Cook Group gives $15M to IU Athletics

The IU Athletics Department received a major financial boost on Sunday when IU President Michael McRobbie and Athletics Director Fred Glass announced the largest single gift in the department’s history.

The Cook Group donated $15 million to the “For the Glory of Old IU” capital campaign to help support the new basketball development center. Because of the large contribution, IU will name the basketball development center “Cook Hall,” after Cook Group founder Bill Cook and his wife Gayle.

Glass said it is an honor to name the facility after Bill Cook because of the values that he stands for.

“We thought it was particularly important because Mr. Cook has always been interested in academics, women’s athletics and excellence,” Glass said. “All the things that Mr. Cook wanted to achieve in this gift is represented in the basketball development facility, and I think it is wonderful that we will call it Cook Hall.”

The basketball development center, a 67,000-square-foot facility, will provide the IU men’s and women’s basketball teams with brand new practice courts, locker rooms, player lounges, coaches offices and meeting rooms. It will also provide a state-of-the-art learning area for its student athletes.

For Glass, the generous donation will allow IU to be among the top programs in the nation.

“I would say it’s a game changer because it enables us to make the new basketball development facility — or Cook Hall — the best of its kind in the country,” Glass said. “Because of the nature of the gift, it will allow us to do other facility improvements to both our men’s and women’s programs. This gift will enable us to make IU athletics more competitive.”

—Greg Rosenstein