Hey folks. This is somewhat unrelated, but I got to have a conversation with University Chancellor Ken Gros Louis Thursday afternoon. I asked him for his thoughts on IU football this year, and here's what a man who's been at IU since 1964 had to say:
-He thinks IU will win two or three more games this year, pointing to Northwestern and Ball State as possible victories. Give him credit, he said he thought IU would lose to Michigan State, because IU was on the road and the Spartans were probably going to come out with a lot of fire after the last couple of weeks.
-He said the IU-Purdue game - for as long as he's known it anyway - is rather unpredictable. He said he wouldn't venture a definite guess for that reason.
-He said Bill Lynch 'knows what he's doing,' and that Gros Louis has been impressed with Lynch this year. He said 'it would be hard to get rid of' Lynch if he continues his success this year and takes IU to a bowl game.
-Gros Louis said he thinks the IU fanbase would travel to any bowl the Hoosiers make, primarily because it's been so long since they went. He pointed out that IU has the second biggest alumni network behind Penn State, and said he thinks the chances of IU filling the stands for a bowl game would be good.
-He said he thinks the best way to fill the stands on game day is to win consistently, which makes sense. The interesting thing he said, though, is that he thinks having the Colts in Indianapolis probably puts a rather large dent in attendance as well, a though that never occurred to me.
All in all, the Chancellor said he thinks IU has seven or eight wins - and a visit to a bowl game - in them this season. He also said that, though at times it has been painful, he regularly attends IU football games, and has throughout his time at the University. Once a fan, always a fan.
Not exactly the normal blog fodder, but changing it up is what we try to do with our IDS blogs. Hope you enjoy it, let us know what you think.
