has the endorsement of Mavs owner Mark Cuban and Knicks GM Isiah Thomas to be the next Indiana University (basketball) coach.” This brings to mind Guy Grand’s sage observation in the novel, The Magic Christian, that there’s no sound in the world quite like “the old convincer,” that most compelling sound of a sheaf of crisp new thousand-dollar bills being riffled like a deck of cards up close to your ear. Both Cuban and Thomas are IU alums and millionaires many times over. That and their checkbooks will get the attention of IU’s poohbahs, be quite sure. (March 20, 2006)
- Rick Greenspan caught most everybody off guard when he hired Kelvin Sampson of Oklahoma as IU’s 26th men’s basketball coach. Sampson was 279-79 (.719) at Oklahoma with 11 NCAA tournament appearances in 12 seasons. He has nine straight 20-win seasons, and a 455-257 record over 23 years. He will be paid an average salary of $1.5 million at IU, nearly double the amount ($800,000) paid his predecessor, Mike Davis. Sampson is a full-blooded Lumbee Indian and has the full blessing of the Black Coaches Association. Its executive director, Floyd Keith, told the Star “I know Kelvin Sampson and I consider him to be an ethnic minority. I think he’s an outstanding basketball coach.” Sampson also coached six seasons at Washington State (1988-94). Let the howling begin. (March 30, 2006)
- Indiana’s hiring of Oklahoma Coach Kelvin Sampson brought out the best and worst of its sacred “former player” group. By far the worst was Ted Kitchel, who started on the 1981 national championship team. Kitch said Sampson’s hiring was “an absolute disgrace. . .absolutely what we don’t want at IU. I wouldn’t hire that guy to coach my fifth-grade girls team.” Kitch complained that he wasn’t consulted by athletic director Rick Greenspan about the decision. Joe Hillman was less nasty, saying he just wasn’t sure if Sampson was the right choice. Weighing in with support were Isiah Thomas, Ray Tolbert, Damon Bailey, Dan Dakich, Steve Risley, and Quinn Buckner. Kent Benson was neutral and said he’d reserve judgment for now. Risley took outright issue with former teammate Kitchel’s remarks, and Buckner said he finally realized it was time for everyone to grow up, let go of their anger, and support the new coach and university. Buckner has always been a leader and it was refreshing to hear his statesmanlike comments. Those like Kitchel, who make up the residue of the toxic waste dump of the Knight Era and who haven’t been able to move beyond the fifth grade and stop bitching and whining, should saddle up and move to their holy shrine in Lubbock, where Coach still seethes and rages. (April 1, 2006)
- Bob Kravitz, the Star’s marquee columnist and fresh off bypass surgery, has written two glum, mopey columns about the Sampson hiring: Sampson isn’t sexy enough; he isn’t a member of the IU family; he doesn’t have a world-class pedigree; his record isn’t good enough; he doesn’t energize the divided Hoosier Nation; he brings along NCAA “issues” and a lousy player graduation rate. This is the same Bob Kravitz who, in a series of hysterical columns after Mike Davis’s IU team roared to the NCAA finals in 2002, essentially stampeded university poohbahs into tearing up the contract Davis signed only a year before and giving him a huge raise and a contract extension. Kravitz is thus is a major reason why Indiana was hogtied by a lengthy Davis contract in the first place. (April 2, 2006)
- Indiana has silenced critics who said the university was too cheap and weak-minded to pay a going rate to get a top-flight coach. Sampson is signed for seven years at an average of $1.5 million—“a pretty good chunk of it,” said athletic director Rick Greenspan, raised from private, external sources (code for: private donors). This easily puts Indiana in the upper echelon of basketball coaching salaries. A recent Wall Street Journal survey showed about a dozen college coaches were paid over $1 million, topped by Tubby Smith of Kentucky at $1.9 million. (April 1, 2006)
- Rick Greenspan said at the outset of the hunt for a new basketball coach that he would be circumspect and private in his approach. He succeeded. Sampson’s selection caught nearly everyone by surprise. In the blizzard of speculation and rumors leading up to the final announcement, Sampson’s name seldom, if ever, even appeared. The answers to several questions will probably never be known. Who did Indiana seriously consider? Did they ever contact such coaches as Florida’s Billy Donovan, Louisville’s Rick Pitino, John Calipari of Memphis or Billy Gillispie of Texas A&M? The Bloomington, Indiana, newspaper at one point was said to be reporting that IU and Calipari were actually negotiating a contract, yet the next day the Memphis athletic director said that he and Calipari both were denying that IU and Calipari had ever had contact, let alone begun negotiating anything. The tissue-thin basis of many stories made it obvious the press was having a most difficult time getting any substantive information. Some days after the Sampson press conference in Bloomington, it was confirmed that two of the most popular choices--Steve Alford and Randy Wittman—never even got a phone call from Greenspan. If true, this was about as big a rebuke to the “keep it in the IU family” crowd as could have been delivered. It took great courage—or foolhardiness—for Greenspan to resist the pressure to hire from “the family.” Both he and Sampson will be run out of town if Sampson doesn’t win big-time and soon. (April 1, 2006)
- “Bobby Knight and I have been friends for years. I did some legal work for him and he’s a very interesting guy. Unfortunately he just wore out his welcome at IU. He’s a great coach, a great guy, and an occasional asshole.” –Pete Obremsky, attorney, former Indiana University basketball player, and IU trustee, quoted in Indiana Super Lawyers 2006, a supplement in the March, 2006, issue of Indianapolis Monthly.
- The United States Basketball Writers Association hosted a breakfast in Indianapolis during Final Four weekend to honor Indiana University’s 1976 and 1981 national championship teams. The event provided a perfect snapshot of the poison which has infected the IU basketball program since September of 2000 when Coach was fired. Thirteen players from those two teams—roughly 50 percent of the combined rosters—attended, along with numerous other basketball celebrities, including Oscar Robertson. The man who coached both those teams, Bob Knight, did not attend (he was reported to have been in Argentina). Kelvin Sampson, Indiana’s new coach for only two or three days, and keenly aware that his hiring was not supported by some in the fan and “former player” (which really means Knight’s players) groups, contacted the event’s organizers and asked if he could attend. They said yes, and Sampson showed up in a brave attempt at reconciliation. (March 31, 2006)
- Indiana’s coaching search cost Texas A & M University a cool million. Aggies Coach Billy Gillispie’s name suddenly came onto IU radar and the rumor mill around March 24. Within a couple of days his name vanished. It subsequently was learned that A & M’s trustees were hurriedly asked to approve a $1 million bonus to be paid Gillispie if he completes his current six-year contract. University officials confirmed that report and said it was to prevent “predators” known to be prowling around from luring away their coach. Proving they were not just “all hat and no cattle,” the school's Board of Regents unanimously approved the extra cash for Billy. (April 2, 2006)
- Indiana and new basketball coach Kelvin Sampson have received a signed commitment from 6-6 power forward Mike White, ranked one of the top 10 junior college players in the country. In all previous mentions of his name in newspaper articles, White was described as weighing 240 pounds. Last night’s “signing bulletin” on an IU-related website (www.peegs.com) described him as weighing 235 pounds. This morning’s story in the Indianapolis Star said Mike weighed 245. Thus he lost five pounds and gained 10 in the space of 24 hours. (April 13, 2006)
- Critics of the century-old tradition of horror and ineptitude that is Indiana University football are met by a host of excuses from the program’s apologists. We’ve heard them all and heard them forever. Here’s a rejoinder that tends to shut ‘em up: If Bob Knight had been chosen as IU’s football coach, do you honestly believe the program would have kept on losing? (April 16, 2006)
- Season: 2000-01, 21-13 overall (10-6 in the Big Ten); 2001-02, 25-12 (11-5); 2002-03, 21-13 (8-8); 2003-04, 14-15 (7-9); 2004-05, 15-14 (10-6); 2005-06, 19-12 (9-7). Six year totals: Overall, 115-79 (.573); Big Ten, 55-41 (.573).
