One bright hope

NORMAL, Ill. – Coaching sometimes is so black and white, everyone seems to think they can to do a better job.

One tiny mistake – heck, it could be asking a rival for advice – will prompt scrutiny you wouldn’t even wish on Purdue.

It’s a profession that, from the outside, looks like a lot of fun.

But on the inside, behind closed doors, work isn’t so glamorous.

The pressure is always on as if it’s game seven of the World Series.

And there’s nobody more suited to handle that pressure than IU coach Felisha Legette-Jack, who is dealing with a program that hasn’t captured a Big Ten regular season title since the 1982-83 season.

Along with some of Hoosier Nation, she said goodbye to four seniors who helped establish the foundation upon which IU will build in the future.

Amber Jackson, Kim Roberson, Lydia Serfling and Whitney Thomas didn’t have their best games at Sunday’s WNIT quarterfinal against Illinois State – they totaled only 24 of the team’s 55 points – but junior Jamie Braun said she plans to reinforce the seniors’ lessons next season and certainly won’t forget the mark they left on the program.

“I think with me and all the other underclassmen, we realize how close we actually have to be as a unit,” an emotional Braun said after the 66-55 loss. “We have to know each other, think about that on the court and just be close on and off the court.”

Echoing Braun’s comments, Legette-Jack is a firm believer in tight-knit relationships – a problem several teams have encountered.

If there’s one Greenspan hire to this day that should receive applauding, it’s his acquisition of Legette-Jack.

We need to appreciate the fire, the passion and the energy she brings to women’s basketball.

She understands what it takes to prevail in the toughest of times.

She understands how to be an efficient leader and instill that mentality, that unprecedented mind-set into her players.

Even if there are more fans traveling on the road than showing up at Assembly Hall, she still has an agenda to put the program back on the map.

As this season progressed, the four seniors grasped Legette-Jack’s attitude, and it showed in the most turbulent times.

IU lost four straight Big Ten games in February, the most important month of any college basketball season.

However, amid that downtrodden stretch, the Hoosiers didn’t panic.

Legette-Jack wouldn’t let them.

They stormed right back to win six of their last nine, including the Big Ten conference tournament and WNIT.

So was it disheartening to see the Hoosiers exit the floor for the final time?
Not so much.

The future is set thanks to the seniors’ devotion to improve this program, even if they’ll be going professional in something other than basketball.

As for Legette-Jack, she’s here to stay.

And that’s something you should be optimistic about.