Glass talks Homecoming, hints at pregame festivities

IDS With basketball starting and football in the middle of the season, is this your favorite time of the year?

GLASS This is definitely one of my favorite times of the year, and it’s certainly one of the busiest times of the year when football is in full swing, and the team has a tremendous amount to play for. Basketball is starting, especially with a new team and the interest in what the new players are all going to be about and how they’re going to fit in with our veterans.

So yeah, it’s a real exciting time of the year, and I’ve got a full load every day of the
week.

IDS What will your responsibilities be on Saturday since it is Homecoming? Is anything different?

GLASS Yeah, it’s a little different. It starts on Friday. I’m real excited to be in the parade and be part of the parade program over on Kirkwood by the Sample Gates. And then there’s a lot of activities.

I’ll be going to the volleyball game after the parade on Friday night, and then it’s our 50 year I-man anniversary, so we’ll have 50-year I-men in town, and there’ll be events there on Friday and Saturday.

We’re real excited commissioner Delaney and his wife Kitty are going to be coming in for the game, so we’ll be hosting them on Saturday.

And then just all the different people that come back on campus for alumni events. So it’ll be a really full weekend actually.

I’m real excited that it’s all surrounding this big game against Minnesota, which is going to be important for both schools.

IDS What do you remember about Homecoming from your days here as a student? Do you have any personal Homecoming memories?

GLASS I remember just a lot of events surrounding the game. So dances, special events that the campus would sponsor and going to games. I really remember more just the festivities surrounding the game.

I’m glad to see that tradition continue with a lot of dances, a lot of mixers, activities, reunions surrounding the game. While it will be in November — it’ll barely be in November — hopefully the weather will be as good as it traditionally is for Homecoming.

Hopefully it’ll be something the students really turn out for so this can be part of their memories in the future.

IDS Was the Nearly Naked Mile one of those memories for you as an undergrad?

GLASS I wasn’t officially in the Nearly Naked Mile. Let’s just put it that way.

IDS From a football perspective, how important is this game against Minnesota?

GLASS Well, you know, it’s clearly an important game, but Robby, they’re all important. You never know what’s going to go on downstream for us.

I think the team is not making it bigger or smaller than it is. The next game is always the most important game on your schedule. Home games clearly have a little extra importance.

Homecoming, the kids want to perform well in front of the crowd. It’s an important game, but I think the key for this team is to take them, to have a cliche, to take it one game at a time and to treat this as the most important game until the next game on the schedule.

IDS You’ve talked before about how the alumni association takes care of a lot of the events around Homecoming, but does this game have more significance for the Athletic Department?

GLASS I think it does. It’s one of the big games, right? Your opening game is a big deal. Your Homecoming game is a big deal. And if you’re lucky enough to be host of the Bucket Game, that’s a big deal.

From the team’s perspective, I think they take it one game at a time, and I suppose we do a little bit, too. But when it comes to administering games, it’s a particularly big deal for us.

We’ll have a particularly bright light shined on us from our returning alumni, and we want them to have a great experience, and we’ll do everything we can to provide that great experience.

IDS Do you expect the attendance numbers to be above the average for this game?

GLASS Yeah, I hope so. We’ve had some great home games. Our home game schedule with Missouri and Navy and Penn State, some teams that our fans have really wanted to see. Those games have all exceeded what our budget projections have been.

If we can be solidly in the mid 40s (thousands) or higher, I’ll be really pleased.

IDS With all the alumns coming back and several people who probably haven’t been to a game yet this season, are you going to bring out an extra big fireworks display?

GLASS (laughs) We’ll have a few surprises up our sleeve. It’ll be a little different.
The pregame, I think, will be a little more fun. I’d encourage people to be in their seats for “Back Home Again in Indiana” because we’ll have a little bit of a pizazz with that reminiscent of the Indy 500.

Follow columnist Robby Howard on Twitter @robbyhoward1.