southernindianahoosier2

I promised a long winded response and here it is: I'm taking a MACRO top down analysis approach for Fred Glass. It is a consensus on this board that the two biggest sports and what he is ultimately judged on are Foorball and Basketball so lets take a look at every season starting after October 28, 2008, the date he was hired. For this post I'm only focused on Football. In Football, we've had 122 games under Glass with a 45-77 record, a 37% win percentage. We've never won a bowl game, and he has hired then fired Kevin Wilson, and then hired Tom Allen. The most wins IU has ever had in a season is 9, happening in 1967 and 1945. On average, under Glass, our teams are 5-7 with no bowl. The standard deviation is 1.36 wins and 1.19 Losses. This is actually promising considering you're 2 standard deviations away from the mean of winning 8 games (13.6% of all possible outcomes). From this I concur that a 9 win Indiana team is not impossible but highly unlikely given the state of the program. Using a SMART goal template, 8 win Indiana is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time based. This is what I believe Fred Glass' goal should be for the football team. The ceiling of wins at Indiana is 13, 12 regular season and a bowl, not 5-7 wins. Currently our Peer Group is Illinois, Minnesota, Purdue, Rutgers and Maryland. The Peer group one step above IU is Michigan State, Wisconsin, Iowa, Nebraska and Northwestern. The Top Peer Group is OSU, MIchigan, and Penn State. People on this board always ask what I would do as the AD. Well first I would run this back of the envelope analysis and come up with my two strategies for football. Mine would be to win 8 games during a season in the next 5 years, and then move IU into the second tier of football teams in the Big10. I'd do this by studying the likes of Wisconsin, Michigan State, and Iowa, and figure out where we fall behind. Is it facilities, nutrition, coaching, salaries, etc? If so, I will then begin to look to fund-raise. I want to showcase my vision as the AD to all in the land. I'd say IU IS WINNING 8 games, we need $X to make it happen. From there I build, hire, fire, fund-raise, and execute my 5 year vision. "We understand we are in the bottom tier and we're going to spend, build, and hire our way to the tier above us"... This is why I think Fred Glass is a horrible horrible AD: I have never seen or heard from Fred Glass on what his vision for the football team is. He does things in the wrong order, completely backwards as an AD. He has poor problem solving skills and is a bad fit as an AD. His current approach seems to be: I need to generate buzz around the program -> Solicit donations for capital improvements -> build something that is not above or beyond our peer group-> show the BOT that IU sports are profitable and moving in a positive direction-> make McRobbie happy. What he should be doing is: What is IU's Vision -> Win 8 games in the next 5 years -> How do I get to that goal-> Fund-raise to get funds to achieve said goal -> if its facilities, build something above and beyond our current peer group -> evaluate state of the program at year end -> rinse repeat. The outcome of Glass' current decision making process is spending money and getting no results. So throwing money just to throw money is what Fred is doing currently. With his strategy we end up with the worst ROI of any spend at a power 5 school, staying in a 5-7 nightmare. Again because he has no strategy.... Had he said "I want to win 8 games, how do I do it?"... You don't set an 8 win strategy by arbitrarily removing the names from the backs of the football jerseys... you do it by looking at Les Miles and Jeff Brohm when we needed a new coach.... I ask the board: what has Fred done in football to separate us from our current peer group and to try to push the program to 8 wins? What capital projects has he completed that push the envelope and set us apart from our current peer group and are in line with the likes of Michigan State and Iowa?

Fred has been the biggest decision maker on a Macro Level for the last 10 years. Any year to year fluctuations absolutely can be blamed on the coaches, but the Macro state of the programs over the last 10 years I would say are 100% on FG.

Florida State is putting themselves in a position to be successful by spending top $. It may not be with their current coach, but seeing that they are ready and willing to open the check book is huge. I don't see why a top coach wouldn't go there. Conversely if they stopped spending money, the ability to attract top talent at the coaching level diminishes.

HE WENT TO KANSAS, THE WORST FOOTBALL SCHOOL IN THE NATION... IU WAS MORE THAN CAPABLE OF HIRING HIM.

We could have made a splash hiring Les Miles or Brohm. We could hire the next Tom Herman. However, you need facilities, nutrition, locker rooms, trainers, and a compliance department that doesn't try to run a smear campaign against you. Glass is putting some of these in place, but he's not hitting home runs here, he's way behind the pack in both timing and quality. He also hired Tom Allen instead of to two aforementioned coaches. "Regardless of how much money we throw at it (and it would be throwing money away), Ohio State, Michigan,. and Penn State will always have more money for football than we do." With that defeatist attitude then why would we even field a team. If Purdue can beat Ohio State with Urban Meyer last year, then there's no reason that IU can't be competitive year over year against these teams. I should put an asterisk on "Throwing Money" because Glass is clearly incompetent so he would probably spend the money on all the wrong things. But hey, I'd rather them let Glass spend money on things that don't add value to the programs then have IU spend no money at all. After all its the principal and value signaling of spending the money that is important.

