Column: Despite win-loss record, Corso deserves to be in IU Hall of Fame

Lee Corso will be inducted into the IU Athletics Hall of Fame this weekend and for good reason.

I’ve gone back and forth on the topic for the last several weeks, but I have finally decided that Corso simply cannot be left out. He has done too much for the IU football program.

His 41-68-2 record wouldn’t suggest he had a successful ten-year tenure as the Hoosiers’ head coach. Then again, it’s unfair to base a coach’s value to a university on only one statistic, especially with this football program.

People tell me how disgusted they are to see Corso go into the Hall of Fame. Almost all of those people cite Corso’s record, and they say one good year doesn’t make a coach worthy of being inducted into the Hall of Fame.

One individual tried to tell me that if Corso goes in, former basketball coach Mike Davis should go in too.

Simply ridiculous.

The basketball program has five national championships to its name. The football program has a long history of losing. Comparing the two is unfair.

“It’s hard to pick out a slice where there’s not a losing record,” said IU Athletics Director Fred Glass, who was a student at IU when Corso was coach. “It’s been a challenging place to be successful. Lee distinguished himself by doing a lot of really great things.”

When Corso got here, the Hoosiers had only been to one bowl game. He quickly took a struggling program and made it better.

Corso led IU to its first-ever bowl win in 1979, a 38-37 victory against Brigham Young in the Holiday Bowl. The Hoosiers were ranked No. 16 after that game — the second-highest ranking in the history of the school.

Corso had four wins against ranked opponents, and he is still the third-winningest coach in IU history.

Corso repaired the racial tension created by an African-American boycott in the 1970s, according to Glass. He was the first coach in the country to hire a female assistant to work on recruiting and academics.

“He was a real pioneer and was very welcoming to African-American football players,”
Glass said.

And then there’s Corso’s work with ESPN’s “College GameDay,” where he has become one of the main faces of college football. Doing something significant outside of IU shouldn’t keep an individual from getting into the Hall of Fame — it should help him do so.

This isn’t a marketing ploy as everybody seems to think. Corso is going into the Hall of Fame — unanimously I might add — because of the things he has done, both on and off the field, to put IU in a positive light.

“To a lot of people, he personifies college football,” Glass said. “It’s legit to take into account what they have done afterwards. To connect Lee Corso with Indiana University in the public consciousness is a really good thing for Indiana University football.”

What Corso did for the football program cannot continue to be ignored, which is why it is so great that he will be in town this weekend to finally enter the sacred place in which he belongs.

Stop getting caught up in the records, and start remembering the positive things Corso did for the Hoosiers. Yes, he had losing seasons, but he helped move the program in the right direction, something that cannot be said for many IU coaches since Corso.

When Corso’s name is announced Saturday afternoon, take the time to stand and applaud. This is a good one. This is one we should be glad to have representing IU.

Prediction
In as close to a must-win game as the Hoosiers will face this season, IU will have just enough to get past a pesky Northwestern team.

IU simply cannot afford to lose this game. Combine that with James Brewer’s possible return, and the Hoosiers will move within one game of bowl eligibility.

This defense continues to improve with each passing game, and it will do enough to slow down an efficient Northwestern passing game and give Ben Chappell and the offense more opportunities.

PREDICTION: IU 31, Northwestern 28

E-mail: jmalbers@indiana.edu