Aaron

If I am Dolson I am pissed that I had two teams showcased back to back on National TV and both were completely embarrassed. It's unacceptable. Those games are not bad to lose, but to be thoroughly noncompetitive is a horrible look for the athletic department. I forgive the Women's Soccer program as that was a fluke and they have been terrific this year and just picked a bad night to play bad. Coach Erwin has done a nice job here and was furious last night. It happens. Volleyball needs a much deeper discussion and probably a coaching change as I have said from beginning this year. We can keep saying give it it time, but every time you do that it does not work out in end. Big Ten is tough, but Aird has shown zero much like Archie. If there was something there it would of shown by now. To lose in three straight sets is forgivable and I expected it, but to never get to 15 points in a set in a conference game means you are not adequately preparing or the team is losing its will to compete through adversity. I would get it if it was 25-20 in a couple sets, but to have that demolition is a much deeper program problem has and says a leadership change is needed if we are ever going to get anywhere. Especially with a new beautiful facility.

The OSU goalie made two unbelievable saves that should of been in the net for IU.

How much more range do you want him to add? He has already drilled several FG's over 50 for IU in his career.

I was surprisingly happy they won this game. Some teams like Purdue today they are not physically capable of beating, but if you can beat the teams like MSU towards the middle and bottom half of the Big Ten you might be able to salvage something of this season. Hope Big Ten play wakes them up to the point where they play hard and beat the teams they can and MSU was a great start. Doesn't change the fact that losses to Bowling Green and Chicago State in pre-conference are inexcusable in Aird's fourth yr.

This Big Ten season is going to be ugly. We are .500 with losses to Chicago State and and Western Michigan and this looks like IU's weakest team since mid 2000's. Usually we do well in pre-conference than fall apart in conference with Big Ten being best conference in nation. Since we looked bad in pre-conference not sure how we navigate Big Ten with more than 2-3 wins. No chance we beat anyone but Iowa, Rutgers, Maryland or NW and doubt we get all of those. Every other team is miles ahead of IU.

Michigan State not withstanding, This Women's Soccer team continues to be IU's best program this fall by a large margin. Only them and Men's Golf reaching their expectations. Everyone else really struggling.

You just got blown out by Chicago State. Nothing more needs to be said now that Aird is an abject disaster. This is a tough job and I appreciate Aird trying, but the bottom line is he just lost to a team that can barely fund an athletic department in his fourth year. Aird is officially Archie Miller now in that he is a great hire on paper and should of succeeded, but despite solid recruiting, cannot develop the players and lost a bunch of the top ones to transfer. Four years is enough time and when them team wins 2-3 Big Ten games at most this year its time for a change. You have a great facility now and to be worse than a MAC team and a WAC team that can barely fund an athletic department is inexcusable. You also needed a miracle to beat another bad MAC and Ohio Valley team. If IU does not really care about the results for this program that's fine and it is definitely lower on totem pole. However, like Archie, Aird is taking this team nowhere period. Last coach Sherry Dunbar was up and down like Crean but had some good years and some really bad ones. Aird unfortunately cannot even get through the door to try to have a good season. I wanted Aird and this team to work and I love his enthusiasm, but it is not going to under his watch.

Versyp should of been fired years ago from an objective standpoint. She drove a once elite program into the ground and it will be much harder for them to recover now. She was clearly a slimy person leaving IU after a yr and the allegations at Purdue and they were negligent to let her ruin their top program. Very glad Moren has seized on that for now and IU and PU have basically switched places for the moment. With that said I have never heard of a program holding on to a mediocre coach in a once elite program that long. The stereotype about Purdue being dumb applies here to their athletic department. Should of happened a long time ago.

So far so good here. Not sure how well they do in Big Ten play, but even winning non-conference games is a bit of an accomplishment given how poor they were last several yrs.

Don't say I didn't warn you. Lost 3-2 to a Western Michigan team that is solid but nothing special. If you can't beat them good luck winning more than 1-2 Big Ten games. So far Aird has been a lot of talk and no substance. He is trying and it is a brutal Big Ten, but right now in four years team is just as bad as when he got here.

Offense is struggling a bit, but defense looks like it can hold up against anyone. Should be an exciting season and intrigued by the improvements the coach has made to the program.

I hate to rain on people's party, but this team based on today's performance is going nowhere still in a tough Big Ten and looked horrible against that level of competition (I was sitting right behind official scorer in first row today). I hope for the best, but so far Coach Aird has been a lot of talking and hype with few results. This is now his fourth year and team is just as bad as when he got here. To top it off, his two best players transferred in offseason which is never a good sign. Don't call me a hater and I really want success from Aird and this program. It's a brutally tough Big Ten, but so far I have heard a lot of talk and seen zero results. A lot of good recruiting but no development and players are transferring when they get here. I really hope I am wrong, but so far I see nothing to suggest this program is anything but spinning its wheels. Another thing to note is IU has played Men's Soccer, Women's Basketball and Women's Soccer here and managed to split the crowd. With Volleyball there is small section of IU fans at best, so clearly I am not only one not sold on this team.

Playing today at Hinkle Fieldhouse twice. IU leads 15-11 first set over Bowling Green with another game tonight.

