DiNardo speaks out for 1st time since dismissal

Former IU football coach Gerry DiNardo spoke Tuesday for the first time since IU Athletics Director Rick Greenspan fired the third-year coach Dec. 1.\nDiNardo said his firing was not expected because he thought three years was a short time to turn a program around, even though his team finished 3-8 for the season.\nThe timeline of the turn of events, from DiNardo being the coach to DiNardo being fired, started Nov. 20, when the Hoosiers took on Purdue in West Lafayette. The Hoosiers lost the game and the Old Oaken Bucket, 63-24, on a day DiNardo said all of the trustees, President Adam Herbert and Greenspan were in attendance.\n"That was a bad day to have a bad day, I guess," DiNardo said. "I think there probably was some embarrassment."\nThe following Sunday, Nov. 21, DiNardo said he received a phone call from Greenspan, who mentioned that Herbert was receiving pressure from the board of trustees in regard to the Purdue defeat. Greenspan requested a meeting with DiNardo for Monday, Nov. 22. The meeting wasn't out of the ordinary, as both DiNardo and Greenspan had been meeting on a weekly basis.\nDiNardo said he didn't object to Greenspan's request to meet.\nWhile the meeting included regular conversations regarding issues within the program, DiNardo said he and Greenspan talked directly that Monday about him being fired.\nThen, the night of Tuesday, Nov. 30, eight days later, DiNardo said he received a call from Greenspan asking if they could get together Wednesday, and DiNardo granted his request.\n"I asked him what I should be prepared for, and (Greenspan) said the inevitable," DiNardo said.\nDiNardo then asked for clarification, and he said that Greenspan confirmed that he was being fired.\nWith the athletics department already facing a deficit, DiNardo stands to make more than $1 million from IU until his contract runs out in June of 2007. The income DiNardo is expected to make comes from his IU salary, annual leave, deferred compensation and outside income.\nAfter the firing, DiNardo met with the team and told them two things. The first was that when college football was started, it was about education and football, and that they should never forget that. \nThe second part, DiNardo said, was that the people within the meeting room care for them, and they should care for each other. \n"Then I told them I loved them, and I left," DiNardo said.\nDiNardo said he could not speak for Greenspan, but it is a general rule in college athletics that people in authority want their own people. Greenspan was hired Sept. 2. DiNardo was officially fired Dec. 1, a little less than 3 months after they first met.\nThe former Louisiana State and Vanderbilt coach was fired before he had a complete four years with his recruits. DiNardo said he'd be pulling for his former players and hoped they will graduate.\n"It hurts," DiNardo said. "There's nothing I can do about it. I worry most about the guys in academic jeopardy. The ones that were not ordinarily admissible to IU but because of their special talent. Maybe they're not going to class. Maybe they're not seeing their tutors enough. Those are the guys I worry about the most."\nAfter the firing, there was speculation that Greenspan perhaps fired DiNardo for his off-the-field personality more than, or just as much as, his on-the-field results.\nDiNardo said tension within the athletics department is common at any institution.\n"For any coach to be successful at Indiana, it's my opinion the support staff has to be philosophically in line with the coach, not the coach has to be philosophically in line with the support staff," DiNardo said.\nFrom this point on, DiNardo is contractually obligated to seek comparable employment upon his firing. His assistant coaches, who DiNardo said are on the road recruiting right now, present the most difficult aspect of the entire situation, DiNardo said.\n"It's been a struggle. There's a lot of uncertainty," DiNardo said. "I tell you right now, it's in the problem stage."\nTo get the IU football program out of its problem stage, DiNardo said it's going to take a full commitment with everybody being on the same page to achieve football success. \n"I believe that Kansas State is out there as a shining example," DiNardo said. "At some point in Kansas State's history, they decided, 'We're going to totally commit to this thing and make it work.' I believe that when a university does that, whether it's in academia or athletics, they can't be stopped."\nDiNardo pointed to a specific example of the department's mismanagement with the fact that Nikki Borges, the department's former marketing director, left last June and still hasn't been replaced.\n"Institutionally, my guess is there should be someone in the marketing position at the athletics department," DiNardo said.\nLooking back over his three years at IU, DiNardo said he's been through three presidents, three athletics directors and a changing board of trustees. He said he got along fine with Greenspan in the three months they knew each other.\nBut after finishing his third year, DiNardo said it's the players that have brought him the most enjoyment.\n"It's always the relationship with the players (that's most enjoyable)," DiNardo said. "I think no matter where you coach, that's the most fun. Watching 18-year-old guys become 22, or, in my case, 21."\n-- Contact sports editor John Rodgers at jprodger@indiana.edu.