Greenspan’s reign not unfamiliar

The freshman class of 2008 boasts one of the highest average SAT scores in University history, but those scores are null in my book because the newest Hoosiers did not have to tackle the dreaded analogy section of that famed test. Here is one of the questions that surely would have been on last year’s exam had analogies still featured.

George W. Bush : Barack Obama :: Rick Greenspan:_________.

Time’s up. The answer: IU’s new director of athletics. Maybe these freshmen aren’t as smart as advertised.

While Obama is not a lock to win the presidency, we are told he is the change this country needs from the broken policies of the Bush administration. Similarly, many Hoosier fans believe a change is needed after Greenspan’s reign over the athletic department.

The Bush presidency and the Greenspan directorship are similar in several ways – particularly in how opponents view the two men.

Each man had a defining decision that overshadowed everything else in his term – for Bush, the Iraq War; for Greenspan, the hiring of former men’s basketball coach Kelvin Sampson.

I’ll let the political columnists defend/criticize Bush, but judging Greenspan’s legacy solely on the Sampson hiring is a giant mistake. Greenspan inherited an athletic department deep in the red and two unpopular head coaches – Gerry DiNardo and Mike Davis – in the program’s major sports – football and basketball. A major rebuilding effort was needed.

IU President Michael McRobbie kindly spent time at the IDS newsroom last Friday getting to know the fall staff and answering questions. When I had the opportunity, I asked McRobbie how important the hiring of the next AD is and what influential alumni are saying about the hiring and the legacy of Greenspan.

Understandably, McRobbie stood by Greenspan, emphasizing his accomplishments and pointing out that alumni are fired up about the hiring of new men’s basketball coach Tom Crean.

Besides hiring Crean, those accomplishments include major facilities upgrades – most notably the North Endzone Project at Memorial Stadium and the basketball practice facility – and the hiring of popular coaches Terry Hoeppner and Felisha Legette-Jack.

When Hep passed away and Sampson resigned, Greenspan chose two quality replacements in football coach Bill Lynch and Crean, both of whom have excited the Hoosier fan base after years of disappointment from those two programs.

Greenspan’s detractors overlook these accomplishments as they continue to hammer the AD for the Sampson hiring and the NCAA violations committed by the former coach and his staff. It’s obvious Greenspan made a hiring snafu when he brought Sampson to Bloomington, but he got a mulligan and hired the energetic Crean to rebuild the Hoosier basketball tradition.

Greenspan’s legacy will be linked with Crean’s success/failure much like Bush’s ultimate legacy will be linked with the people of Iraq. Though the initial evaluations of each man’s performance are negative, the Greenspan and Bush legacies can vastly be improved with a sixth NCAA championship banner in Assembly Hall and a stable democracy in Iraq. Only time will tell if these lofty goals can be met.