In the driver's seat

Home and work. \nHome and work.\nRick Greenspan's first two weeks as IU's new athletics director consisted of the same thing day in and day out -- home and work.\n"I'm not sure I know how to get to and from work, but I'm learning my way around work," he said. "I've been here most of the time, or one of the other places on campus so I really haven't gotten to know much of the town."\nAnd this is OK with Hoosiers, who are looking for someone to right the sinking ship known as the IU Athletics Department. After a tumultuous two years in which IU has seen three athletics directors and a deficit grow on an annual basis, Greenspan's background and work ethic are a welcoming sight.\n"This is the kind of leader we sought to guide the future development of intercollegiate athletics at Indiana University," IU President Adam Herbert said at Greenspan's introduction Sept. 2.\nEntering his third week as athletics director, Greenspan knows how much work is needed to make the Hoosiers a successful athletics program. Greenspan said he is prepared to take on everything thrown his way, from the deficit to the $30 student athletic fee to the $65 million renovation and addition proposals.\n"We've got great people," he said. "We've got a lot of good work to do and some attitudes to change, and some perceptions to change. But it's a terrific place."\nMaking the move from West Point, N.Y., to Bloomington by himself has given Greenspan the opportunity to immerse himself in the Hoosier athletics program. \nThe self-proclaimed "hard-working stiff" has been on the go since Sept. 15, his first day on the job. Despite working hard, Greenspan is going into his new position as a student.\n"I want to be a great listener early, not that I want to be a great listener later, but I think you learn a lot more listening than talking," he said. "So, I want to listen to people. I want to listen to our students. I want to listen to our faculty. I want to listen to our coaches, our student athletes, our fans, and get as much institutional knowledge soaked in as I can."\nGreenspan isn't rushing into his new job, however. He is taking the time to learn about IU, and the Hoosier way. \n"I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on IU, because I'm not," he said. \nGreenspan said his greatest challenge is to get enough information to make wise decisions. \n"The biggest challenge is to get smart as quick as I can," he said. "Then the next one is to assess the current state of the department from a perspective of accountability and productivity."\nFrom a financial standpoint, Greenspan said he is ready to take a firm grasp on the situation he inherited. Efficiency and fund raising, he said, are two of the most crucial elements he faces when it comes to the business side of being athletics director. \n"Obviously we've had financial challenges," he said. "An important role for me, and I don't have a time table for it, is to try to remove that albatross around our neck of, what's the budget and how did we do this year." \nTo help move forward and achieve the goals he has set forth, Greenspan said the next step is to create the beginning of a draft strategic plan which he would "then sell to internal and external audiences." He knows it will not happen overnight, but the Maryland alum, said he would like to see it happen in the next few months. \n"The strategic plan is how we're going to get to those goals," he said, "and how we're going to achieve the mission of this institution, which I think are lofty but attainable." \nGreenspan is planning on making himself accessible to anybody and everybody, including administrators, coaches and athletes.\nHe said he is not a formal person, making him easy to relate to. With past athletics directors given unsolicited labels, such as Michael McNeely being known as a business man and Terry Clapacs known as a football guy, Greenspan said he will allow others to decide his legacy at IU. \n"When somebody new comes into a position like this, there is a lot of curiosity and I understand that, and I don't want people to feel that they can't come in, stick their head in the door, ask me a questions, share some thoughts with me," he said.\nThere is one trait Greenspan said relates well to others, and has throughout his 25 years of experience -- his passion. \nSome of Greenspan's hardest work will come within a football program that hasn't finished a season above .500 in a decade.\nDespite not being the financial center of the IU athletics department, Greenspan said men's basketball is the true heart of IU sports.\n"We can't afford for (basketball) to slip," he said. "That's our tattoo, that's our brand to the world. Football is a different sport in the way it relates to students and alums."\nWith revenue slipping for the football program, and all the possibilities for income, including bowl games, conference championships and national recognition, the need to get competitive is a must, Greenspan said -- especially to bring fans into the stadium.\n"For people to commit a day in the fall where there are other things (happening), you got to be competitive enough and you've got to be persuasive enough for people to want to do that," he said. \nBecause of the state of the department's finances, the need for football to start increasing revenue is vital, because of all the other non-revenue sports -- despite how successful some may be. \n"If we were truly a business, which we're not, in a business room you'd say we have a lot of loss," Greenspan said. \nAs the man who turned around the Army athletics department; there is only one way to point IU in the right direction.\n"Football -- we've got to get healthy."\nFor the first three weeks of his new job, Greenspan has begun to set the foundation for a successful tenure as a Hoosier -- and he's been doing it alone. \nLiving in a condo on the south side of Bloomington temporarily, Greenspan waits for his wife, Jenny, to join him later this week. Greenspan's daughter, Emily, just graduated from the University of Connecticut this spring and will be moving to Bloomington with her parents, while Greenspan's son, Ben, is still attending UConn. \nGreenspan has spent many hours on the phone with his wife using her navigational skills, as she helps him find his way around Bloomington. \nFor someone who gets lost easily, Greenspan has a map of where the IU athletics department is going, and he's in the drivers seat to help get them there. \n-- Contact senior writer Josh Weinfuss at jweinfus@indiana.edu