Give me time and I’ll write out a detailed response Sent from my iPhone using BtownBanners mobile app

Either they don't care about winning, or they don't know what it takes to win.

Rutgers has consistently beat Indiana at least. If you think about it, Glass has the power to usurp McRobbie, if he became vocal and he rallied the boosters on his behalf, maybe they could force a change at the top. But Glass either loves being "hampered" by McRobbie so that he has a person to blame or he doesn't actually care about winning.

I agree that Michale McRobbie is the bigger problem. However, I have heard from a reliable source that he plans on retiring after the 2020 bicentennial of IU. So since he's not going anywhere until 2021, we just have to sit back and wait it out. The Football team could make a bowl and the basketball team could make the tournament this year. However, it seems to be almost a coin flip that the opposite rings true. Time will tell.

I am upset because Fred is not doing anything above and beyond the minimum threshold required when it comes to facilities at power 5 schools. I'm not upset at what he's done (i'm not complaining that we've updated Assembly Hall). I'm upset he didn't do more, and i'm upset people are acting like he's a visionary/Steve Jobs because he did the minimum the market required for him to keep his job. College sports has became an arms race in regards to facilities. IU is never the front runner when it comes to facilities. And facilities are literally the only thing Fred has been hanging his hat on. I'm wondering why Fred has never had an original thought and led the Big10 in something other than the student bill of rights. Imagine if market dynamics changed and in order to sell your house in your neighborhood and you needed to upgrade your bathrooms and install a pool to be competitive and sell your house at the price you want... That's the college sports facilities arms race... What Fred has done is upgraded the bathrooms/pool to be average to below average when compared against the other houses, and done it years after everyone else. By the time our house is upgraded, others will be doing something else cutting edge and we will be forever behind the 8-ball with him. Why am I mad? Because I graduated from a School that is now run by PT Barnum and his Clown Fred Glass.

Upgrading years after everyone else and upgrading facilities to be still below peer group in many aspects. The alternative is building nothing. Glass is bringing IU up to the status quo, years after everyone else. (A day late and a dollar short) I'd like to see us lead our peer group in something other than the student bill of rights and internal compliance department findings.

To give a mouse a cookie.

What do you mean? I'm unfamiliar.

I wish we had Mitch Daniels.

Archie will be successful by McRobbie's standard. After this year, as the AD you'll have 3 years of data on Archie. You also have data on Archie's peer group in 3 years in Holtmann and 2 years on Chris Mack, and 4 years on Chris Beard. As the AD you have really up close and personal data on three of these individuals (as we play them every year). Questions to the board members: Do you think the end of this basketball year as an AD you'd have enough information to make a decision? and What decision would you make?

To clarify my stance on Crean. I wasn't saying the school was incapable of getting $10M. I'm just saying they chose not to spend $10M and it ended up costing us a "Total Rebuild". Short term financial gain for a long term loss. I don't find it hard to believe Crean was well liked as a person and provided IU with the ability to solicit donations. I do find it hard to believe that those with Basketball knowledge and/or those who were close to the program thought he was the right fit. Opportunity costs I was referring too include but are not limited to additional apparel sales, better attendance, better TV spots, higher advertising revenues, as well as non-financial measures like wins, fanbase engagement, positive view of brand image by journalists and fans, etc. My point is that without a holistic picture we cannot properly say Fred Glass has done anything well. Maybe net income from the athletic department could have been double, maybe donations could be double, we don't know because its hard to measure. Additionally, we'd need to remove the BTN revenues from the sum of the athletic department to get a better view of how he's actually performing. I'm not sure about your last comment regarding only retaining 5% of my education and where you work. My background is Leveraged Finance/Investment banking, which is why i'm so critical of the financials. They are not telling the full story.

lol Love Kebabs.

