It’s easier to say out loud after this basketball season. It certainly was palpable at Assembly Hall last night as Indiana University wrapped up its regular season schedule with a victory over Purdue.
Although there’s a faction—growing smaller by the day—that will never admit it, most can now say that IU basketball is bigger than Bob Knight.
And while this year’s return to prominence drives the point home, the proof is actually in the darkness that preceded this rebound season.
During the 2008-2009 season, in which the team won only six of 31 games, the team brought in $15.2 million of the athletics department’s $60.6 million in revenue. Only seven Div. I schools nationwide brought in more through their basketball program. None of them had fewer victories. Not even close.
During the 2009-10 season, another year of disappointment on the court, the team scored $17.8 million in revenue.
Since Assembly Hall was virtually sold out every game last season and this, it’s difficult to imagine revenue going a lot higher, but it will certainly nudge closer to $20 million. That’s almost one-third of the school’s entire athletic department budget.
And there’s no shortage of IU apparel sold this year due to the basketball team. That money will go in a general fund separate from IU basketball revenue. The hoops team gets a big assist nonetheless.
In any given year, only four to six Div. I colleges in the nation count on their basketball programs so heavily for revenue. And the way the Hoosiers football team has been performing, it’s a good thing school supporters didn’t turn their backs on the basketball team the way some predicted in the wake of the 2000 firing of Knight.
Yes, Bob Knight is a big part of the IU program. Same goes for all the players who played under him. And yes, the fans in Assembly Hall still roar whenever an image of Knight is posted on the video board.
But if we’ve learned one thing over the last four years, it’s that IU students and many alums clearly supported the team sans Knight, and even sans victories. It’s a part of Hoosier culture no matter if Knight ever accepts an invitation to come back to Assembly Hall.
These days the roar afforded current coach Tom Crean is drawing ever closer than that given to Knight’s image. I must admit, I’ve had my doubts about Crean’s ability to raise this program from the ashes.
I think he’s been able to do that because he realized just how big this program is. I think he realized it sooner and to a greater degree than many of the school’s alumni and Hoosier natives.
Crean realized a fundamental truth. There’s no shortage of high school basketball players who want to play at Assembly Hall and wear the candy striped warm-up pants. The Indiana-Purdue rivalry rolls on without Knight and his black-and-gold counterpart, Gene Keady.
There is no shortage of IU students and alum who want to support the program—even if that means without Knight or even
victories. From the look of the crowd yesterday, there's no shortage of fans these days also willing to don the candy
stripes.
In some ways, the path that IU has traveled is similar to that traveled by the University of Kentucky post Adolph Rupp.
Yes, there have certainly been some unique twists and turns in Bloomington. But the realization is the same.
The program is bigger than any one person.
It’s OK to admit it. IU basketball made Bob Knight. Not the other way around.
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After leaving IU, some of the original Knight surfaced and now, except for his attitude towards IU, he is witty, insightful, charming and incredibly entertaining. Too bad it could not have happened at IU.
An unemployed, bitter egomaniac. We paid a terrible price to have him as IU's Coach.He embarassed our University on a regular basis. We didn't have to put up with his antics to have a successful program of which we could be proud. See Coach Tom Crean for evidence of that. I'd be glad to invite Knight back to Assembly Hall if and when he sincerely apologizes, which of course means never.
And comparing IU to Kentucky? Really? Anthony - you obviously did not go to IU - did you even grow up in Indiana?
IU made Bob Knight...what a joke.
days vs. day's
proceeded vs. preceded
striped vs. stripped
Coach Knight ran himself out of town by being a egomaniacal buffoon. Nowadays he refuses to acknowledge his coaching tenure at IU but has no problem returning to Indiana every few months or so to fleece the Bob Knight faithful with tired anecdotes and jokes.
Thanks to Coach Crean and AD Fred Glass, IU has returned to the elite program status established years ago by Branch McCracken and continued by Bob Knight.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herman_B_Wells
Now, I'm a huge Bob Knight fan and I'm still a huge IU fan that has had season tickets before and after. The thing this "writer" is missing is that it's impossible to say whether people like me would have the same loyalty to IU basketball if we had not experienced the glory years with Bob Knight. If IU had been mediocre the entire time I was growing up and at IU would I have the same loyalty to ride out some bad years to the program getting respectable again? Maybe not.
I could see writing a column suggesting that IU basketball has survived after Bob Knight. I'm not sure that one Big Ten title since Knight left and a 5th place finish this year are a lot to be proud of but if you want to base it on Assembly Hall still drawing crowds then fine.
Now, suggesting that IU basketball "made" Bob Knight and would be just as big today whether they had hired Bob Knight or anyone else back in the early 70's is insane. The wrong hire instead of Knight could have easily resulted in IU being nowhere near the program it is today.
Knight immediately took an awful Texas Tech -program and brought them to respectability. The bottom line is Knight won everywhere he was at. As much as I hate to say it, IU has really struggled on the court since Knight left. Here's a little homework for you Anthony. Take a look at Indiana's overall record since Knight left and tell me when the last time IU was that bad over that long of a stretch of time was. Then tell us who made who...
Don't overlook another factor that played a role in Bobby's rise to fame and crash to embarrassment - the impact ESPN and cable had on college basketball. IU and a lot of other programs and coaches benefited from the 24-hour a day coverage of college basketball. Unfortunately, it also brought focused global attention on the spoiled brat's juvenile and detrimental behavior that cast a shadow on IU in general.
For too many years the mention of IU brought smirks and jokes about Bobby from others around the country.
Now that the program appears to be back on solid footing without a coach's embarrassing or rule-breaking behavior to detract, there is a warm and genuine positive environment back in Assembly Hall.
As time went on, however, the "other" Bobby Knight became visible; the one that hit cops in Puerto Rico, stuffed an LSU fan into a trash can, choked Neil Reed, sparred with reporters and insulted their intelligence. If you haven't seen videos of some of his antics, I suggest you google him and look. He became a liability to the University, and he was canned.
For folks who don't give a whit about the university as an institution, then win at all costs becomes the mantra. It was very much heard during the first Crean years, and was also leveled at Mike Davis. To you I say, those of us who love the university first, care about its academic reputation, the Bobby Knight foolishness had to end. Miles Brand reacted to that, and the "icon" was gone.
Bobby Knight only recruited one superstar to Bloomington, Isiah Thomas, who only played for him for 2 years. As time went on, his reputation followed him, and my guess is that parents didn't want their kids subject to his arbitrary abuse, all in the name of winning. His supporters point to the graduation rate (but it dropped as his tenure progressed) and lack of NCAA violations. All true, but his personal manner soured those of us who love IU as a university, not as just a sports venue.
Tom Crean has returned IU to glory, which is great, but he has done it in a manner that is respectable. I hope he wins another championship, but if he doesn't, he will have achieved the goal of making IU a respectable school with a clean and premiere basketball program. Now if only Kevin Wilson can ditch his Bobby Knight-mimicking ways and emulate Tom Crean, something good might happen in football too (although that IS a lot to ask).