- Another way to look at recent IU basketball history is this: Since the 1994-95 season (when it finished 19-12), Indiana has only had one season where it lost fewer than 10 games (a 20-9 mark in 1999-2000, Bob Knight’s final season). In five of Knight’s last six seasons, and in all six of Mike Davis’s campaigns, Indiana had double-digit loses for the year.
- “Kelvin Sampson is in the Shamu tank at Sea World.”—Bob McClellan, college basketball writer at the Rivals.com website, commenting on the pressure Sampson is under to win big at Indiana University. (But who or what is Shamu?) (May 16, 2006)
- The NCAA’s sanctions on new Indiana University basketball coachKelvin Sampson have a few pundits huffing and puffing and most fans sighing in relief. Sampson can’t telephone a recruit or take part in any off-campus recruiting for one year. Sampson was punished for major (over 500 “illegal” phone calls to recruits in four years while at Oklahoma) rules violations, and surely didn’t help his case when said he didn’t think the offenses were as serious as, say, giving a recruit a car or a sheaf of crisp new thousand-dollar bills. He readily accepted responsibility but declined to prostrate himself before the rules committee investigators, and seemed politically tone-deaf throughout the process. This is never a bright idea when dealing with those who have unchecked power to turn your life into a smoking ruin. The sanctions appear to reflect a clear desire by the NCAA not to let Sampson escape punishment by fleeing to another job, and to penalize him for what it felt was a cavalier attitude. Fair enough, and no arguing otherwise. The judgment of IU athletic director Rick Greenspan and school president Adam Herbert, who made the hiring decision on Sampson, can fairly be criticized. They appear willing to suffer the embarrassment and stick with the new coach. Most fans, I think, will agree. We should admit the criticism is justified, take it, and make sure Sampson and the basketball program are scrupulously clean going forward. The Indianapolis Star’s columnist, Bob Kratvitz, surprised none of his followers by bellowing for Sampson’s resignation or firing—and Greenspan’s too, gol-dang it! A sampling of Internet articles produced some sentiment that IU could have done a lot better than Sampson, and questioned hiring him in the first place. This stance is predicated on the belief that Indiana is an elite program which could have had nearly its pick of the best coaches in the land. I disagree. IU has not been a top-tier program in many years. I think Sampson, whose credentials--except for his phone bills--aren’t shabby at all, was about as good as IU could have done, and I think he’ll do quite well at Indiana. Time to endure the penalties with grace and humility, and get to work restoring the basketball program to first-class status. (May 26, 2006)
- Man! Coach and His acolytes got hammered in June! On June 2, the Indiana Court of Appeals turned down an appeal by a group of Bob Knight supporters—46 of them, led by northwest Indiana attorney Gojko Kasich-- who claimed the IU trustees violated state law when they met in separate groups to discuss Coach’s firing. The Kasich group also had claimed that the University president, Myles Brand, did not have the authority to fire Coach, and that appeal was rejected, too. Kasich said he will urge the group to appeal again, this time to the Indiana Supreme Court. Soon after, a Marion County Superior Court judge ruled June 14 that Coach’s insurance company is not liable for damages and financial losses Coach says He suffered as a result of His alleged involvement in The Ron Felling Unpleasantness (RFU) said to have occurred, oh, so long ago and far away. Coach settled out of court with Ron, paid him 25 grand, then sued His (Coach’s) own insurance company when it refused to reimburse Him for that and related “defense expenses.” Judge said no way, Coach. Coach still has a companion suit against His old employer, Indiana University, in which He also seeks damages related to the RFU. That’s supposed to come to trial this fall. Coach never lets up. Never, never, never, never, never, never, never. (June 15, 2006)
- Purdue basketball fans are giddy about what pundits are calling a recruiting slam dunk. Four touted Indiana high school seniors (Class of 2007) have made oral commitments to join the Boilermakers in the fall of 2007. All four are currently ranked in the Top 100 seniors-to-be by a scouting service: Robbie Hummel and Scott Martin, both of Valparaiso, E’Twaun Moore of East Chicago, and JaJuan Johnson of Franklin Central. Indiana was said to be pursuing all four, also, but new Indiana Coach Kelvin Sampson was about three years behind Purdue in cuddling and coddling the lads, and so had little realistic chance, in the few months since Sampson was hired, to catch up. IU fans should not be troubled. Sampson will do fine once he gets his feet on the ground and his recruiting program well underway. I’ll make this bet right now: Sampson’s Fall of 2007 incoming class (not a single one of whom is known at this writing) will outplay and outscore and out-achieve Purdue’s class which includes the talented four above. All IU fans have to do is be patient. (July 22, 2006)
- Marco Killingsworth, Indiana University’s starting basketball center last winter, was arrested in Montgomery, Alabama, August 4, and charged with “third-degree domestic violence,” according to a short note in the Indianapolis Star today. “Third degree” means that Marco is alleged to have done “more than shouting” “but less than an assault.” A female complainant signed a warrant saying that he “physically harassed her.” The Star did not reveal if the female was Marco’s wife--or the mother of his child if he has not married her--or some other female. Killingsworth led Indiana in scoring and rebounding but was not chosen in the recent NBA draft. (August 9, 2006)
- Eric Gordon, a nationally-ranked high school basketball player from Indianapolis, was spotted sitting with his father in the stands last weekend at Indiana University’s “elite” basketball camp. Gordon publicly committed to the University of Illinois months ago. Both Gordons stoutly denied that this constituted a “visit” to IU. Both again denied persistent rumors that Gordon has changed his mind and will “de-commit” to Illinois and go to Indiana to play. ESPN ran a story August 7 saying Gordon was going to do this. The pressure on young Gordon must be fierce, but he and his dad could end it in an instant with an emphatic, no-hedging, convincing denial, which they so far have not quite made. (August 9, 2006)
- Finally, after a spring and summer of hubbub over the big recruits everyone else was getting, Coach Kelvin Sampson has landed his first Indiana University basketball recruit for the Fall 2007 class: Brandon McGee, a 6-7 forward at Chicago Crane Tech High School. He is said to be 6-7 and 220-pounds, and is ranked No. 108 in this year’s senior class by one scouting service, No. 80 in another list. McGee said he chose Indiana over Iowa, Arizona State, Connecticut, Florida, Massachusetts, Nevada-Las Vegas, and DePaul. (August 10, 2006)
- IU Recruit No. 2 for 2007 came right on the heels of the first one. This time it was Jamarcus Allen, a Chipola (Florida) Junior College star, who chose Indiana. Allen is 6-5 and 200 pounds and plays guard. He starred in the Chicago Public League at Westinghouse High School, and chose IU over Oklahoma, Illinois, Iowa, Texas A&M, Oklahoma State and Mississippi. He’ll play one more season at Chipola and arrive at IU in the Fall of 2007. (August 15, 2006)
