READY! SET! GO!

If you consider yourself an Indiana University sports fan and you’re not excited about where the sports teams are, or the direction they are headed, then you may have to turn in your “fan card.” We have Hoosier athletes in the Olympics representing themselves, the country, and IU very well. The men’s soccer team was, and will continue to be, a challenger for a Big10 title, and a National Championship every year.

The IU women’s basketball team is coming off of a remarkable year. And although some faces will be different in 2021-2022, the foundation of continued success to build on going forward has been established. Head coach Teri Moren has built a culture conducive to winning and I like forward to seeing where the program goes.

What Tom Allen is doing with the IU football team is unprecedented. Sure there have been successful seasons in the past, but he is building a roster every year with the amazing recruiting roll him and his staff have been on. The only reason recruiting improves is because the product improves. The current players believe wholeheartedly in Coach Allen and his staff, and also in the system. When you have that, coupled with a progression of success since his arrival, then the program and it’s current players really help in recruiting on those official and unofficial visits.

LEO. Love Each Other. Coach Allen believes that success starts with that. You have to believe in each other. You have to have each others back. You have to feel like it is the team against the world when you start building a program, and then the players have to believe that through all the trials and tribulations along the way. Through all of the close losses. You have to stay positive no matter what. Through the disappointments, you have to find the positives from each practice, or each game. Losing is not an option, but when it does happen, learn from it and improve. It is readily apparent that this is what the IU football team has done since Coach Allen’s arrival. You can’t fake “LEO.” It is something you have to believe, and live. Coach Allen, his staff, and the players do, and it shows.

Being genuinely excited for an Indiana football season is not something a lot of Hoosier fans have been able to say they were much in the past, but that has changed. Football season is no longer about hope, but rather about excitement and expectations. It’s no longer just a filler until the next IU men’s basketball season starts.

Speaking of the IU men’s basketball team, and season, I believe personally that there is reason to be excited about that program as well. It’s always tough for a new coach and his staff to convince players to stick around. And that task was made even harder this past year due to kids being able to transfer with no penalty. So that was the first order of business for new head coach, and former IU great, Mike Woodson. Coach Woodson’s message must have resonated well, because even junior Trayce Jackson-Davis, who we can all admit now was believed to have already had one foot out the door, was convinced to stay after hearing what Coach Woodson had to say.

He hired a very good staff, and they’ve hit the ground running in terms of recruiting. Recruiting for basketball is probably more success driven than in any other sport. The NBA experience Coach Woodson brings to the table helps with recruiting, no doubt. But players by into successful, winning systems mores than they do just words. Instilling a new mindset, as well as installing a new system with kids that came to IU to play for another coach is no small task in itself. Now throw in trying to convince upper level talent to take a chance on a coach with no college coaching experience and to just believe his message with nothing to point to as proof, can be a monumental challenge. Thus far Coach Woodson has been able to do so.

In NBA circles you will be hard pressed to find someone, player, coach, or front office member who has something negative to say about him. He is a class act. He has surrounded himself with an excellent coaching staff that has ties nation wide, as well as coaching experience. He is an IU guy. For the most part, he has been able to reunite a fan base that has been pretty disgruntled to say the least since Bob Knight was fired. Obviously there is some uncertainty heading into most seasons, and even more so when there is a new coach…and even more so yet when that new coach had never recruited a player, or has never coached a game in college. I for one believe the university got it right this time.

Each year, as each Indiana University sports season approaches, I am excited. Sometimes that excitement has been somewhat guarded, depending on the sport. I for one needed a fresh start from the men’s basketball perspective. With the changes in leadership that have taken place, I can honestly say that I have cleaned the slate of any negativity heading into the season, and that I have that old genuine excitement that I had as a kid before an IU basketball season racing through my veins once again.

Could that excitement be short lived? Absolutely. Nothing is a given. Is it possible that the resurgence of our once storied program has already begun and we as fans just haven’t got to see it see it play out yet? Absolutely. Which is EXACTLY why I’m excited. Bring on the Indiana University sports seasons…all of them. I’m ready! I’m set! Let’s Go!


GO HOOSIERS!