Column: Veteran leadership is needed

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — There comes a certain time in each child’s life that his or her choices can no longer be attributed to a lack of monitoring or proper upbringing.

Decisions and their inevitable consequences then fall solely on the shoulders of those children-turned-adults.

That time has come for the IU football program.

IU Coach Kevin Wilson and his coaching staff are no longer considered the proverbial parents to a team that has endured loss after heartbreaking loss.

Saturday’s 31-30 loss to Navy, perhaps the most painful of them all, is directly attributed to Wilson’s players.

“We’re not a young team anymore,” Wilson said.

Because of the staggering reality, the entirety of the blame now weighs on the collective conscience of the guys who don the helmets and shoulder pads each Saturday.

Junior wide receiver Kofi Hughes, long considered one of Wilson’s leaders, has taken that ugly responsibility in stride.

“This one is definitely on us as players, because I think our coaches definitely put us in a great position,” Hughes said. “We had an excellent opportunity to seal the game off, and we can’t go three-and-out on the last series of the game, which we needed to do to win the game. As players, we let our team down today.”

Hughes has shed more clarity on the issue with his team than necessary. In close contests — four of Indiana’s five losses have come by four points or less — the Hoosiers have lacked the x-factor needed to scratch out victories.

Yet the most maddening lesson to be learned is that the Hoosiers still haven’t shown an ability to piece together a complete game.

Whether it be offense or defense, the Hoosiers are still plagued by momentary mental lapses, particularly in critical junctures.

“It’s mental errors by certain guys,” Hughes said. “And as a team, I don’t know whether we’re too hyped to go out there and finish the game or if we’re just mentally not there. It’s unacceptable.

“There are times over the course of the game where you mentally go out or forget a play. The last drive of the game is definitely not a time to have mental errors.”

Quality football teams don’t make the mental errors and mistakes that Hughes alludes to, which makes finding a solution to the problem nearly as challenging as locating a needle in a haystack.

It would be a mistake to be angry with these players, though.

This group faces the seemingly insurmountable task of overcoming a losing culture that has crippled the program.

Though Wilson is on the fast track to creating a culture of his own, his Hoosiers have only won three of 19 games under his watch.

To spin the odds in their favor, the Hoosiers must do one thing and only thing only: win.

The veteran leaders need to rally their team into believing it will win these close contests.

As a whole, this team needs to dig deep and display the results of the mental toughness Wilson has worked tirelessly to instill.

­— ckillore@indiana.edu