For the better part of IU’s school history, the general barometer for what is considered a success in the athletics department has been defined by men’s basketball. Everything else is discarded.
There are exceptions to that thinking. Doc Counsilman’s legendary swimming and diving program and IU men’s soccer’s eight national titles come to mind. However, men’s basketball has always been what makes the money flow in Bloomington and what the large majority of the fanbase cares about most.
So when looking at athletics director Fred Glass’ more than 11 years at the helm of IU sports, there are twoways to view his time in Bloomington: acknowledging the traditional IU thought process on sports or embrace the foundation of the whole department Glass has built.
“I understand the weight that football and men's basketball have and how justifiably important they are and sort of their preeminent stature, certainly in our fans' mind,” Glass said during a press conference Monday. “But we are 24 sports, one team, and I'm thrilled about the coaches that we have.”
During his time as the IU AD, Glass has overseen growth in almost all of IU’s nonrevenue sports. When Glass took over, IU baseball hadn’t won a Big Ten Title since 1949. Now the Hoosiers are the most nationally relevant program in the Big Ten, claiming three league titles, six NCAA Tournament appearances and a College World Series berth under three different coaches this decade.
Men’s soccer has continued to be a consistent top five program on the pitch. Todd Yeagley — Glass’ first hire on the job — has led IUMS to a national title in 2012, two other College Cups and three Big Ten tournament championships.
Women’s basketball has tripled the number of program NCAA Tournament wins, as well as a Women’s National Invitational Tournament title, under head coach Teri Moren and has gone from being a bottom dweller in the Big Ten to a consensus top-15 team in women’s college basketball.
But Glass’ biggest achievement has been with the football program. He understood what IU had not for decades: Football is actually important. Glass improved facilities and hired former head coach Kevin Wilson to lay a foundation for the program.
Glass was also the man to make the controversial decision to promote Tom Allen to lead the football team after Wilson’s rocky ending in 2016. It was arguably the biggest decision of Glass’ tenure, and three seasons later, as Allen has completed IU’s best regular season in a quarter century, it’s safe to say the risky move was a success.
“My thing was football will improve, and we have consistently excellent leadership and consistent investments in the program,” Glass said. “You keep chipping at that rock, and eventually it cracks, and I think we had a little bit of a crack this year, which was sort of like an overnight sensation 10 years in the making.”
But does all the good Glass has done with hiring, facilities and academics — the student-athlete graduation rate has risen from 74% in 2009 to 91% today — make up for the lack of national success of IU’s biggest brand, its men’s basketball program?
Part of the answer is how poor the shape of the program was when Glass took over.
“We were getting pitchers off the baseball team to dress and play,” Glass said. “It was really, really bad, and I give Tom Crean tremendous credit, through his will and perseverance, to bring us back to, I think, being relevant again.”
Glass is leaving IU basketball in a much better place than when he found it, but IU is still not where it needs to be on the hardwood. In 11 years under Glass, IU has only made four NCAA tournaments and has not made the field of 68 since 2016. IU has a total of six NCAA tournament victories this decade. IU never made it past the Sweet 16.
Those are stats that aren’t acceptable when you are a program that strives to be a blueblood with the likes of the University of Kentucky or Duke University.
Archie Miller can change the one blemish on Glass’ resumé. If the third-year head coach of the Hoosiers can turn around the program and restore it to at least be nationally relevent on a year-in and year-out basis, then all the praise goes to Glass, the man that hired him. But if Miller fails, then the hire may hang as a dark cloud over Glass’ otherwise wildly successful era in IU athletics.
