Recent years of mediocrity suggest bleak outlook for IU athletics

Every year students return from their long summer breaks with great anticipation and expectation toward IU athletics.\nTeams hold high hopes and receive well-deserved scrutiny when competing, creating a high-profile public image of the athletic department.\n While country-wide exposure and consciousness force-feed the attitude and belief that Indiana University has a nationally recognized athletic program, IU lacks one fundamental element of a respected powerhouse -- success on the playing field.\nWith the exception the men's soccer program, national champions for the last two years, no other IU team has won a national title since the men's basketball program won the NCAA tournament in 1987.\nThe major revenue sports, football and men's basketball, have recently found it difficult to meet expectations. \nThe football program hasn't had a winning season in five years and hasn't been to a bowl game since losing to Virginia Tech in the 1993 Independence Bowl. After head coach Cam Cameron replaced Bill Mallory in 1997, a new energy and aura about the team emerged. A new up-tempo and exciting offense was thought to propel the program, carrying IU football into the next millennium. \nSince Cameron's arrival, the team boasts a disappointing 10-23 overall record and is just 6-18 in conference play. \nWhile the offense was electrifying last season, averaging 26.1 points per game, the defense struggled, yielding more than 35 points per game. With new defensive coordinator James Bell, imported from Wake Forest, the team's improvement will be the most intriguing aspect of the 2000 season. \nIf the Hoosiers suffer through their fourth consecutive losing season, will Cameron and the coaching staff lose their jobs? \n The basketball team last won the Big Ten title in 1993, led by NCAA Player of the Year Calbert Cheaney. Since that season, the storied program has undergone a facelift, winning only four games in the NCAA tournament. Making things seem worse, the Hoosiers have lost in the first round in four of the last six NCAA Tournaments.\nWhile the "Big Two" continue to spin their wheels, non-revenue sports such as men's and women's tennis, men's golf, baseball, cross country and women's basketball, among others, wallow in the undistinguished zone of mediocrity.\nAs perhaps insurmountable expectations lurk for IU athletics, a question remains concerning high-anticipation, average performance sporting events: What can students, faculty, alumni and Bloomington residents expect from their beloved Hoosiers? \nNow that the fall sports season is rapidly approaching, the public can finally see for themselves what IU athletics holds dear. Will the teams accept and conquer the challenges set before them or falter in the face of adversity and mediocrity?\n We shall see.