- The National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) got all puffed up with indignation recently, and censured new Indiana Coach Kelvin Sampson for the illegal phone calls he made to recruits while coach at Oklahoma. The NABC’s press release spoke of its role as a “guardian of the game” and sprinkled pieties about like confetti. The Indianapolis Star’s Bob Kravitz harpooned these frauds with the observation that for all the NABC’s huffing and puffing about its concern for ethics, the organization was founded in 1927 and waited 60 years before troubling itself to pass its own code of ethics in 1987. Kravits also noted what so few sports pundits and governors ever acknowledge—that Johnny Wooden’s program was associated with a sleazy booster named Sam Gilbert for many years and the NABC (and the NCAA, too, for that matter) was nowhere to be found on the subject. The issue is not whether Sampson should be scolded, scorched, censured—it’s the NABC’s hypocrisy, which was smeared all over its resolution. (August 20, 2006)
- Larry Bird enrolled at Indiana University in the Fall of 1974. He left school a month later. Had he stayed four years at IU, he would have been joined by these teammates: Kent Benson (enrolled in Fall, 1973), Scott May, Quinn Buckner, Bob Wilkerson, Tom Abernethy (all arrived in September of 1972), Mike Woodson and Butch Carter (Fall, 1976), Ray Tolbert (Fall, 1977), and Steve Green and John Laskowski (enrolled in September of 1971). Oh, my, what might have been. (August 24, 2006).
- After-shocks from the post-Bob Knight era at Indiana University are still felt periodically. Last Sunday’s Indianapolis Star brought one, bubbling up from the lower right corner of the sports page—the revelation that the University hired the big Indianapolis law firm of Ice Miller in 2004 to investigate rumored rules violations in football coach Gerry DiNardo’s program. It cost IU $15,000 and turned up only four minor matters, which the university prayerfully reported to the NCAA. DiNardo was fired in 2005 with an 8-27 record. The story brought to light further evidence of the poisonous atmosphere which enveloped the school’s athletic department in the years leading up to the firing of Bob Knight and the almost six years since that event. DiNardo, it appears, was never very popular nor much of a “fit” in the athletic department during his short (three year) tenure, and in this Star account he blames an assistant he fired for spreading rumors. DiNardo also disputed several points in the University’s account, and claims IU “took an extreme measure during the investigation (by) remotely accessing his laptop computer at Assembly Hall ‘without my knowledge and without telling me after they had done it.’" The university refused to respond to that and refused to give the Star a copy of the law firm’s report, citing attorney-client privilege. DiNardo still lives in Bloomington, where he and his wife run a restaurant, and is being paid $600,000 by IU for the remaining years of his contract. He is one of four fired individuals (including Knight, former athletic director Mike McNeeley, and former football coach Cam Cameron) who collected several million dollars in contract settlements during a period when the athletic department was operating in the red. It will be a relief when all this floats downstream and goes away. (August 29, 2006)
- IU beat writer Terry Hutchens of the Star is projecting a 5-7 record for the 2006 football Hoosiers: nonconference wins over Western Michigan, Ball State, Southern Illinois and Connecticut, and a 1-7 Big Ten Record, the sole victory over Illinois (on the road). That’s brave. Most of us can confidently see no more than three victories, maybe four. My heart tells me this team is a little better than last year, and better than most pundits project. I’ll join Hutchens in predicting the same five wins—and if the gods would truly smile and a bunch of breaks go their way, maybe six. History tells us this is dreaming--but hope, as they say, springs eternal. Light that candle! (September 1, 2006)
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“Illinois’ Top-Rated QB To Be A Hoosier,” read the Chicago Tribune headline over a story announcing that Teddy Schell of suburban Barrington High School and the state’s top-ranked quarterback, has decided to attend Indiana University. He chose IU over offers from—and of course seasoned IU fans are ready for this—Rutgers, Eastern Michigan, Northern Illinois, Duke, Arizona, and Kansas State. Teddy himself told the Tribune that he’d had “a lot of interest (but, tellingly, no scholarship offers) from Nebraska, California, Iowa, Wisconsin, Northwestern, and Purdue.” Seasoned IU fans may be forgiven for remembering other situations like this--most notably Earl Haniford, the top-rated prep quarterback in the entire solar system in the 1990s when Indiana stole him from Ohio State and 4,500 other schools, only to have Haniford be so poorly talented that he could never start, even at Indiana, then and now one of the nation’s worst football programs. But let’s be positive: better to recruit Illinois’ top-ranked quarterback than its last-ranked one. And maybe Teddy, said to be 6-4 and 205 pounds, will take us to the promised land. (September 15, 2006)
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Our beloved football Hoosiers lost for the first time in the so-called “modern era” to a Division I-AA team (Southern Illinois, by a 35-28 score at home, in front of 31,156 fans). Question: Is this a low point in IU football history? Answer: Not at all—it is merely another cruel disappointment among thousands of disappointments covering the more than a century Indiana has played college football. It was a typical, normal, ordinary IU Football Saturday. Nothing we can do but soldier on. (September 16, 2006)
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Oh, man. Poor Indiana not only lost at home to Connecticut, but finished with zero rushing yardage (the Star’s indolent coverage failed to tell us where that ranked on the team’s all-time feeble performance list). After a brief blip last year when average attendance climbed to 39,000, crowds are again heading south: 27,256 was the paid attendance for UConn and after three home games the average is below 30,000. The team went 2-2 in nonconference games. Non-delusional fans—and there should be few remaining by now—know what lies ahead: the likelihood of a winless Big Ten season and a 2-10 record, not to mention the danger of further health disasters for the new head coach we all love, Terry Hoeppner. What choice do we have but to cling to hope, though? Maybe 3-9? (September 26, 2006)
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Two more entries for the all-time list of bad memories and Classic IU Football Moments: (1) In the Indiana at Ball State game September 9, IU trailed 17-0 late in the first half. Following a Ball State touchdown, it kicked off. Indiana’s Marcus Thigpen returned it 100 yards for IU’s only score of the half. But, wait! The IU radio networkwas on a commercial break andcompletely missed the kickoff return, though in its defense, there is almost never any reason to return to any game coverage of Indiana football; (2) In the September 23 home loss to Connecticut, during one series in the second half, IU’s center snapped three consecutive balls on the ground to quarterback Kellen Lewis, who was in a shotgun formation. The third botched snap bounced off Lewis’s leg and was recovered by UConn. (September 28, 2006)
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“I was standing right beside him (Eric Gordon) just yesterday, right after we’d come in from a fire drill. He sure doesn’t seem as tall as they say he is.”—Anonymous faculty member at Indianapolis North Central High School, in a transcript from a telephone call intercepted on September 27, 2006, by the Bush Administration.
