Crean speaks at Beta Theta Pi

“He’s rolling in! He’s rolling in right now!”

Members of Beta Theta Pi jumped to their feet as Tom Crean’s black SUV rolled into the parking lot of the fraternity’s house. By the time Crean entered, they were standing and clapping.

Crean spoke to an audience of fraternity members and alumni in the front room of the Beta Theta Pi house Tuesday evening.

He spent most of the hour and a half answering questions from the audience about anything from this past season to his coaching philosophy.

When asked if he would do anything differently this past year given the opportunity, he immediately said, “Absolutely.”

“We had to put a team on the floor,” Crean said.

But he wouldn’t change his decision to come to IU, a choice he made April 1, 2008.

“It was never hard to want to come to Indiana,” Crean said. “It was hard leaving things and people behind.”

To keep the team motivated, Crean said he had to keep believing the team could win every game. He also said the fans kept the team focused.

“The fan base went through it with this team,” Crean said. “They had a passion for the way the players played hard.”

Crean said, in retrospect, he understands the gravity of last year’s recruiting controversy, which forced former coach Kelvin Sampson to resign and motivated several players to leave the program.

“I have a greater understanding of how screwed up that was,” he said. “I’m still angry about it. We lost everything. ... I will never let this get back to where it was so self-centered.”

When asked if he would be attending this year’s Little 500, he said he was worried about current basketball players getting into trouble during the weekend.

“Last year was the beginning of the end for some players in the program because of some of the things they did,” he said. “And they’re so young. I don’t ever want to live through that again.”

But he said he is already “in it” for the next season, saying he went “right back at” preparing for the fall after a brief spring break. He is also considering changes for next season.

While Crean said he believes Assembly Hall needs a named student section, it has to come with a change of mentality in the students who attend games. He said the student fan base at Marquette would camp outside the arena to get tickets.

After taking audience questions for almost an hour, Crean addressed the students in the group, focusing on motivation and finding success in the future because of “will instead of skill.” As he talked, his voice grew louder, and his gestures grew bigger.

“What matters is what you do when your skill isn’t enough,” he said. “This is why I love to coach.”

Sophomore Brian Rans called the final portion of Crean’s speech “awesome.”

“It made you think about leadership and the mental aspect,” Rans said.

After his speech, Crean said he enjoyed the opportunity to address the group.

“There are a lot of people in here that I might never get a chance to take a question from,” Crean said.

Beta Theta Pi President Sean Kelley, a sophomore, said he related to Crean’s speech because as a fraternity president, he, too, is a leader.

“It was a great experience to see someone on such a national level,” Kelley said. “And he did it out of the genuine goodness of his heart.”