Questions for Chris and Doug

[Doug Wilson]

With the Indiana 2007-08 sports calendar winding down, we've put our weekly Thursday Q&A on hiatus until next fall.

But we'd still like to keep the discussion going. Obviously, with recruiting news and the ongoing NCAA investigation, there's still plenty to talk about.

If you have any IU sports questions for Chris Korman or Doug Wilson, please post them here. We'll do our best to give you the at least semi-coherent answers you've come to expect.

[BobbyKnight]

Chris and Doug,

Doug T posted a very good point on the HoosiersHQ Blog about Jeremiah Rivers coming to IU. I am going to try to put it in my own words:

Jeremiahs father obviously makes more than enough money to pay Jeremiah's way at IU and still have a little something left over. Would it be against the rules for Jeremiah to waive his scholarship and pay his own way to free up a scholarship for another player that we so desperately need? That would only make the Hoosiers that much better the rest of the time Jeremiah is at IU. As a part of the team now, wouldn't he want that for his team? Doc is a major competitor in the game of basketball, wouldn't he also want what is best for his son's team?

Is this something that happens? Is it rude to approach Doc about it? What do you guys have to say about this?

[Doug Wilson]

Hey BK,

It would not be against the rules for Jeremiah Rivers to come to IU without a scholarship as a walk-on. That does happen in sometimes in various NCAA sports with athletes who have wealthy parents, but not very often. There are lots of athletes with very wealthy parents in various fields who are on full scholarships.

My thought is that an important consideration here is that parents and athletes take a lot of pride in a scholarship being offered and received. It's a matter of status, regardless of the income of the parents. A full ride to IU next academic year will be worth about $34,000, which Doc Rivers can certainly more than afford, but I don't see him or his son volunteering to give that up because it's a significant accomplishment and honor for anybody to earn an athletic scholarship, one of the biggest in a young person's life.

[Jeff Mathew]

Jeff Meyer, Sampson assistant, what has happened with him?

[Chris Korman]

Jeff,

Last I heard, Jeff Meyer was still in the area. I know he has been working with recent college graduates who are hoping to play professionally as well as exploring his options for next year. Though Meyer's role in the NCAA violations at Indiana was minor -- even more so since the NCAA enforcement staff downgraded the main charge against Meyer from a major to a secondary violation -- he has apparently had some trouble finding a good situation for him to return to coaching.

Chris

[kurk81]

Guys,
Any word on talks between the BTN and Comcast? I don't want to miss another football season, and it's reasonable to assume that ESPN and CBS are going to have minimal interest in the basketball team this year. For those of us who aren't able to do satellite, we're looking at one or two televised football games and - at best - six or seven basketball games.

[Doug Wilson]

The Street and Smith's Sports Business Journal has reported that Comcast and the Big Ten Network have agreed to a deal in principle and are working out the details. There's no official verification of that, however. The most recent report I've read about Comcast and Fox (which owns 49% of the Big Ten Network) indicates that sources on both sides are saying that they expect a deal to be in place before next football season.

We're planning on having an update of our own on this situation in the next week or two. Keep an eye on the Hoosier Scoop and we'll let you know what we find out.

Thanks for the question. I know this is an important topic for many people.

[ChronicHoosier]

After months of wondering when Jerry Green would resurface, the Star reports that the NCAA's case summary against IU includes Green saying: "I see absolutely no way that that could've been an accident. It had to have been done purposefully because there was too much information that was given to the coaching staff, in my opinion, to keep them from making a major mistake."
Interesting.
Seeing as Green signed off on all the coaches' phone logs during his short year in Bloomington, it kind of makes you wonder when he determined the sanctions were being intentionally broken. Perhaps prior to his sudden departure? While I've heard he rarely broke a sweat in doing his job, Green's reputation and prior association with clean programs, both running himself or working for, make me believe he is the most important witness to this case. No other testimony could shed as much light on the facts surrounding our coaches' compliance and the administration's dealings therewith. My bet is that Jerry has some stories to tell.

[Doug Wilson]

Hey ChronicHoosier,

Chris Korman has a report on The Hoosier Scoop about Green's response to the NCAA, as well as the testimony of recruits talking about their recollections of participating in three-way calls. You can read Green's entire response to the NCAA allegations there.

I wish that NCAA hearings were open to the public and media so we could hear the stories that Sampson, Senderoff and others will have to tell, as well as the questions they are asked. We have tried to contact Green to ask him about his experiences and observations, but he hasn't returned our calls. I don't know what further involvement he may have in the NCAA's investigation (of course, that's all a big secret with the NCAA and IU unwilling to talk about any of the details of how this all works), but I agree that he probably has a good sense of what actually happened.

I enjoy your Happy Bobby picture, by the way. It's quite a contrast with BobbyKnight at the top of this thread.

[Nick Freihofer]

Doug and Chris,
Just was checking up on rivals.com pre-season rankings (# 71-80 today) and was very surprised to see us that low on the list. Only the 80th best team in the country, when we play 7 or possibly 8 very winnable home games (W KY, Murray State, BSU, Mich. St, Iowa, C. Michigan, Northwestern and possibly Wisconsin). I think we are very underrated, and could easily be in the top 4 of the Big 10. Thoughts?

[ChronicHoosier]

Another fine day to you, gentlemen. And...another damaging report coming from Mark Alesia which shows the coaches' phone records were sent directly to compliance and were essentially sat on until their prodigious intern bothered to audit these records. While I was initially concerned with the possibility of a lack of institutional control charge, I'm left wondering if the committee won't create an entirely new charge of "lack of institutional concern/competency/integrity!" What kind of sham compliance were we running after hiring a serial caller and inheriting his sanctions for exactly the same conduct? Further, lost in the discussion about Sampson & Senderoff's 3-way calls, what about the dozens of other impermissible calls which also went undetected for over a year? At this point, can IU really make a straight-faced argument that it exercised any degree of diligence in its compliance efforts. I'd love to see a public records request which details the compliance plan which was put into place after Sampson's hiring, complete with details about how this plan differed from our prior compliance monitoring and identifying the parties responsible for its creation and implementation. I'm at a complete loss to understand how those responsible for keeping us out of this situation have not been held to account for their ineffective, if not nonexistent, performance. Since McRobbie has proven that he has no interest whatsoever in dealing with our athletic dept., it's well past time for the trustees to come in and clean this mess up. If only the floodwaters would have washed away our inept athletic leadership before the committee brings the hammer down on us this weekend.

[Robert Danner]

Hi,

Since you guys look like computer experts............. ah....

It would be nice for one of you two to make up some Google themes for IU sports!

[Jimmy]

Any info on the new baseball and softball fields? Construction was supposed to start in June.