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“A lot of these plays today look like they’re in slow motion for Indiana.”—Don Fischer, IU radio broadcaster, on Indiana’s first series of plays in the second half, already trailing Wisconsin, 35-0. (September 30, 2006)
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“This is like Denny’s—always open.”—Mike Gottfried, ESPN2 broadcaster, describing Wisconsin receivers continuously wide open against Indiana in the Badgers’ horrendous 52-17 rout of IU. (September 30, 2006)
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“I’m shocked, Jimmy,” (and later) . . .“I’m stunned.”—Terry Hoeppner, Indiana University football coach, responding to an on-field ESPN2 reporter Jimmy Dykes, as Hoeppner headed for the halftime locker room with his team trailing, 35-0. (September 30, 2006)
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“Football is life speeded up. Days like this are going to happen sometimes.”—Terry Hoeppner, Indiana University football coach, commenting on his team’s 52-17 whelping by Wisconsin. (September 30, 2006)
James May Have Issues
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Indiana’s talented football receiver, James Hardy, put on quite a show Saturday in the Wisconsin game, his return from a two-game suspension for “personal reasons.” The 6-7 Hardy was an All-American last year as a rookie. But, alas, the lad seems to have “issues.” Saturday he caught only one pass, while being double-teamed by the Badgers. I watched the entire game on ESPN2 and paid particular attention whenever the camera lingered on Hardy. Viewers saw Hardy more than once glaring in apparent anger at teammates. Off-camera, he was also putting on a show, according to a column by Chris Korman in the Sunday Bedford (Indiana) Times-Mail. The paper said Hardy was seen yanking off his helmet, stalking away from his teammates, and sitting by himself in what amounted to a great big public pout. IU’s coaches have never spoken about what brought about Hardy’s suspension, but all this could be a prelude to bigger troubles.(October 1, 2006)
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The Star’s account of the IU-Wisconsin game noted that most IU fans had left by halftime, and that in the fourth quarter there were only about 4,000 people left in the stadium.
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Indiana’s football team in its last seven Big Ten games has given up an average of 43 points to each opponent, while averaging only 16 points of its own. (September 30, 2006)
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Athletic officials at Indiana University are proposing a $55 million package of sports facilities renovations including a new basketball practice facility and upgrades to the football stadium. No one is saying if the thoroughly preposterous idea of additional seats for Memorial Stadium is in the plan. Indiana football plays to roughly 15,000-20,000 empty seats every home game. Why anyone would propose building more empty seats is a hilarious mystery. (September 30, 2006)
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Some early hints of an ancient problem are emerging: shrinking basketball players. Mike Pegram, the boss-man of a very good IU sports website (www.peegs.com) wrote in an article about two junior college transfers—Lance Stemler and Mike “King Kong” White—that Stemler’s height appears “to be a bit shorter than the listed 6-8” and that White “did not quite look his listed 6-6.” (October 6, 2006)
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Indiana’s miracle football win over Illinois last weekend (34-32 on a field goal by IU’s Austin Starr with 0:01 on the clock) prompted the question of whether IU has ever won another football game on a final play. Any serious IU can recall a multitude of failing last-second plays, or losses because of enemy plays as time ran out. I polled my IU fan comrades. One offered candidate was Indiana’s 1979 Holiday Bowl victory over Brigham Young—but that doesn’t count because BYU had the final play—a missed field goal attempt which would have defeated Indiana had it been good. The only other submission was Indiana’s win in overtime against Illinois in 1999. Illinois kicked a field goal on its first possession in overtime to take a 31-28 lead. On IU’s first play in overtime, Antwaan Randle-el passed 25 yards to Levron Williams for a game-winning touchdown, 34-31. That seems to be it, in over a century of football. (October 10, 2006)
A Halley's Moment in Bloomington
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I was there Saturday, lads, in a prime Memorial Stadium seat, accompanied by the Zionsville Slasher, to see Indiana play mighty Iowa.
After a little pre-game schmoozing in the Hoosier 100 limestone grotto deep beneath (and close to the bowels of) Memorial Stadium, where we had free hot chocolate and cookies and chatted briefly with silver-haired comrades, and with the legendary Anthony Thompson (who still looks in fighting trim, and to whom we extended gratitude for some splendid IU football memories). Then we high-stepped our way to our seats and settled in for our punishment.
But wait! On this strange, strange day, Indiana played football as well as I've seen them play it in a long time. The result (a 31-28 Indiana victory) was no fluke. Iowa is a top-tier Big Ten program. And this was not the usual IU collection of fools, mutants, thalidomide babies, and circus freaks flopping around pathetically on-field. While Indiana made some of its usual mistakes, Iowa made about as many, and from Indiana's viewpoint, there are many, many positives.
For example, as the game wore on, Indiana's running offense actually got better. By the fourth quarter, it was IU's line which was pushing Iowa around, as Indiana backs repeatedly gained crucial yardage. When tailback Marcus Thigpen crunched an ankle in the third quarter and Demetrius McCray replaced him, the running game actually improved. Freshman quarterback Kellen Lewis, starting his fourth college game, was as good as anyone could have hoped (19 of 25, no interceptions, three TDs). He made smart decisions and throw precisely accurate passes. Indiana's decades-long maligned defense played well. There were some ferocious hits on Iowa players, the tackling was crisp and surer than we’re used to seeing, and Indiana got a game-saving one-handed diving interception of a deflected Iowa pass--precisely the sort of play we’ve spent a lifetime watching the other team make against us--by safety Will Meyers. Receiver James Hardy returned to the offensive scheme with a bang, and may others made standout plays. Indiana defenders exerted significantly more backfield pressure on the Iowa QB (Drew Tate) as the game wore on.
(Puke-Inducer: If IU hadn't horrendously screwed up its nonconference schedule, it would be standing 6-1 at this moment.)
The crowd was announced at 31,392 (tickets sold) on a truly gorgeous and perfect October afternoon (with not even a Colts or Purdue home game to siphon off away ticket-buyers). Actual bodies in the seats were fewer.
