IU firestorm ignites after de-com

IU coach Bill Lynch’s already-hot seat is starting to sizzle. 

After a 3-9 disaster last season, tempers around Bloomington went from boiling to tepid once 2009 kicked off. The Hoosiers, paced by exciting young players and a new determination to win, started the season on a very positive 3-1 note.

A 1-3 record since, culminating with a 29-28 heartbreaker at Northwestern, has brought it all back to square one. Images of “Fire Lynch” bed sheets in Memorial Stadium now resonate as IU’s season is on its last breath. 

And as of Monday, the future appears to be on life-support as well.

Jibreel Black, the Hoosiers’ top recruit and brother of current defensive tackle Larry Black, revoked his verbal commitment to IU and said he plans on playing for his home state Cincinnati Bearcats. 

Black said he would be lying if Cincinnati’s recent success, and IU’s lack thereof, didn’t play a role in his decision.

“The past is what you have as an indicator of the future,” Black said. 

The desire to be a part of a winning program – and ditching IU for that reason – is nothing new. 

Before the 2007 season, safety Jerimy Finch, who had already de-committed from Michigan, made a verbal pledge to play for the Hoosiers. An up-and-coming IU team finally had their prize recruit, and it seemed like a marriage that was meant to be.

However, when a chance to play for a National Championship came calling, with Florida coach Urban Meyer asking for Finch’s services, IU was left at the alter. If it weren’t for a knee injury and a release from Florida, Finch would never have put on a Hoosier jersey.

Even the storied basketball program, in the wake of Kelvin Sampson’s tidal wave of deceit last year, had top prospects such as Devin Ebanks decide to back out of their cream and crimson contracts, and the team struggled their way to a last place finish.  
With a fresh history of heartbreak endured by Hoosier teams, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that Black left.

Yet his departure instills deeper feelings of disappointment than many of the past de-commits have, and the cause comes straight from his stirring words. 

“I don’t care about the history of the school. It’s about now,” Black said after committing to the team in June. “Hopefully, I can be the one that sets it where other recruits aren’t going to be ashamed to come here. I can be that spark.”

With his retraction now, Black might have the exact opposite effect. 

With his name out of the picture, IU’s 2010 recruiting class drops in Rivals’ rankings to dead last in the Big Ten. And of the eight three-star recruits still committed to IU, three hail from the Cincinnati area. 

Only wide receiver Tim O’Conner did not have Cincinnati listed as a school of interest, and defensive lineman Pete Bachman even had a scholarship offer from the Bearcats. 

With the top dog bolting from IU to the hometown team, it wouldn’t be shocking if the others followed. 

When a team has this kind of series of misfortunes, the scapegoat, at any level of football, will inevitably be the head coach. Without missing a beat, Hoosier fans have hit the message boards and radio shows calling for Lynch’s dismissal from IU.  

The loss to Northwestern, all but ending the team’s postseason chances, was the spark that started the fire, and Black’s de-commitment is the gasoline making it rage.  
It’s nothing that winning wouldn’t cure, but the schedule doesn’t yield positive thoughts.  

The Hoosiers have road games against the two best teams in the Big Ten in Iowa and Penn State, and they return home to face teams in Wisconsin and Purdue that don’t seem as beatable as they did a few weeks ago. 

And now, with Black’s exit, Hoosier fans have two disheartening questions to ask themselves: Will IU win another game this year, and who will join the team in 2010?
Lynch can only hope he sticks around long enough to learn the answers.