By MIKE HUTSELL
STARLIGHT — Tom Crean’s first goal Wednesday night was purely a selfish one.
“Tonight’s about getting more people on my Twitter page,” joked the Indiana University men’s basketball coach to a group of reporters before speaking at the Indiana University Coaches’ Tailgate Tour stop at Huber’s Orchard and Winery. “I’ve got competition with other coaches about followers. I’ve got some catching up to do.”
As Crean looks for a new legion of fans to follow him in the latest online revolution, he accomplished his second goal with the same enthusiasm and swagger that has become his staple in his tenure as Hoosier head coach.
“I’m here today for Indiana University,” said Crean about his true mission in speaking to hundreds of red-clad supports. “I’m here to let them know that we won’t rest until we make this program great again.”
While some coaches who are fresh off a 6-25 season that included a single-season record for losses at IU would be hiding from the fan base as worries about job security percolated on every .com on the Internet, Crean was warmly embraced by the Hoosier Nation who was there to discuss the few highlights during a season filled with on-court lowlights.
And they were there to hear what the coach was doing to bring back the shine to the tarnished empire in Bloomington.
“There’s three things we have to do with the basketball program and right now we’ve done two of them,” Crean said. “We had to establish a work ethic with a group of kids who were completely new to college basketball — we did that. We had to find a group of kids who want to come to Indiana and be here and make this program great again and we’ve done that.”
The third thing, Crean said, is returning the enthusiasm to the Hoosier program — as evidenced by the army of Hoosier fans who forked over $50 per seat to hear his message on Wednesday night.
“We have to get our enthusiasm back and continue on our way back,” said Crean. “Because it’s still Indiana.”
Crean said that progress can already be seen — even if it was tough to find in the on-court results a year ago.
He talked about inheriting a program littered with 19 Fs on player report cards and today sitting with a roster where eight players carry a grade-point average of 3.0 or higher.
He talked about seeing players who would have been better served as filling redshirt roles on other Division I rosters, who have transformed into consistent college players who will be the nucleus of his program moving ahead.
“This is exciting, this is fun and this is going to be special,” Crean shouted. “This is exactly why I came here. You guys are already proud to say you’re Hoosiers, but we’re going to make you even prouder.
“And why do I say that? Because it’s Indiana.”
TOUR NOTEBOOK
• Before the speakers opened, the Indiana University baseball team and head coach Tracy Smith were introduced to the Hoosier faithful.
IU won last weekend’s Big Ten Conference Tournament in Columbus, Ohio, and gained an automatic berth in the NCAA baseball tournament. The Hoosiers will face top-seeded Louisville in the opening of the regional round of the tournament at Jim Patterson Stadium on Friday.
“I said as I watched the NCAA pairings show on Monday ‘please let us go to Louisville,’” Smith said. “I wanted you fans to have a chance to see this group of players, and I hope you take that opportunity on Friday. We don’t have an easy task in front of us, but we’d sure like to have you there with us.”
• New IU athletic director Fred Glass spoke at Huber’s for the first time and noted how much the Hoosier athletic program meant to him in his lifetime.
“I’m a fan — I’ve always been a fan,” Glass said. “I met my wife at an IU football game and I proposed to her in Brown County State Park after an IU football game. This means everything to me and we will give you an athletic program that you can be proud to say you’re a fan of.”
• Hoosier football coach Bill Lynch jokingly thanked the Southern Indiana faithful for their help in luring Jeffersonville quarterback Edward Wright-Baker to IU.
“I’m sure you did everything you could to legally steer Edward in our direction,” Lynch said. “We sure do look forward to him being in our program.”
• Women’s basketball coach Felisha Legette-Jack just returned from a trip to Italy with her team, where the Hoosiers posted a perfect 4-0 record on the trip.
• Volleyball coach Sherry Dunbar made her first appearance at the Huber’s tour stop.
“I saw Coach Crean in Barnes and Noble and he asked me if I was going to Huber’s this year,” Dunbar said. “He said this thing is big time and I see what he means now.”
Dunbar just wrapped up her third season as IU coach. In her first campaign, the Hoosiers finished 11th in the Big Ten Conference. Last season, IU improved to sixth overall in conference play.
Contact Mike Hutsell at mike.hutsell@newsandtribune.com.
