DiNardo let go following 3 losing seasons

After a 3-8 season, speculation swirled Tuesday night that IU football coach Gerry DiNardo would be fired. At a press conference Wednesday, the three-year head coach was officially fired when IU athletics director Rick Greenspan confirmed DiNardo had been relieved of his duties as IU's head football coach.\n"It was a review of the entire body of work," Greenspan said. "Part of the reason I was perhaps more deliberate is my relative newness to the University. After looking over the entire body of work, I recommended to the president (Adam Herbert) that a change needed to be made to get us to our goal to be an exciting and dynamic team that reunites with the fans."\nDiNardo had two years remaining on his contract, with a base salary of $225,000 after finishing 8-27 in three years at IU.\nDiNardo marks the 10th coach since 1947 to finish his career at IU without a winning record.\nFor Greenspan, this marks his first major move since coming to Bloomington Sept. 2. After the announcement, Greenspan met with players Wednesday and plans to meet with assistant coaches and other members of the football staff in the next few days. The assistant coaches are still currently employed by the athletics department.\nPlayers on the team began to find out about the firing of their coach Tuesday as reports trickled in from various media outlets. \nThe Hoosiers, for the first time under DiNardo, were at their full compliment of scholarship players, and picked up two victories over ranked opponents, then-No. 24 Oregon and then-No. 23 Minnesota.\nEven though many players were disappointed by the announcement, they were glad to see Greenspan talk to them after the announcement and lay out his plan for hiring the new coach. \nHaving to deal with a coaching change is nothing new for junior offensive lineman Adam Hines, who originally committed to former IU coach Cam Cameron and later recommitted to DiNardo, he said.\n"You play for each other, you can't really worry about who your coach is, you just have to worry about just playing," Hines said. \nDespite IU losing its head coach, there is a feeling that there won't be a major defection from Bloomington, sophomore safety Will Meyers said.\n"Just because our coach is gone and we will have a new coach doesn't change who we are and how we feel about each other," Meyers said. "(Greenspan) said it was up to us. We can make it a rebuilding process for the next season or we can go to a bowl game."\nThough wins and losses played a factor in the decision of firing DiNardo, attendance was an additional consideration said Greenspan.\nThe Hoosiers didn't come close to filling up Memorial Stadium, only averaging 28,377. IU had three games where the attendance was less than 25,000.\nWinning and filling the seats are things Greenspan feels go hand-in-hand and as one is accomplished so will the other.\nThe process of the coaching change began 10 days ago as Greenspan and DiNardo met and discussed the progress of the program. After talks with President Herbert, it was clear to them IU needed to go in a different direction.\n"We are determined to restore a winning tradition in IU football, while continually enhancing the academic success of our student athletes," Herbert said in statement. "The extended Hoosier family expects and deserves no less."\nGreenspan isn't wasting anytime in finding DiNardo's successor. Greenspan said all avenues will be pursued in finding the new coach. There are plans for an advisory group to be established in helping Greenspan make the decision and ultimately help him find one to three candidates to submit to Herbert for consideration.\nNo timetable has been set for when a new coach will be announced, but time could be of the essence as football recruiting season is heating up with signing day in February.\nGreenspan said turning around the program won't be done with a quick fix.\n"You have to find someone that can look beyond the past and look beyond what some say might say is a task too large," he said. "We need someone that is tireless and probably a bit of risk taker. You have to be ready to take some risks in order to be successful."\n-- Contact staff writer Dan Click at daaclick@indiana.edu.