Confession: Slash and I by unanimous agreement evacuated the stadium with 2:53 left. An IU drive had stalled. Still leading, 31-28, we punted the ball to Iowa at its own 15-yard line. Iowa’s very first play went for 29 yards with no IU defender initially within 20 yards of the ball-carrier, who was eventually shoved out of bounds by Will Myers, who was then penalized for "out-of-bounds tackling," and 15 more yards were added to the toll. Slash and I agreed that we had only seen what we believed then loomed--another heartbreaking IU defeat--a minimum of 2.5 million times before and that we neither could stand to face still another one. We rose to our feet and bolted out of the place. As we hit the parking lot we heard a roar from the crowd and heard Fish shrieking over the loudspeakers about--an IU interception!--an IU interception!. We trudged on toward my vomit-colored 2000 Infiniti QX-4, expecting to hear the interception was nullified by a penalty, or IU promptly fumble the ball back. We got in the vehicle, flipped on the radio and Fish was screaming that IU was about to nail down this incredible victory. Then—oh, dear God, no, no no!--Lewis fumbled a direct snap--you know--the one you're supposed to catch and hold and then kneel with to run out the clock--and there was more screaming, then word that IU recovered it. Then Don counted. . .three seconds....two...one--still time to lose!!--. . .then the miracle was complete.
I'm sorry I could not face the final couple of minutes. But it was purely self-preservation. Å lifetime of wounds and injuries and horrors triggered irresistible flight impulses. I knew from over a century's history that the odds were massive that we would lose, and I said, I simply cannot--will not--voluntarily participate in another viewing of one of these. Not seeing a miracle finish in which IU actually won a football game was a far less attractive option than staying around and running the high risk of another heartbreaking loss. So flight, really, was my only possible decision.
The ride home was a pure delight: giddy postgame commentary, interviews, and stats, then the call-in radio show from The Colorado Steakhouse on north College or Walnut. Much like Halley's Comet hauls through here every 76 years, a football win like this is a life treasure.
I dropped off the Slasher and drove straight to the Institute for my mandatory post-game evaluation by Drs. Faversham and Golo. They interviewed and examined me, patted me on the shoulder, administered some mild psychotropics, and had me driven home, where I am now resting comfortably--though facing a probable lifetime of continuing therapy. (October 15, 2006)
Gordon Switches to Indiana, We Think
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The suspense is finally believed to be over. Eric Gordon, the nationally-touted high school basketball player from Indianapolis North Central High School, has changed his mind, rescinded his “oral commitment” to the University of Illinois, and decided he will enroll at Indiana University in the Fall of 2007. This was announced today by his father. (October 13, 2006)
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Young Eric is described as standing 6-4 in some newspaper articles, 6-3 in others. Best keep a sharp eye on this to see how much he shrinks before arriving in college.
"Family Reasons?" "Not For Melodrama?" Oh, My.
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Today's Chicago Tribune presented a lengthy article resulting from weekend interviews with the entire Eric Gordon family (well, Mom, Dad, and the lad himself). Determined readers who fought their way through to the 20th (of 22 total) paragraph came upon this stunning sentence (italics and boldface mine, for emphasis): " For family reasons, not melodrama, Gordon will deliver his letter of intent well after the signing period begins November 8."There is not a single grain of a clue anywhere in the 21-inch long story about why Gordon or his family would do such a thing--after putting thousands of fans, friends, family members and the coaching staffs of both schools through a maddening recruiting farce which has already dragged out more than a year and caused limitless aggravation for all concerned. Indeed, the real question is: Why would Gordon in a million years even consider not signing the document at 12:01 a.m.--one minute after midnight--November 8 (the first day of the NCAA-allowed signing period) and having it delivered by courier to Bloomington to end, once and for all, this ridiculous episode? What possible explanation could there be for resuming the suspense and silliness? The Indianapolis Star’s report on this “press conference” made no reference to this bizarre statement. It must be that there are certain mysteries in life we are not destined to understand, and this is one of them. It appears, too, that we will get no help from the Star or Tribune or anyone else in divining an explanation. If IU is smart, it will get young Gordon into a safe house till it gets signed documents in hand. (October 16, 2006)
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Within hours of Eric Gordon’s announcement, a faction of Illiniois fans issued a fatwa. Sports fan websites—and young Eric’s personal Myspace.com web page,too--erupted with shriekers pumping their AK-47s in the air and howling for vengeance. Greg Couch, a Chicago Sun-Times columnist, attacked IU and Coach Kelvin Sampson, calling Sampson “a dirty, slimy, scummy coach”. . . (who) “immediately ran to his phone to ask Gordon to reconsider (his commitment to Illinois)” as soon as he (Sampson) was hired. A downstate Illinois sports writer called Gordon a “steaming pile of excrement. Other writers recognized the obvious—that kids sometimes change their minds, that the Gordon family initiated contacts with Indiana, and that, ultimately, the thing to do was grow up and get on with life. Gordon’s high school coach is already discussing with local police how to insure security for Gordon when he tries to play his senior season for Indianapolis North Central. Gordon’s father told the Indianapolis Star that some of the messages his son was getting could be viewed as death threats. No one who follows sports should be surprised. (October 22, 2006)
Gordon Signs—And There’s Film To Prove it!
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Despite dark hints from his handlers that there might be inexplicable delay in signing Indiana University’s grant-in-aid form, the first day of the NCAA’s “November signing period” finally arrived and Indianapolis North Central High School’s wonder-child, Eric Gordon, signed the document without a hitch at a small press conference around 8:30 a.m. The precious document was delivered to IU officials later the same day. It is now believed to be in a blastproof limestone vault deep beneath the city of Bloomington. All hands involved seemed relieved to have it over, according to those close to the scene. (November 8, 2006)
Coach is No. 1 Watch
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Coach needs just 11 victories to become the all-time winningest coach in college basketball history (men’s Division I, anyway). He starts this season at Texas Tech with a career record of 869-350 in 40 seasons (105-61 in five seasons at Texas Tech). North Carolina’s Dean Smith presently is tops with 879 career victories. (October 15, 2006)
Contract Extension Through 2012 For Coach
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Coach has signed a contract extension which will keep Him at Texas Tech through the 2012 season for $300 grand a year and a guarantee of an additional $600 grand in “outside income.” Texas Tech has already signed Coach’s son, Pat, to take over the head coaching position whenever Coach resigns. (October 20, 2006)
Mackey First IU Recruit From Kentucky Since 1969
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Bud Mackey (given name” Jonathan” and no relation to Guy “Red” Mackey, the former Purdue athletic director), a 6-4, 180-pound guard from Georgetown, Kentucky, has given an oral commitment to attend Indiana University. He is a junior this season and thus becomes IU’s first recruit for the Class of 2008, assuming the commitment holds (get thee to a safe house!). Mackey is reported to have had scholarship offers from Kentucky, Florida, Tennessee, Xavier. Clemson, Miami (Florida), and Mississippi State. He is also the trigger for the trivia question: Who was the last high schooler from Kentucky to play for Indiana? (Answer: The Indianapolis Star says it was Tom Boone, a 5-10 guard (played as a sophomore in 5 games, 0-4 shooting, no points) from Louisville, in 1969-70; and before Boone it was Vic Bender, a super talent who played as a freshmen in the 1961-65 period (when freshmen were not eligible for varsity ball), then left school without ever playing in a varsity game; and preceding Bender there was Neal Skeeters, a 5-10 guard who played one season, on the 1953-54 roster) Fairly thin gruel. (October 20, 2006).
