An appreciation of IU's greatest sport

In Indiana, soccer is king. \nWell OK, maybe that's stretching it just a little bit.\nIn a state stereotyped as having a basketball hoop in every driveway or on the side of every barn, where kids dream of being the next great player who leads IU or Purdue deep into March Madness, how could soccer be king?\nTo many Indiana college sports fans, late November/early December Madness just doesn't have the same ring to it.\n But what IU men's soccer head coach Jerry Yeagley has done with his teams during those cold winter months, which is college soccer's postseason, is quite remarkable and -- forgive me for saying this -- quite superior to any March Madness the Hoosiers have seen in a very long time.\nDon't get me wrong. I grew up in Northwest Indiana watching Michael Jordan lead the Chicago Bulls to six NBA championships. \nI gazed in disbelief as Bryce Drew shot Valparaiso University into the NCAA Tournament's Sweet Sixteen, shocking basketball fans everywhere. \nI observed a wide variety of Bobby Knight's silly on-court explosions and press conference antics.\nNever once as a kid did I hear the name "Pele." (For those of you scratching your heads, Pele is like the Jordan of soccer.)\nI grew up, like most Indiana kids, loving basketball.\nBut when I came to Indiana University as a freshman in 1999, I started hearing a buzz about another team steeped in rich tradition, a team that personified excellence and class with strong leadership from a great coach. That was the men's soccer team, fresh off a national championship and on its way to a second straight.\nThis past season, I had the privilege of covering this team for the newspaper. I observed as the tradition of IU soccer continued and the legacy of Coach Yeagley solidified.\nYeagley has done for Indiana soccer what Alexander Graham Bell did for the telephone.\nHe came to IU in 1963, when soccer was merely a club sport, something to be played for fun, not meant to represent the University. For ten long years, he petitioned the administration to award the sport varsity status, and finally, in 1973, it did.\nSince that first season, Yeagley has created a dynasty that any coach in any sport on any level strives for.\nIn only the team's second varsity year, it made it to the Elite Eight. Two seasons later, the Hoosiers were in the College Cup, the Final Four of collegiate soccer. \nOver the past 29 seasons, they have been back to the College Cup quite a few times -- 15 to be exact. That averages out to about, oh, every other year. \nOf those 15 College Cups, they have won five, which ties them with the University of Virginia for the NCAA record.\nWith these impressive numbers, Yeagley is able to entice recruits with the fact that every four-year player has gone to, at the very least, one College Cup.\nThis season's team stacked more achievements on top of the already impressive pile of past success.\nThe Hoosiers went undefeated in the Big Ten for the eighth time, winning their ninth post-season conference championship, as well. \nThe defense was the anchor of the team's success, allowing only six goals in the regular season en route to 16 shutouts. And of course, IU made it to its fifth straight College Cup, losing 2-0 to North Carolina in the championship match.\nBut perhaps the most remarkable feat of this season came Oct. 4 against Butler, when Yeagley achieved his milestone 500th victory, becoming only the second soccer coach in NCAA Division 1 history to reach such a number.\nStephen Negoesco, former head coach of the University of San Francisco, ended his 39-year career with 544 victory. Yeagley, in his 29th season, already has 511. Odds are Yeagley will finish his illustrious career with the record for most victories, a record that most likely will stand for quite some time.\nIU soccer will most likely never be king in a state that has always been infatuated with basketball. But with such an impressive past and a bright future, it at least deserves a piece of the crown.