The IU athletic department is, in a sense, a business that operates in such an environment that the demand and price elasticity remain relatively constant year over year (YOY). No matter the quality of product produced by the Athletic Department, consumers (fans and Donor's alike) will spend their money on a relatively consistent basis YOY. Fans are willing to absorb pricing increases as well as willing to pay the same for a lesser product. The Athletic Department, regardless of what happens in a specific year, will always generate cash within a small standard deviation. With that being said: 1. Financials for the Athletic Department are easily obtainable and measurable. 2. Fred showcases these easily obtainable and understandable metrics as a proxy for both the Athletic Departments "Health" as well as "how good of a job he is doing". McRobbie, the BOT, reporters and fans are presented with these easily consumed financial metrics that say the Athletic Department is making more money this year than last, donations are up, we're spending money on capital projects to upgrade our facilities, etc. All of these are positive financial metrics. These vacuum-esque financial snapshots provided by Fred Glass make IUBB looks amazing. But when taking a step back and analyzing both the direction and the possibilities. You realize how poorly managed the Department is as a whole. McRobbie and the BOT are weak leaders and poor decision makers in my opinion because they don't question the metrics. A smart leader would ask: How do these metrics compare against a peer group? Are we receiving larger donations than places like Michigan or Ohio State? Can you show that fan base engagement is up? Do fans or media view our Athletic Department in a favorable light? How do our Capital Improvement projects compare to our peer group? Absolutely no where have I seen or heard Fred compare the amount of donations received or money spent on capital projects and how they compare to the peer group. The article I originally posted stated that we've spent more money on recruiting than anyone but UK and have won only 2 tournament games in the last 6 years. Why isn't the person in charge of Fred Glass questioning what is going on in his department? Maybe we spend more on recruiting, but less on capital improvement projects for basketball each year and capital improvement is the single biggest indicator of future bball success, but yet FG is focused and bragging about recruiting budget. That would be something you evaluate your AD on. McRobbie has no interest in that because he sees a positive Net Income... My point is that there is literally no accountability in regards to Fred because he provides positive financial metrics YOY... What about the opportunity costs IU has missed out on? What if, for example, that the positive net income last year could have been 2X that? Again, these financial snap shots are short sighted. Glass knows that the BOT and McRobbie will buy them, so he's going to keep focusing on the financials so he keeps his job. That means that the Athletic department takes short term gains for long term losses. One example IMO would be not firing Crean in 2014-2015 because of his absurd buyout. Short term financial gain by not firing him and spending ~$10M, but long term loss because now we've missed out on the hard to measure media exposure from being left out of tournament over the last three years, the loss of acquisition of new fans, the loss of fair weather fans, the tarnishing of IUBB's brand, fan base sentiment going south, unfavorable view of our fanbase because we're venting on twitter and these boards, etc. All of these things are all hard to measure, so they are not made priorities in the Department's regime. I'd rather take a $10M loss upfront on Archie, to get Chris Beard in the long term. But unfortunately, that will never happen.

https://www.indystar.com/restricted/?return=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.indystar.com%2Fstory%2Fsports%2Fcollege%2Findiana%2F2019%2F08%2F20%2Findiana-basketball-spends-most-recruiting-any-school-country-iu-hoosiers-archie-miller-fred-glass%2F2001326001%2F Parallels between Yahoo’s purchase of Tumbler for $1.1bn in 2013 and then selling for under $3m in 2019. A destruction in value of 99.7%. Similar ROI for IUBB as Yahoo with Tumblr. Only difference is CEO of large companies are held accountable. Alternative headline: "IU spends more money than anyone else for 4 NCAA appearances and 2 tournament wins over the last 8 years; Athletic Director uses it as a selling point of why he's great at his job"

I read that Brian Davidson could have won, but McRobbie used everything in his power to ensure that Mary Ellen or what ever her name is was re-elected so that McRobbie could have smooth sailing and not be challenged as he continues to be president until his retirement presumably in 2020-2021.

I'd have back channels working in motion. I'd have a mouthpiece talking to his agent to gauge his interest in the matter.. I'd fire Archie for honestly anything under an Elite 8 run this year if Beard was available. Ya it sucks that Archie wouldn't have ever really been given a chance from some peoples perspective, but I haven't seen anything either on the court or off the court that would tell me that Archie is the right fit. Yes he's recruiting Indiana. but that was the minimum we wanted in a coach what is he doing above and beyond recruiting Indiana kids and also just not being Tom Crean? Also some other posters have made comments that the IU fanbase has "Turned" on Archie. To me using that narrative to vilify the IU fanbase is bonkers. When Fred announced Archie as our new coach, who did that really excite? Who is Archie really been inspiring lately? Smart posters will not confuse excitement for Romeo Langford as excitement for Archie. As that fades reality will begin to set in. Realistically tho, Fred Glass doesn't know the difference between a sneeze and a wet fart. Beard will end up somewhere else, just like Brad Stevens. We are stuck with a complete losers mentality from the Athletic Department now until 2021 which is when McRobbie will retire and then either the flood gates open and its a total overhaul of the Athletic Department. or the BOT is so incompetent that they end up hiring McRobbie 2.0 and nothing changes.

