Difficult times

Indiana University Director of Athletics Rick Greenspan announced Thursday that he would step down from his position at the end of the calendar year. \n“This has been a very difficult time, and I am aware that I have become the focus of criticism, which will continue to distract Indiana University from its core educational mission,” Greenspan said in a press release. “Consequently, I believe a new person will be in a stronger position to lead IU Athletics moving forward and it is in IU’s best interests for me to stand down.”\nGreenspan’s resignation comes the same day the NCAA announced a sixth allegation against the men’s basketball program, claiming IU failed to monitor the program’s compliance to NCAA rules. The specific terms of the allegation include IU not complying with its own self-imposed corrective action as well as standard NCAA rules.\nGreenspan said it was time to make a change.\n“It’s a difficult decision, but not one that I regret in any way,” Greenspan said in a press conference Thursday evening at the Hoosier Room at Memorial Stadium.\nIU President Michael McRobbie accepted Greenspan’s decision to step down and praised Greenspan for his accomplishments as director of athletics.\n“It is common knowledge that IU athletics had significant financial difficulties before Rick took over,” McRobbie said in a statement. “He has focused attention in the department to correcting that situation and today our athletics finances are substantially improved and IU’s athletics department is now on stable ground financially.”\nIU’s president was prepared to fight the school’s most recent NCAA accusation.\n“I am extremely disappointed with this additional allegation by the Committee on Infractions,” McRobbie said in the statement. “I believe our compliance program worked, and have remained steadfast since I first learned of this situation in my belief that Rick Greenspan and the compliance staff did their job. We uncovered the violations, perhaps not immediately, but the appropriate behavior was uncovered, reported promptly and investigated thoroughly.”\nThe press conference was not altogether a somber affair.\nWhen asked if he would have done anything different during his tenure, Greenspan responded, jokingly, “I probably would have been a fitness instructor.”\nGreenspan said staying at IU until the end of 2008 will help McRobbie with finding a permanent replacement without going through a temporary successor.\n“I’m extremely disappointed I’m only going to get to work with him for another six months,” IU coach Tom Crean said. “As the basketball coach, (I will) be able to help him every step as we go forward in his six months and also be side by side with the president and his team as we fight this vigorously. \n“We’re not going to change our stance whatsoever in our building the program. We are rebuilding a team, we are certainly rebuilding a culture inside that team, but we are not rebuilding a program at all ... We obviously have to get through some hurdles. And this is one of them. But we’re building for the long haul and that’s exactly the stance we’re going to take with our current team, with our recruits for the future and everybody else we come in contact with.”