Glass talks balloons, Minnesota comeback, Delany visit

In this week’s conversation with IU Athletic Director Fred Glass, we talk about the Homecoming festivities and Glass’ hopes for moving forward this season.

IDS When did you get the idea to have balloons for “Back Home Again in Indiana”?

GLASS We actually talked about doing that at the beginning of the season when we started the “Back Home Again in Indiana” portion of the pregame. One of my favorite parts of that at the race is when the balloons are released. For budgetary reasons, we decided not to do them for every game. We thought it’d be most appropriate to do it for Homecoming because it’s back home again in Indiana after all.

We are in Bloomington, Indiana. We do aspire to be the greenest athletic department in the conference, so we didn’t want to get the kind of balloons that can choke turtles. So we were getting the biodegradable fancy balloons, which cost twice as much. All those factors together led us to do just do it for the single game. It was a neat tradition for Homecoming.

IDS After IU Coach Kevin Wilson addressed the media after Saturday’s game, I saw you talking to him one-on-one. What were you talking about?

GLASS We pretty much do that after every game. When we walk back from the press conference to the weight room, we usually take a little time to talk about the game or things that are going on. I don’t really remember all the details of our conversation, but Kevin and I work closely together, and that’s really part of our routine to have a little time together after the game.

IDS What was your favorite part of the Homecoming weekend?

GLASS Probably scoring 26 unanswered points in the second half against Minnesota. I thought that a lot of teams would’ve packed it in when they’re down 35-13, and our guys never quit. They did 26 unanswered. It’s easy to focus on the 26, but we also want to focus on the unanswered the way the defense stepped up. Of course the ending wasn’t what anybody wanted. But I really liked the fight in that part of the game.

IDS You told me last week Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany would be in town for the game. What did he have to say about his trip to Bloomington?

GLASS He and his wife Kitty were here, and they love Bloomington. It’s the quintessential college town. It’s a beautiful campus. He told me that he really likes what we’ve been doing with the program, with the facility improvements — frankly, with the improved performance of our program over the last five years.

He’s a big football fan and enjoyed the game and sent me a very encouraging text after the game that (he) liked the way our team played and thought we were really close to having a program that would win a lot of games in the coming weeks and years.

IDS With just two home games remaining, what’s your biggest goal for the rest of the season?

GLASS I’m sort of a one-game-at-a-time type person, and so the most important game is the next game. I think this game is really important for our guys to see how they bounce back from what, for everyone, was a really, really tough defeat. These guys have shown themselves to be resilient all year, and I’m confident that they’ll be resilient and really have a good game on Saturday.

I really hope Hoosier fans come out, especially the students. It’s a 3:30 kick, which should be in the students’ strike zone. I really hope we have a great crowd. And then the Bucket Game will be the next game — home game, obviously. We’ve prevailed upon dormitories to open up on that Saturday night, so even though the kids will go home a whole week for Thanksgiving, I hope they come back early on Saturday and have a lot of fun and pregame and tailgate and do all the things they do, but then come into the stadium and watch us hopefully get the bucket back from Purdue.

Follow columnist Robby Howard on Twitter @robbyhoward1.