I am a lifelong IU football fan (yes, they do exist). I can faintly remember Bill Mallory leading the Hoosiers to respectability. I watched as Antwaan Randle El carried a horrific supporting cast. I looked on as Gerry DiNardo proved why he was fired by LSU and I was inspired by the late Terry Hoeppner. Admittedly, I have not been around long enough to be a "long-suffering" anything. However, IU football has provided plenty of suffering in a short amount of time. So, as we enter the 2009-2010 football season, is there any reason for hope? The Hoosiers are coming off of a dreadful, injury-riddled season that saw them finish 3-9. They were rarely competitive in Big Ten contests and Purdue beat them 62-10 to close out the year. In the off-season, IU's best playmaker (Kellen Lewis) was booted from the team. I know that the picture for optimism is not exactly being painted. However, I do believe there are some things that are looking up for the IU football program.
We all know about the Memorial Stadium expansion and renovation. This will have a very
positive impact on recruiting. In fact, it looks the new facilities are already paying off. Coach Bill Lynch and staff have already secured 21 commitments for the class of 2010, including five three-star recruits. The facilities are a definite positive but the momentum they have generated won't last long if IU doesn't win some games.
Let me give you a quick preview of what will be coming up in the next few posts. I am going to preview the 2009-2010 football season for the Hoosiers by breaking down each position group. I will start with QBs and work my way through the roster. After that, I will take a look at IU's schedule and make some predictions. Once the Hoosiers have been analyzed, I will start previewing the rest of the Big Ten and eventually cover the rest of the BCS conferences. That should get us to September 3 and the start of the college football season!
By the way, some of the stats and figures that I will be citing on this blog come from Phil Steele's 2009 College Football Preview. If you don't have this magazine, go pick one up! It has five times more information than any other preview magazine. Really an awesome publication. Please post any comments you have. Until next time, god bless.
Great first article, TJ. GO IU!
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear your opinions.
IU sucks. Big Ten football sucks and IU is the worst of the Big Ten.
ReplyDeleteGood first effort, keep it up.
ReplyDeleteTJ,
ReplyDeleteGood stuff man. I'm glad somebody is taking the reigns of blogging about IU sports. I've thought a lot about the notion of their being any hope for Indiana football and I think it breaks down like this:
IU has to view itself as a stepping stone program for up and coming coaches. With this in mind it has to scour the mid-majors for market inefficienices for coaches. The biggest one that comes to mind is Butch Jones at Central Michigan.
You could have said Brian Kelly a couple of years ago but Indiana at best is a lateral movement from the Bearcats unless you seriously want to get hammered playing in the Big 10 instead of competing in the Big East. Turner Gil could have been in this division too but I think Gil is now too big. He possibly got screwed over at Auburn but just the idea that he was in it at Auburn probably precludes IU in that Gil probably thinks he's one interview away from a pretty big job.
If IU does this then that coach certainly will look at IU as a stepping stone and in reality in the short term (maybe 10-15 years) there is no way anyone who wants to win championships stays at Indiana. Think of it much the same way as Jimmy Johnson thought of it at Oklahoma State before jumping to Miami-FL.
Now if IU does this then maybe when that coach (Jones for example) jumps, IU could be a yearly 8-4 or 7-5 squad that competes in the Big 10. Now the coaching tree opens up a bit more for Indiana when it comes time to select another head coach.
Keep in mind too that the market right now is very interesting. Think of the top schools and their coaches:
Ohio State - Tressel
Michigan - Rodriguez
LSU - Miles
Florida - Meyer
Georgia - Richt
Tennessee - Kifin
Alabama - Saban
Auburn - Chizik
USC - Carroll
Miami (FL) - Shannon
Florida St. - Bowden (but Jumbo Fisher really)
Virginia Tech - Beamer (but Bud Foster)
Texas - Brown (but Wil Muschamp)
Oklahoma - Stoops
Notre Dame - Weis
Those are the huge programs in the country with shots to win National Championships. Indiana is in a pretty good place in that those jobs are all filled by guys who are fairly young in the coaching game or who already have successors lined up as is the case with schools like Florida State & Texas.
Keep in mind also though that there are huge names out there at not the elite of the elite. Kirk Ferentz is at Iowa. Butch Davis is at North Carolina. Jeff Tedford is at California.
It's an enviable position because at that point it's possible that IU doesn't have to be used as a stepping stone. If say a young hungry coach comes into IU and makes it a 7-5 or 8-4 team year in and year out then taking jobs like Mississippi, Iowa, NC State, Georgia Tech, California, Arkansas, Oregon State, Arizona or Oklahoma State become lateral moves. With that being the case then why leave Indiana in the first place?
The problem for Indiana becomes whether or not the administration sees this and if they truly believe Bill Lynch is the answer for IU Football. If they believe this and he isn't then IU is doomed. If they don't believe this then they have to perform massive due dilligence and look at some coaching trees. Butch Jones is from the coaching tree of Rich Rodriguez which seems like a massive inefficiency to me, but IU has to be fast about it.
Thanks David. Good points. I know that Hoosier Nation despises Bill Lynch and would be shocked if he could successfully coach a Pop-Warner team. However, I will hold off on my final opinion of him. I want to see what the team does this season. Plus, his staff has managed to pull in over 20 commitments and all of the experts are saying this will be IU's best recruiting class in a long time (I know, not saying much).
ReplyDeleteYou were dead on in your assessment of what IU can reasonably get in a football coach. If the administration sees fit to fire Lynch, they will need to look in the MAC to find a young coach with Midwest ties. Some fans seem to think that IU would pay a couple of million dollars for a big-name coach. That is just not going to happen.
Thanks for input David and I hope you keep reading. I plan on putting something up pretty much every day. If you have any ideas for something you would like me to write about, let me know (doesn't have to be IU football or basketball, could be anything).