Why Do More Go South?
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The question of Kentucky prep players coming north to play for Indiana (so far only two identified) naturally raised the reverse: How many of our beloved lads have crossed the Ohio River to play for Kentucky? “Big City” Bob Hammel, now retired from four decades or so as sports editor of the Bloomington Herald-Telephone/Herald-Times, came up with a quick dozen and says there are surely more: Cowboy Edwards, Jack Parkinson (father of Bruce), Cliff Barker, Cotton Nash, Larry Steele, Louie Dampier, Tom Kron, Mike Flynn, James Blackmon, Myle Macy, Jim Master, and Walter McCarty. The next research project for one of the big foundations should be: why such a disparity favoring Kentucky? (October 20, 2006)
Gotta Love Coach For This. . .
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Texas Tech basketball coach Bob Knight has dismissed his team’s leading scorer, Jarrius Jackson, for academic reasons. Jackson led the Big 12 Conference in scoring last year with 20.5 points per game. (October 30, 2006)
Wait! Wait! Wait! Coach Has Changed His Mind!
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Word leaks out of Lubbock that Coach has reinstated his leading scorer, Jarrius Jackson, after about a week’s banishment for “academic reasons.” (November 7, 2006)
But On The Other Hand, Coach Is Still Coach. . .
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Coach addressed an adoring crowd of about 1,000 people at a Texas Tech booster club “Tip-Off Luncheon” November 2, and couldn’t resist a potshot at another of His tormenters. This time it was former Texas Tech chancellor David Smith, with whom Coach had a public spat involving Coach’s Famous Salad Bar Unpleasantness in February, 2004. Coach began His remarks with praise for Tech’s incoming new chancellor (Kent Hance) by referring to the old one (Smith) as a guy who was interested in only one thing “and that was self-promotion,” adding that, “If Hance says hello to one person, that will be an improvement from the last guy.” (November 2, 2006)
2006 IU Football Attendance Watch
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September 2 Western Michigan—30,733
September 16 Southern Illinois University—31,156
September 23 Connecticut—27,256
September 30 Wisconsin—32,142
October 14 Iowa—31,392
October 28 Michigan State—36,444
November 11 Michigan—42,320
Average per Game: 33,063 (Last year: 39,536)
Change from 2005: Down 16.37%
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Ironies never cease to please me. This one is special. Matt Trowbridge, in a November 14 column in the Rockford (Illinois) Register Star about Indiana’s new basketball coach, Kelvin Sampson, notes that although Illinois and its fans now regard Sampson as the Antichrist for “stealing” away its prized recruit (Eric Gordonl), it was only six years ago that the University of Illinois itself tried to hire Sampson after Illinois’ Coach Lon Kruger resigned in 2000. Sampson, then at Oklahoma, turned them down and Illinois hired Bill Self two days later. (Self quit after a couple of years to take the Kansas job). (November 14, 2006)
IU's Basketball Recruits By Year? Let's Have A Peek
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This list is an attempt to compile an all-inclusive list of athletes who were offered and who accepted IU basketball scholarships. Not all ultimately enrolled at Indiana (See Note 1). Some were junior college transfers. Those in boldface type left the program before completing their eligibility in Bloomington. Corrections are welcomed.
1971--Steve Ahlfeld, Doug Allen, Steve Green, John Kamstra, John Laskowski
1972--Tom Abernethy, Quinn Buckner, Jim Crews, Scott May, Don Noort, Bob Wilkerson, Craig Morris
1973--Kent Benson
1974--Wayne Radford, Jim Wisman, Mark Haymore, Larry Bird
1975--Scott Eells, Rich Valavicius, Bob Bender, Jim Roberson
1976--Butch Carter, Mike Woodson, Glen Grunwald, Derek Holcomb, Billy Cunningham, Mike Miday
1977--Phil Isenbarger, Eric Kirchner, Steve Risley, Ray Tolbert, Tommy Baker, Don Cox
1978--Landon Turner, Randy Wittman, Ted Kitchel
1979--Steve Bouchie, Tony Brown, Isiah Thomas, Jim Thomas, Chuck Franz
1980--Mike LaFave, Craig Bardo
1981--Dan Dakich, Uwe Blab, Winston Morgan, Cam Cameron, John Flowers, Rick Rowray
1982--Stew Robinson, Mike Giomi, Tracy Foster
1983--Steve Alford, Todd Meier, Daryl Thomas, Courtney Witte, Marty Simmons
1984--Steve Eyl, Joe Hillman, Kreigh Smith, Brian Sloan, Magnus Pelkowski, Delray Brooks
1985--Jeff Oliphant, Todd Jadlow, Rick Calloway, Andre Harris, Lenell Moore (1)
1986--Dean Garrett, Keith Smart, Tony Freeman, David Minor
1987--Mark Robinson, Lyndon Jones, Jay Edwards
1988--Eric Anderson, Jamal Meeks, Matt Nover, Mike D'Aloisio, John (Chuckie) White
1989--Calbert Cheaney, Greg Graham, Pat Graham, Chris Reynolds, Todd Leary, Lawrence Funderburke, Chris Lawson
1990--Damon Bailey, Pat Knight
1991--Alan Henderson, Brian Evans, Todd Lindeman
1992--Malcolm Sims
1993--Rob Eggers, Sherron Wilkerson, Richard Mandeville, Steve Hart, Rob Foster, Monty Marcaccini (Note 1)
1994--Andrae Patterson, Neil Reed, Charlie Miller, Michael Hermon, Rob Hodgson
1995--Haris Mujezinovic, Lou Moore, Chris Rowles, Larry Richardson
1996--Jason Collier, Michael Lewis, A.J. Guyton, Luke Jiminez
1997--Luke Recker, Kirk Haston, Rob Turner, William Gladness
1998--Dane Fife, Lynn Washington, Jarrad Odle, Kyle Hornsby
1999--Trey Ferguson (Note 1), Tom Coverdale, George Leach, Jeff Newton
2000--Jared Jeffries, Mike Roberts, A. J. Moye, Andre Owens
2001--Donald Perry, Sean Kline
2002--Marshall Strickland, Bracey Wright, Daryl Pegram, Roderick Wilmont
2003--Jessan Gray-Ashley, Patrick Ewing, Jr.
