University of Illinois-Chicago coach John Trask has been given permission by his athletic department to speak with IU vice president and athletics director Fred Glass about the possibility of coaching the IU soccer team next season. "As an alum, it's just a tremendous honor to even be mentioned," Trask said.
So IU finished its season 4-8 with a disappointing loss to Purdue. But at least one player is up for a post-season award.
Herald Times reporter Chris Korman cited the Akron Beacon-Journal for an update for the IU men's soccer coach search. In the report, Caleb Porter, head coach at Akron, said he is not interested in the IU position. This places Todd Yeagley as the top candidate for the coaching position at IU, although he currently has a five-year contract with Wisconsin.
Former IU coach Mike Freitag held a private press conference today in which he discussed his dismissal from the IU soccer program. Freitag thanked his former and current players, saying he was proud to be a part of the IU Soccer Family.
We've got content from a variety of sports today, so here are some quick links to stories from today's IDS: Women's Basketball: IU's loss to No.
Tonight at 6:30 the women's basketball team will take on 12th ranked Florida State as part of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
Conference academic honors were awarded on Dec. 1. IU was second among Big Ten schools with 93. Only Ohio State had more with 95 honorees.
Props to reporters Stephanie Kuzydym and Kevin Loughery for staying on this situation hard. Here's some more information from IU Athletics Director Fred Glass regarding his motivations for the move to fire IU men's soccer coach Mike Freitag along with answers regarding his possible successor. IDS: There was a meeting called Sunday night after the North Carolina in which players talked with Senior Associate Athletic Director Chris Reynolds about former IU coach Mike Freitag.
Here are some more recent developments in the coaching situation for men's soccer. Former head coach Mike Freitag talked with IDS reporters Stephanie Kuzydym for this story.
After a disappointing 12-10-1 season, IU Athletics Director Fred Glass took a "deliberate, sober, dispassionate view" of the soccer program to see where he thought it stood. Looking back on recent history, he decided to "reluctantly, but appropriately" refuse to renew former IU men's soccer coach Mike Freitag's contract. "If we felt the program was going in the right direction, I could handle the record," Glass said.
The IU volleyball team achieved in the classroom as well as on the court this season. Five players earned the Academic All-Big Ten distinction.
17 of 22 field hockey players earned Academic All-Big Ten Honors. IU had the second-most honorees in the conference with just two athletes fewer than Ohio State. Athletes must be in at least their second academic year at their University and carry a grade-point average (GPA) of 3.0 or better to be eligible for Academic All-Big Ten selection Senior back Brittney Hacken, a biology major, maintained an unblemished 4.0 GPA all four years. This year's field hockey team had the most honorees out of any team in the Big Ten conference and the most ever honorees in the team's history. Field Hockey's Acacdemic All-Big Ten list: Corey Brautigam, So., Criminal Justice Morgan Fleetwood, So., Pre-Education: Earth-Space Sciences Haley Funk, Sr., Human Development & Family Services Katie Griswold, Jr., Entrepreneurship/Marketing Lena Grote, Jr., International Studies Brittney Hacken, Sr., Biology Lucy Ireland, Sr., Journalism/ Sociology Kelsey Kiper, Sr., Criminal Justice Alex Mann, Jr., Psychology Kristy McFadden, So., Pre-Education: Math Jacklyn Milici, Jr., Biology Brenna Moeljadi, Jr., Human Health & Disease Mutsa Mutembwa, Jr., Math/Economics Meg O'Connell, Sr., Exercise Science Becky Pany, So., Political Science/Economics Elizabeth Schmidt, Sr., Environmental Management. Alina Valenti, Sr., Apparel Merchandising
A lot can change in a year, but IU's 80-68 loss against Maryland proved that not much is different in Assembly Hall. The Hoosiers were tied with the Terrapins at 54-54 in the second half, before Maryland reeled off a 23-9 run.
Here is some pregame material for tonight's game between IU and Maryland on ESPN2. Beat writer Zina Kumok previewed tonight's game in today's IDS, which includes Maryland native Maurice Creek's memories supporting the Terrapins as a child. Beat writer DeAntae Prince wrote about the challenges 6-foot-6 point guard Greivis Vasquez will present junior Jeremiah Rivers and the rest of the team. Lastly, I wrote about the significance of a rowdy crowd tonight at Assembly Hall. Here are some random tidbits I've picked up, followed by the projected starting lineups below the jump: Maryland defeated IU 64-52 on April 1, 2002 for the NCAA Championship, but IU got some revenge by beating the Terrapins in overtime, 80-74, that December in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge.
In the final episode of the season, Mary and the IU volleyball team help serve Thanksgiving dinner for charity, enjoy Thanksgiving dinner themselves at graduate right-side hitter Whitney Thomas' house, sweep Wisconsin and Iowa to finish the season 17-17 and sing the IU fight song and Big Mac song one last time each.
The IU volleyball team's two most potent offensive players were unanimous choices for Big Ten postseason honors, which were announced Monday. Junior middle blocker Ashley Benson, who ended the 2009 campaign as the Hoosiers' leader in season hitting efficiency with a .361 percentage, was named to the All-Big Ten team for the second consecutive year. Benson, who ranked fourth in the Big Ten and 49th nationally in hitting efficiency with her .361 mark, was one of eight unanimous selections to the All-Big Ten team.
The Big Ten has yet to pull out six or more wins in any Big Ten/ACC Challenges thus far - that's 10 years of the ACC dominating the "challenge." Penn State traveled to Charlottesville, Va.
Here is a video precursor to our coverage for tomorrow. Take a look at what IU's head coach had to say about the Terrapins.
