Glass hopes he can put program’s NCAA problems in past, move on

The damage has been done to the IU men’s basketball program.

And if you ask Fred Glass just how bad the damage was, he’d tell you “it’s almost immeasurable.”

The loss of IU’s basketball prestige has been “not only for basketball, but maybe even worse for the University as a whole,” Glass, IU’s incoming athletics director, said Tuesday in an interview with the Indiana Daily Student. “People who care a lot about IU have had their hearts broken.”

Less than three hours into his new job, Glass found himself answering questions about the NCAA’s investigation into IU’s basketball program, something people in the athletics department have grown accustomed to.

Glass said he hasn’t been given any indication of what to expect from the NCAA or when it might make an announcement, but he did say he hopes the “national nightmare” is almost over and that the University will receive a quick ruling.

“I’m very bullish about the future of IU athletics,” he said. “And I think the whole challenging period, the sooner we can put it on our rearview mirror, the sooner it will become a distant memory.”

Glass said he sat with IU’s current athletics director, Rick Greenspan, on Tuesday morning in a breakfast meeting. He said the conversation was positive, but not extremely detailed. The Indianapolis lawyer indicated that when the NCAA does hand down its ruling, it will be Greenspan who handles most of the proceedings.

“My expectation would be to be consulted and be involved, but you know, he’s the athletic director until Dec. 31,” Glass said.

In the press conference held to announce his hiring, Glass outlined three pillars he plans to build his athletic department around: compliance, academic achievement and athletic excellence.

Those three things also happen to be the three main characteristics the men’s basketball program has lacked in recent history, something IU coach Tom Crean has pointed out as well.

When asked if it was a coincidence, Glass was hesitant to speak.

“I think no matter what the conditions were on the ground, those ought to be the three things,” he said. “And I think that it is especially important to IU, because following the rules is something everybody always took a lot of pride in.”

Glass called following the rules a “hallmark” of IU and said having student athletes attending class and graduating is equally important.

“I think Hoosiers will give you a little room on (athletic excellence) if they know (compliance) and (academic achievement) are in the bag,” he said.

Another area Glass hopes Hoosiers have patience with is this year’s men’s basketball team. While he admitted he hasn’t been following the situation closely, Glass said he knows “we uncharacteristically have tickets available in basketball.”

Glass, who graduated from IU in 1981, recalled the “fervor” students had for Bob Knight’s team during his time on campus. The team’s following was so intense that students could only purchase tickets to half of the home games because “everyone wanted tickets so bad.”

While he was wary to embrace a Knight return fully in the interview, Glass, a self-described IU sports nut, said he hopes to eliminate “the fractures in the family.”

Glass said Knight had done “tremendously positive” things for the University throughout the years and said he deserves to be recognized.

“He sure belongs in the Hall of Fame,” Glass said. “Again, there are complexities to all of that, and I’m not the athletic director yet. There may be issues about that of which I’m not aware, but clearly he belongs in the Hall of Fame.”

Glass built a reputation in Indianapolis as a sports facility expert, helping oversee the construction of Lucas Oil Stadium, Conseco Fieldhouse and the Indiana Convention Center. But Glass said he wasn’t selected specifically for that reason.

“I don’t think the administration brought me in because ‘Here’s the guy who did Lucas Oil Stadium, let’s do it to Assembly Hall.’ That was never stated or an implied expectation.”