2004--Robert Vaden, James Hardy, D. J. White, Josh Smith, A. J. Ratliff, Robert Rothbart, Lucas Steijn, Julius Ashby
2005--Joey Shaw, Ben Allen, Marco Killingsworth, Lewis Monroe, Earl Calloway, Cem Dinc
2006--Deonta Vaughn, Armon Bassett, Xavier Keeling, Mike White, Lance Stemler
2007--Brandon McGee, Jamarcus Ellis, Elijah Holman, Eric Gordon, Jordan Crawford
2008--Jonathan “Bud” Mackey, Eshaunte JonesWalk-ons (first season played): Trent Smock (1972-73), Steve Reisch (1978-79), Ross Hales (1993-94), Jean Paul (1994-95), Kevin Lemme (1995-96), Antwaan Randle-El (1998-99), Tom Geyer (1999-2000), Ryan Tapac (2001-2002), Scott May, Jr. (2001-02), Mark Johnson (2001-02), Joe Haarman (2002-03), Jason Stewart (2002-03), Errek Suhr (2004-06), Adam Ahlfeld (2004-06), Kyle Taber (2005-06)
Footnotes: Note 1: Lenell Moore, a 6-7 forward out of Indianapolis Shortridge High School and Allen County (Kansas) Junior College, accepted an IU scholarship in the spring-summer of 1985 but in late summer reneged and enrolled at another school. Lou Moore, a Fall, 1995, junior college recruit, may hold the record for the "shortest playing career for players actually arriving on campus" honor--he played 27 minutes in three games before quitting the team around November 30, 1995. Trey Ferguson, Monty Marcaccini, Robert Rothbart, Josh Smith, Deonta Vaughn and Julius Ashby were offered and accepted scholarships, but reneged (Smith to go pro, Rothbart to play in France) before ever enrolling at IU
Bold Print Names: Left the program before exhausting basketball eligibility, either by transfer to another school, dismissal, prep school, disappearance, quitting the team, or playing professionally.
Total Recruits--160 in 37 years (includes McGee, Ellis, Holman, Crawford and Gordon for 2007)
Average Player Separations Per Year--1.513 (56 over 37 years)
Probability an IU recruit will use all years of eligibility--All players (99 of 155 or 56.6 percent). (Assumes all players on present roster (November 2006) stay for the duration.) (Updated as of November 22, 2006)
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As IU’s football season draws to a close, speculation has begun about whether talented 6-7 wide receiver James Hardy will enter the NFL draft after this, his sophomore season. Inside Indiana, a publication devoted to covering IU sports, has a full-page article on the topic November 18 quoting several pro football scouts. Among their observations: “He doesn’t block well. He doesn’t try hard every play. He doesn’t run the best routes. He pouts when he doesn’t get the ball, and he isn’t always a team guy. . .(Hardy) has pulled a T.O. (Terrell Owens) on a couple of the coaches. He will not be drafted as high as he thinks he will be (if he comes out this year).” One of the scouts said it would not be a surprise if Hardy would go “undrafted altogether” as things stand now. The consensus was that Hardy would serve himself better by staying in school another year, improving his attitude to eliminate certain “character issues,” and entering the spring, 2008 draft. Hardy is publicly noncommittal, beyond saying that he knows it’s crucial to make the right decision at the right time. (November 14, 2006)
Low Voltage, This Time
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Coach was all over our television screens once again in mid-month, illustrating once again that with Coach it’s never if, only when the same old story recycles. Texas Tech won by 12, but late in the game there was a volcanic Coach, face red and contorted in anger, shrieking in the face of a player. Almost too fast for the casual eye to see, Coach’s right hand snapped up and “made contact” with the lad’s chin. Lip-readers thought they saw Coach telling the lad to look Him in the eye. That turned out to be everyone’s version. Tech athletic director Gerald Meyers issued an immediate defense of Knight, but the sports and news shows yapped on for a couple days about it. The consensus was that this was a low voltage Knight Moment and not worth further babble. It was even suggested that if it had been any other coach, nobody would have noticed. Perhaps, but against the backdrop of a lifetime of episodes like this, Knight’s defenders have no legitimate gripe. This was just another reminder of how fortunate Indiana is to be rid of Him. (November 15, 2006)
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Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis hosted two opening-round NIT basketball games involving three state universities—Notre Dame, Butler, and Indiana—and the crowds were mysteriously poor. IU brought the excitement of a new coach and a promising team and is only 50 miles away. Butler is based in Indianapolis, and Notre Dame is a three-hour drive north. Only 8,037 fans showed up for the opening games (Indiana vs. Lafayette, Notre Dame vs. Butler) and the Butler-Indiana second-night contest drew 9,594. The average attendance for both nights was 8,816, less than half Conseco’s 18,345 capacity. Strange, indeed. (November 15, 2006)
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Eshaunte Jones, a 6-4 guard and a senior this year at Fort Wayne Northrop High School, has announced he will attend Indiana University on a basketball scholarship and arrive in the Fall of 2008. He will attend one year of prep school before going to Indiana. He is currently ranked No. 82 in the Class of 2007. His summer coach, Eric Vaughn, says “He (Jones) should have the same impact in ‘087 that Eric Gordon has in ’07.” (November 15, 2006)
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Just hours before the NCAA’s November signing period closed, Jordan Crawford, a 6-4, 180-pound guard from Hargrave (Virginia) Military Academy signed up for Indiana University’s Fall, 2007 basketball class. He chose IU over Xavier, Tennessee, and North Carolina State. He is the younger brother of Joe Crawford, a junior on Kentucky’s team this year, and played last year with current IU freshman, Armon Bassett, at Hargrave. Jordan joins Eric Gordon, Jamarcus Ellis, Brandon McGee, and Elijah Holman in the Class of 2007.
