A Big Ten education

I grew up in a Big Ten family in the heart of Big Ten country. College athletics weren’t about diversion so much as they were about conversion in my household. As a kid, my first glimpse of college life came on autumn afternoons with the football stadium packed shoulder-to-shoulder and the music of the marching band rising into a cloudless sky. Nothing was more beautiful than that to me. So naturally when the time came to choose a college, I used my brain, listened to my heart and chose a school that understood the importance of balls: IU. Where else in the Midwest would I be able to satisfy my sporting fix?\nDuring my four years in Bloomington, I not only got a chance to witness the ups and downs of IU athletics as a fan, I also seized the opportunity to share the stories of coaches and athletes and even write my two cents as an IDS reporter and columnist. For a Big Ten boy, it has been a dream come true and an education unto itself.\nIf there’s anything I’ve learned in my time rooting and writing about IU sports, it’s that turnover is something that applies to more than just the playing field. Since I arrived on campus in the fall of 2004 as a naïve freshman, not one football and men’s basketball coach pairing has started and finished the same academic year. Sometimes coaches received the boot due to incompetence (Gerry DiNardo). Sometimes coaches left town due to unpopularity (Mike Davis); other times, just plain stupidity (Kelvin Sampson). And sometimes, coaches said good-bye before we were ready (Terry Hoeppner).\nYears from now, when reminiscing about my happy days in Hoosierville, I’ll forgo the traditional inclusion of student standing in my stories and instead use the football and men’s basketball coach pairing as the timekeepers of my glory days. I’ll say things like, “During my Lynch/Sampson semester of college, my intramural flag football team made it to the championship game” and “I’ll never forget that first party I went to during my DiNardo/Davis days.” Only true Hoosier fans will be able to follow.\nFew distinct memories of my college career don’t involve a sporting experience — or at least a TV depicting a sporting experience. I’ve witnessed big kicks (IU takes the 2004 College Cup!) and listened to big pricks (Best of luck in Milwaukee, Kelvin). I’ve watched fizzling shooting stars (Eric Gordon) and sizzling Starr’s shooting (Austin Starr kicks IU into a bowl game!). I’ve taken part in the cheers (Go Big Red!). I’ve shed a few tears (R.I.P. Coach Hep). And, yes, I’ve downed my fair share of beers (light beer, of course).\nThough I walk away from this campus with two degrees, I would gladly trade my hard-earned pieces of paper for the thrill of two national championship runs. Academic accomplishments seem fleeting. Banners last forever.\nEntering the next phase of my life, I’ll draw from the knowledge I’ve accumulated from IU athletics figures past and present. I’m taking with me the tireless optimism of Coach Hep, the belief that anything is possible if you want it bad enough. I’m taking with me the lessons learned from the downfall of a figure like Kelvin Sampson. I’m taking with me the wisdom of people like longtime men’s basketball trainer Tim Garl, who once told me the value of humility in athletics by saying, “You should be disappointed when you lose and not overly joyous when you win because the game will embarrass you.” Garl might as well have been talking about life.\nThat’s the kind of Big Ten education I couldn’t have gotten in a classroom.