One-on-one with Larry MacIntyre

Whenever news breaks at IU, one man shoulders most of the questions: IU Spokesman Larry MacIntyre. He’s the go-to guy for almost all Hoosier issues.

MacIntyre spoke to the Indiana Daily Student about dealing with all the media for the University, Fourth Street dining and everything in between.

Indiana Daily Student: How do you get all your information? Do you just talk to people or what?

Larry MacIntyre: Well, I, for much of my journalism career, was either a reporter or an editor. And the work I do here is the same, except that I’m a go-between for reporters and editors. When reporters call with questions, I try to figure out who the best person is to answer those questions. And I try to help reporters get accurate information for their stories.

IDS: What’s your favorite IU sport?

MacIntyre: Well, I’ve been a lifelong football fan. I love football. I think it runs in my family. I never played football, but I’ve watched football since I’ve been old enough to understand the game. So I go to every football game.

IDS: What’s your favorite place to eat on campus?

MacIntyre: I have so many in Bloomington. I love Bloomington because there are so many good places to eat, and I’m afraid if I just mention one. I go to several restaurants on Fourth Street. I like the Uptown Cafe, I like the Bloomington Bagel Company, and I like DeAngelo’s. I like some of the restaurants on the square. My wife and I love Bloomington because there are so many great places to eat.

IDS: You always have President McRobbie’s official statements, so do you talk him a lot or hang out with him? How does that work?

MacIntyre: He talks to me. I see him fairly often, and whenever an issue comes up that he believes is going to be in the press, either President McRobbie or one of the vice presidents will talk to me and brief me on what the issue is and what the University’s position is. Sometimes I get it directly from President McRobbie; sometimes I get it from a vice president.

IDS: What do you think is the day you got the most phone calls about something or the craziest day when everyone was calling. What do you think that would be?

MacIntyre: I’ve had two really bad days. One was when five Jacobs School of Music students died in a plane crash. We were overwhelmed with media. We could not answer them all they were coming in so fast. And, at the time, all of our instincts were to do as much as we could for the surviving families, so we were trying to fend off the media from the surviving families as best as we could. That was a very difficult day.

The other difficult day I had was the day Kelvin Sampson resigned as basketball coach. I was swamped with sports reporters all over the country. There was a lot of misinformation being published on the Internet, and I was trying to deal with that.