IU has the same problem they did last year along with the basketball team in that they cannot score at a high level. Their defense is very good and their floor is substantially higher as result. However, to get to the tournament again like they want their offense needs to be much better. Scoring only one goal each against mediocre Valpo and UT Martin doesn't bode well unless some changes are made and IU will need to win a lot of 1-0 games (which they are capable of potentially) which is a lot to ask once Big Ten play starts.

Hopefully the D will be ok. This is two games in a row they have looked less than stellar. To be fair against Wright St. Pratt played goalie in the first half and then in the second half Munie and Maher sat, which is the normal center backs, so its really hard to tell anything from that game without your normal complete defense at any point. Last night though is not good and better improve as the normal guys played almost the whole night. No excuse as this is same D IU fielded last year and rarely conceded a goal. Bezerra and the offense are ready to go though and Vic could easily have 20 to 30 goals this season. Usually defense is ahead of offense at this time a year, but right now it is opposite for the Hoosiers which is mind blowing and defense wins championships. Need to get the backline shored up fast to reach heights team wants.

We've known this for weeks. IU just made it official. Good hires!

My guess is IU is so loaded, he jumped at the chance to go professional as he would of had to compete for playing time at IU with the deep roster we have. Sucks to lose him but by no means crippling given the depth of talent this team has.

I actually think this is a good thing. While I love Parker, I have never been a fan of Held and think some of the struggles this year (although not all by any means) can be attributed to him. When I saw the announcement on Parker my first thought was "That sucks". With Held now I thought "Thank god". This gives Mercer a chance to reset the staff and address the issues this team had hopefully. If I had my choice Parker would be back, but Held would of been replaced regardless. Hopefully this gives a chance at a terrific staff from top to bottom.

This team could be in trouble. We lost top 6 players to draft and now Parker. To cap it off Toetz is in the transfer portal. Mercer is facing the test of his career now and how he handles it will determine if he is the long term coach here (the four transfers is a good start but a lot more to do). I am not mad at Mercer, but he certainly has some things to prove and whether he is up to coaching at this level remains to be seen. Not saying he cannot do it, because he absolutely can, but time will tell if he is the right guy or job is simply to big for him. To early to know and not fair to pass judgement either way yet. Next couple years will be telling.

To bad but rather lose him then a player obviously;). My guess is they will have a student do it just like they had Austin Render take over baseball from Greg Murray last couple years. Maybe they give Austin both sports now or possibly another media student. They all do a solid job and I support whoever calls the game.

Very replicable. Decent substitute, but guys like him are a dime a dozen. The bottom line is of the guy's we need back, Glass is the special player and the one we needed of the four seniors and got him. Black is also a dime a dozen guy. Palazzolo (who has all but said he is leaving) is the next best in the senior group but also flawed. He is a terrific hustler and very fast, but often gets ahead of himself and tries to play quicker than his body allows and can miss easy goals and passes as a result at times. Time for Coleman Gannon, Emerson Nieto and Kyle Folds to step up in mid who have much higher ceiling and are high ranked recruits this year and last. If they can be what they are capable, we may be best team in country or close to it. Only other big decision is Bezerra. MLS draft is not until winter, but he could sign is a free agent and is very much ready to do so. If he goes, Wittenbrink is the guy and there will be a drop off. If we want to be a top team with a legit shot at a title, we need Bezerra back (very questionable) and Celantano (I think he comes back) as well. We may lose Sessock as well on D, but that's not overly concerning as they have been grooming Lawson Redmon and still have Maher, Munie and Beebej who are among the best in the business and D should be tough as nails like usual.

My dream is to have Smith take Dan Held's spot which would be a truly All-Star staff. One can dream and it would never happen, but that would really give IU a heads up with Mercer as head coach and Justin Parker and Tracy Smith as assistants. Three head coaching type people on one staff:).

Can we have him back? We still don't know enough about Mercer and absolutely no way you can fire him right now nor should we, but would love to bring Tracy back somehow in someway which is not possible right now. If one of the assistants leaves (which if Held or Simmons want to go or are fired my feelings would not be hurt) maybe he can have that job for a year but obviously not going to happen. Wish ASU had done this right after we lost Lemonis and Smith came back, but obviously Sun Devils not working on our schedule:).

Nebraska just took Arkansas who is best team in country to an elimination game tomorrow for the Regional Championship. If that does not prove once and for all they are best team in Big Ten I don't know what does. Deepest pitching staff (although their 2 and 3 starters are not always good) with depth to go all the way and best offense in conference. Does not excuse IU not finishing second and taking Maryland's spot in NCAA Tournament (No excuse to lose Illinois and first Maryland game which is what kept us out and put them in), but Nebraska was far and away best team in Big Ten and I thought so all year and earned the conference championship. There is a reason the Huskers were several games ahead of everyone and it was a muddy mess for the few spots behind them. Congrats to Cornhuskers for representing Big Ten.

Mercer very well could be different and I really hope he is. I am just pointing out it has not gone great for Wright State coaches outside of Wright St. Doesn't mean Mercer will not be fantastic here which is certainly possible. Merely telling what has happened previously.