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Sometimes a scribe can say something one place but not another. The Star’s Indiana University beat writer, Terry Hutchens, may have done this when asked to prepare a feature on the basketball team for the Louisville Courier-Journal. There, in answering a question about the most noticeable difference between the coaching styles of departed Mike Davis and new guy Kelvin Sampson, Hutchens said some things harsher critics of Davis had been saying a long time. “There’s no question,” wrote Hutchens, “that (in-game coaching) was never a Mike Davis strength. And Sampson is clearly someone who is making adjustments on the fly. The second difference is using the bench as a motivator. Davis never did, especially with players such as Bracey Wright and Marco Killingsworth. Sampson won’t hesitate in this area. Mess up, and you’ll be sitting next to IU’s first year coach.” On a less delicate matter, Hutchens speculated that there’s no guarantee D.J. White will turn pro after this year, and that he (White) is intrigued by the chance to play next year with incoming wonder-child, Eric Gordon. It will probably hinge on whether or not White has a blockbuster season, according to Hutchens. (November 18, 2006)
The hubbub over Eric Gordon’s decision to change his commitment from the University of Illinois to Indiana University—and Illinois fans’ shrill anger over it—brought to mind one of the most egregious episodes of “player theft” in IU’s basketball history—the 1948 “disappearance” of Clyde Lovellette. This amazing and only-now amusing saga was long forgotten and probably unknown to most Indiana fans until it was resurrected and published in Jason Hiner’s wonderful 2006 book, Mac’s Boys, the story of Coach Branch McCracken’s 1953 national championship team at IU. Lovellette was the premier high school senior in the state of Indiana in the spring of 1948. He was 6’ 9” inches tall and had publicly committed to attend Indiana University. He made a late-summer visit to Bloomington to meet with McCracken, formally accept a scholarship, and complete his fall class selections. In Hiner’s account, Lovellette told McCracken he needed to go back to Terre Haute to pick up his clothes, and did so. Kansas Coach Phog Allen, however, had kept up the recruiting pressure on Lovellette even after the player had made his Indiana choice public. Allen somehow persuaded Lovellette to “make a short visit” to Kansas. Allen drove to the Lovellette home in Terre Haute, picked up the lad, and drove him back to Lawrence, Kansas, in Hiner’s account. Lovellette never returned to Bloomington. Ten days later a wire story announced he had enrolled at Kansas. Allen’s “explanation” of the matter was that the lad “had asthma and the air in Kansas was better for him.” Lovellette became an All-American and went on to a stellar professional career. Hiner’s account suggests McCracken never got over it and changed his whole approach to recruiting thereafter. We may safely conclude that recruiting was as ruthless then as it is today, but got much less press and fan attention then. (November 20, 2006)
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When junior college transfer Lance Stemler announced he was coming to Indiana, his height was reported at 6-8 and his weight variously at 220 to 225 pounds. Last night, during the IU-Indiana State game, broadcaster John Laskowski described Stemler at the 9:35 mark in the first half as 6-6 and 210 pounds. At 15:20 in the second half, Laz—and Stemler, too, for all we know-- reverted to 6-8 and 210, so that at game’s end he was only missing15 or so pounds. (November 18, 2006)
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Tiny IU Classic Moment: Today’s game at Purdue. Purdue has third and one on its first series of the second half. Purdue quarterback sneaks for the first down. IU’s veteran broadcaster, Don Fischer, is heard to say, “You know, IU just wasn’t ready (for that play).” His sidekick, Pete Compise, added, “A couple of IU defensive backs were actually looking at the (IU) sidelines for the signal (when the Purdue play began).” (November 18, 2006)
Poor Terry Hoeppner. IU’s football coach was so upset, so distraught, so depressed following Indiana’s 28-19 loss at Purdue that he could scarcely speak on the post-game radio broadcast. He would start a sentence, then pause. You could hear him inhale deeply, then exhale in an audible gasp. More pauses. Long silences as sentences trailed off. He said he was proud of his team, “which fell. . . .a little short.” Broadcaster Don Fischer’s voice was hoarse, as though from an illness, or serious overwork. What a game! Almost 1,000 yards of offense. A roller-coaster of big plays, gasps, heartbreaks, exhiliration. A wild, wooly, wonderful game for fans not caring who won. But, alas, most of us did. IU’s catalog of horrors was the same old: a missed field goal, a punt blocked, four fumbles and all lost (two of which cost IU all-but-certain touchdowns), the same old so close, but yet so far. But IU piled up 505 yards of offense, made numerous big plays itself. The defense intercepted four Purdue passes. The offensive line allowed only one sack and blocked for the team’s season-high rushing yardage. This five-win season exceeded everyone’s expectations. It was highlighted by three thrilling Big Ten wins, the emergence of a freshman big-time quarterback (Kellen Lewis), and a flock of young kids who, it turns out, can actually play at the Big Ten level—70% of IU’s roster this year were freshmen and sophomores. And—most amazing!—this team was playing meaningful games in October and November, when normally football is hopeless puke and fans are counting the hours till the basketball season begins. The Sunday morning standings showed Indiana in seventh place (the consensus prediction in August was last) and instead of the usual gloom and despair, an eagerness for the next football season to begin. When was the last time any IU football fan felt that way? (November 19, 2006)
He’s Not Eric Gordon, But It Sounds Like He’s Got A Dad Like Him. . .
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Illinois basketball coach Bruce Weber, wounded when his top recruit for 2007 (Eric Gordon of Indianapolis) changed his mind and switched to Indiana University, has taken a first step on the long road to recovery by securing an oral commitment from Jereme Richmond, a 14-year-old Winnetka, Illinois, lad considered the top freshman in the state. He already stands 6-6. His father, Bill Richmond, assured eager reporters that his son’s word was solid: “Jereme has had the same dentist and pediatrician all his life. We aren’t going to switch high schools, AAU summer teams or anything else. We aren’t a switching kind of family.” (November 24, 2006)
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The ever zany Duke University student rooting section hung the nickname “Frodo” on IU’s tiny 5-8, 156-pound walk-on guard, Errek Suhr, for the nationally-televised November 29 game between the two schools. (Frodo, for the uninitiated, is the tiny 3’4” Hobbit who’s the hero of the Lord of The Rings film series.) A nice badge of honor for Suhr, I say. (November 29, 2006)
Wild Phil Update
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IU basketball fans remember the excitement last spring when it was reported that 6-10 Phil Jones, then a Brooklyn, New York, prep player of monster physique but uncertain academics, had visited the Indiana campus and a few days later told eager reporters he would be enrolling in time for June summer school. But then radio silence. Phone calls not returned. Rumors of “friends” and “handlers” steering him in other directions: St. John’s? Rutgers? June passed and Jones remained off radar. Then, late summer, a quiet note in a newspaper story: Phil Jones was going to UNC-Charlotte. By coincidence, Indiana and UNC-Charlotte played in Bloomington on December 2. Would Phil come back to haunt us with 97 points, 77 rebounds, 103 blocks? Then a single paragraph in the Bloomington Herald-Times December 2: “Phil Jones, a 6-10 freshman center for Charlotte, has been declared ineligible by the NCAA after a review of his academic records.” Indiana won, 74-57, and no Jones sightings emerged. (December 3, 2006)
Bravo!
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Indiana’s entire basketball coaching staff and all its student managers wear suits and ties at all games. They are all well-groomed and look like something we seldom hear about anymore in our trashy, whorish present-day culture—they look like gentlemen. I say they’re worth a standing ovation. (December 3, 2006)
Shoe Mystery
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All but two IU players who saw action in the game against Western Michigan the evening of December 20 wore white basketball shoes. Two players (D. J. White and Armon Bassett) wore red shoes. Why? Are the players allowed to free-lance on their uniform choices now? (December 20, 2006)
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Coach tied Dean Smith for the most coaching victories (879) in men’s college basketball history in late December, and the next game Coach’s boys win—and it will occur in January 2007--will make Coach No. 1. As of December 29, Coach’s record is 879-354 (.713), and Smith’s is 879-254 (.776). The number that had slipped past most of us is that Smith has 100 fewer career losses than Knight. Smith also attained his 879 victories in five fewer seasons (36) than Coach (now in his 41st) And coming up fast on the outside is Mike Krzyzewski of Duke who is just 59 years old and already has 764 victories.
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Lucas Steijn, a 2004 IU basketball recruit (who stayed only one year, as a redshirt), is now enrolled and playing at John A. Logan Community College in Carterville, Illinois. (December 30, 2006)