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I ran across this rant from one the Terre Haute writers, rambling on about the poor performances of all the different programs at Indiana State.
His final summary---quoting the Indiana State Athletic Director Ron Prettyman
One more year like this one, and drastic changes are likely to follow.
---here are the basketball related comments----
"What was the most disappointing performance by an Indiana State athletic program this year?
-->>
teams that have reached historic lows ???‚¬??? a disharmonious convergence of ISU team-sport misery.
Despite all of this, the program that seems to engender the most divisiveness among ISU???‚¬?„?s fan base is men???‚¬?„?s basketball, a back-handed tribute, one might suppose, to the kind of interest men???‚¬?„?s basketball generates good or bad.
But men???‚¬?„?s basketball doesn???‚¬?„?t belong in this debate, its sin was suffering from bad timing. Almost to a person, those involved with the program said they were a few plays away from being 4-4 (or worse) instead of 8-0 (to start off the early season).
Perception-wise, the worst thing any team can do is start hot and falter. So the 11-game losing streak that followed ???‚¬??? abysmal as it was at times ???‚¬??? seemed much worse in comparison.
But ISU???‚¬?„?s Lost January sans-David Moss colored perceptions a bit out of whack. Truthfully, ISU???‚¬?„?s men???‚¬?„?s program only finished a couple of games below where pre-season conventional wisdom placed them. One can reasonably argue at least four of the games it lost without Moss would have been wins, and a NIT appearance would have been in the offing.
Moreover, wins over Indiana, Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Bradley, and the oddball 10 and 62 point halves in a MVC Tournament victory over Drake gave ISU fans a lot of memories to complement the January depths.
Athletics Director Ron Prettyman said when he took over last July that he wanted to use his first year to assess everything in the athletic program before/if he started making changes. He???‚¬?„?s been true to his word, there have been no drastic personnel or philosophical changes in the department, aside from contracting Nelligan Marketing to expose ISU to more national corporate exposure by grouping the university together with other like-minded schools.
Prettyman???‚¬?„?s wait-and-see approach has concerned some ISU fans, who want changes now, even though any change will take time to bear fruit.
In talking with Prettyman over the course of the year, I think he has good ideas to move ISU forward financially, marketing-wise (which needs marked improvement) and competitively. I hope I???‚¬?„?m right, because ISU can???‚¬?„?t absorb another season such as the one that is about to mercifully pass into the record books for too many of its programs.
If this unwelcome debate rages on next May, then drastic changes could, and likely should, follow."
His final summary---quoting the Indiana State Athletic Director Ron Prettyman
One more year like this one, and drastic changes are likely to follow.
---here are the basketball related comments----
"What was the most disappointing performance by an Indiana State athletic program this year?
-->>
teams that have reached historic lows ???‚¬??? a disharmonious convergence of ISU team-sport misery.
Despite all of this, the program that seems to engender the most divisiveness among ISU???‚¬?„?s fan base is men???‚¬?„?s basketball, a back-handed tribute, one might suppose, to the kind of interest men???‚¬?„?s basketball generates good or bad.
But men???‚¬?„?s basketball doesn???‚¬?„?t belong in this debate, its sin was suffering from bad timing. Almost to a person, those involved with the program said they were a few plays away from being 4-4 (or worse) instead of 8-0 (to start off the early season).
Perception-wise, the worst thing any team can do is start hot and falter. So the 11-game losing streak that followed ???‚¬??? abysmal as it was at times ???‚¬??? seemed much worse in comparison.
But ISU???‚¬?„?s Lost January sans-David Moss colored perceptions a bit out of whack. Truthfully, ISU???‚¬?„?s men???‚¬?„?s program only finished a couple of games below where pre-season conventional wisdom placed them. One can reasonably argue at least four of the games it lost without Moss would have been wins, and a NIT appearance would have been in the offing.
Moreover, wins over Indiana, Southern Illinois, Northern Iowa, Bradley, and the oddball 10 and 62 point halves in a MVC Tournament victory over Drake gave ISU fans a lot of memories to complement the January depths.
Athletics Director Ron Prettyman said when he took over last July that he wanted to use his first year to assess everything in the athletic program before/if he started making changes. He???‚¬?„?s been true to his word, there have been no drastic personnel or philosophical changes in the department, aside from contracting Nelligan Marketing to expose ISU to more national corporate exposure by grouping the university together with other like-minded schools.
Prettyman???‚¬?„?s wait-and-see approach has concerned some ISU fans, who want changes now, even though any change will take time to bear fruit.
In talking with Prettyman over the course of the year, I think he has good ideas to move ISU forward financially, marketing-wise (which needs marked improvement) and competitively. I hope I???‚¬?„?m right, because ISU can???‚¬?„?t absorb another season such as the one that is about to mercifully pass into the record books for too many of its programs.
If this unwelcome debate rages on next May, then drastic changes could, and likely should, follow."
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