The awkward silence ends

The awkwardness is over.\nMyles Brand is leaving.\nThe inaccessible IU President who has been hiding from students since he fired Bob Knight two years ago is taking a $750,000 job to head the country's collegiate sports body. He has to be excited.\nStudents are excited, too. \nMyles Brand is leaving.\nSince he fired Knight, Brand's been at home away from Bloomington, talking about lessening the importance of college sports.\nBut his message, which got applause across the country, didn't connect at home, where candy-stripe pants are a big part of the college experience.\nIt was awkward.\nAnd it was time for Brand to go.\nBrand takes his "academics first" program to the NCAA, where he was an unanimous choice for the job. It was those very ideals that made him so attractive to the NCAA Board of Directors, hoping to adopt reforms bucking the trends of commercialism in college athletics.\nThe NCAA got the right man for that job.\nBrand told an audience at the National Press Club that athletic departments across the country should focus on graduating players, not marketing them. He suggested limiting practice hours and regulating game dates so students can stay in the classroom.\nAt a national level, the plans sounded revolutionary.\nTo Hoosiers, it was Bob Knight backlash.\nBrand wouldn't talk about Knight. Never has. When the Indiana Daily Student spoke with him in anticipation of the one-year anniversary of Knight's removal, Brand's response was uniform and rigid.\n"We have moved on."\nThat was the character of the man -- not to say much.\nThose lack of words don't hide impressive accomplishments Brand leaves behind. In his eight years at IU, Brand:\n• Pushed through the creation of the School of Informatics;\n• Led a nationwide effort to curb underage drinking; \n• Increased the University's endowment four-fold and doubled money for research funding;\n• Installed a new chancellor;\n• And appointed a campus diversity officer.\nMyles Brand was a good president. We thank him for eight years of service.\nBut Brand was no longer the right man to lead IU.\nThe awkwardness is over.\nNow, everyone can smile.\n