COACHING CONFUSION

Despite recent speculation by some media, it is likely only two people know who will become the next IU men's basketball coach: Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan and President Adam Herbert.\nThose charged with shaping the future of much of the University, including trustees, members of the Bloomington Faculty Council and influential, wealthy alumni, said Wednesday they are out of the loop. \nDirectors of the IU Foundation, whose efforts brought in more than $100 million last year for the Bloomington campus (approximately equivalent to one tenth of the operating budget), said they are concerned about who will fill the vacancy, but have no knowledge of the candidates being considered. Many at the foundation said they worry about the next coach's ability to rally alumni and increase donations, but cited a confidence in Greenspan's abilities to choose coaches.\n"I would be surprised if there was an alumni not concerned with who will be coaching here," said Jay Hunt, IU Foundation director and chairman of the California-based Dynamic Details, Inc. "But we've done a phenomenal job of raising money over the last two or three years -- the same time coinciding with concern about the football and basketball coaches."\nHunt and others said the foundation had not taken or suggested any action regarding the search to replace former coach Mike Davis. But board members ceded that the next coach would be critical to the Athletics Department's bottom-line.\n"In the past, the basketball coach has been the driving force in the Athletics Department," said former IU Athletics Director Clarence Doninger. \nBasketball and football coaches shape how people perceive IU, as with other universities, he said.\nDoninger is also on the foundation's board of directors and a lawyer based in Indianapolis. Doninger was athletics director when the embattled Bob Knight was fired as IU's men's basketball coach in 2000.\nHe defended Greenspan's secrecy in choosing the next coach. Potential candidates could ruin their current jobs if it becomes known that they are being considered for another, he said. Recruits would be less likely to want to attend their school.\n"When you are dealing in a high-profile situation, there has to be some sort of confidential procedure," Doninger said. "But you also have to have some institutional control."\nHe said that during his 10-year stint as athletics director, the Athletics Committee, made up of alumni, faculty and students, provided institutional control by overseeing decisions of the Athletics Department.\nBut Alex Shortle, IU Student Association president and member of the Athletics Committee, said he had not met with anyone to discuss the search for the new coach. He said the committee's job was only to approve ticket prices and review the firing of coaches.\n"We do not review coaches' hirings," Shortle said.\nWhile Greenspan might not seek out the advice of the Athletics Committee, the BFC or the IU Foundation, he might be getting plenty of advice - solicited or not.\nIU Trustee Patrick Shoulders said the board of trustees -- the governing body for IU -- has let Greenspan know what they expect of the next coach.\n"It will have to be someone who can hit the ground running, someone who can return us to being one of the top five programs in the nation," he said. \nBut wins are not the only concern of the trustees, Shoulders said.\n"Any new coach will have lots of responsibilities, including contacting alumni and making sure they remain interested in the success of the Athletic Department," he said.\nThe concern about who will become the next coach is not only coming from within the University. Floyd Keith, executive director of the Black Coaches Association, said he has talked to Greenspan about Davis's resignation on three separate occasions, as well as who will replace him.\nMany organizations have hired search firms to assist them in filling vacancies. IU already hired such a firm during the University's original Bloomington chancellor search. Fred Eichorn, former trustee and IU foundation director, said search firms are not unusual in high-profile searches such as this.\nDoninger said independent firms can hurt and help any search process, though he did not employ them during his decade at the helm.\n"I've watched a few cases, not specifically at IU, where search firms were used and I've wondered 'Where in the world did that person come from?'" he said. "The bottom-line is, there is no one right way of doing things."\nHerbert and Greenspan have denied multiple requests from the Indiana Daily Student to be interviewed about either Davis' resignation or replacing him.