The campus literally had so much energy because of the basketball team. haha. It was frustrating arguing my point in 2013 when he was extended. No one wanted to listen... The single biggest thing that turned me off of Crean was him not allowing Matt Roth to come back for the 2012-2013 team in favor of giving a spot to Jerimiah April. Also I had talked to a few people close to the program and it wasn't hard to find out the Crean was full of BS.

I totally get and understand your position. I really do. Obviously Crean wasn't fired at the end of the 2014 season. Also my post did include rumors posted on multiple boards. I was told by a source close to the program that Yogi and Hanner were not 100% bought into Crean in their first year and it showed in their attitudes toward him. I also listened to a podcast that did not dismiss a rumor that Crean's players told a recruit not to come to IU...My argument is that our AD is a BAD AD and never handled the Crean saga the way I felt he should have. I also get that timing played a huge part in writing his contract.... What I'm saying is that the AD should have been close enough to the program where he was able to see the red flags, these same red flags that he was fired for a few years later. Its not like he was a great coach and then all of a sudden he wasn't. He really was the same coach for his entire tenure. Which is why i'm saying that Glass shouldn't have fallen for the "Well he brings in donations and is a good speaker", and "well I don't want it to negatively impact recruiting", "wow next year we could get Noah Vonleh". Again, none of those reasons listed have anything to do with the ability to Win a National Championship. I was against the extension when it happened. I suggested that we wait until the end of the season. we didn't. Had we waited, it would have been a hard sell extending Crean after the S16 loss. Crean gets fired at the end of 2014, Stevens still goes to Boston, but we get Archie at the end of the 2014 season. we'd be heading into Archie's 6th year, and if Archie wasn't the man, we'd be able to move on to Chris Beard this year. Instead now its a wait and see if Archie is our guy. I am totally aware that you can go backwards in time and change the past. But what I'm saying is that looking back, it seems very clear to me that you could have fired Crean at any time after the 2013-2014 season. I don't want the administration to make the same mistake 2x. Which is why i'm viewing Chris Beard as the next Brad Stevens and am adamant that if Archie doesn't get it done, we need to cut ties sooner rather than later and go after Beard.

As far as not following too closely. I was against the extension when it happened. I was a student at the time. My question is: What was present at the time of Crean's firing that wasn't already present by the end of 2013 and especially by the end of the 2013-2014 season (which is when I've always suggested IU part ways). Because every reason he was fired for was clear and apparent by 2013 IMO we didn't learn anything new over the next four years.

First of all its not complicated why an AD should not have extended him. Yes we did have the #1 pre-season team going into that year. However, you need to take a look at all of the data points, and not just select a la carte what improves your own narrative while ignoring the underlying issues. My theory is that either you're upset because you fully believed in Crean and to this day still refuse to believe that you were wrong by drinking the Kool-Aid he was pouring,. Just admit it was a terrible decision by Glass to extend him. First: what was happening behind closed doors: Crean was undoubtedly rubbing people the wrong way, having his own players conspire behind his back (per sources regarding Yogi and Hanner during the 2012-2013 season), not having a practice schedule, the supposed story of recruiting Kyrie, etc. I don't know all of the stories. but there was enough by Summer 2012 where there were a lot of unanswered questions... Now some of these were things the public didn't have access too at the time, but the AD did, and this should have been factored into his extension decision. Second: Don't forget that IU had other options besides Crean that IU could have went after for their next head coach. Brad Stevens was a coach in the State of Indiana that supposedly had in his Butler contract that the only 2 places he could leave for within the college ranks was Indiana and Duke... so Before you say "So your plan was to fire him with the #1 pre-season team?"... No, i'm not saying that. I'm saying he was never a proven coach at IU. What did he prove outside of beating UK and having 1 nice season out of 4? Without Crean having proved anything it made more sense to wait another year to see what he could do. Additionally, if you as the coach just were rewarded with a massive contract for the results he had, what message does that send? not a competitive one. It made more sense to evaluate him after the year was over by evaluating the situation within the program by interviewing the players, etc. I mean he made S16 rings one year and then cut down the nets after a loss. Truly bizarre stuff happening that looking back were huge red flags Third: Indiana had absolutely all the leverage. Where was Crean going to go? He couldn't have gone to the NBA, he couldn't have left for a better college job... You're saying recruiting? That is a short sided decision that shouldn't impact a coaching decision. Also was Crean really going to be hampered by his contract that he wasn't going to be able to recruit? that notion is a complete farce. Recruiting would have been the same for the 2013-2014 year. However, the recruits for 2014-2015 may have been different because the fan base would have not allowed that contract extension to ever take place. Glass could have happily extended Crean at the END of the season, but he didn't. He ignored all the red flags, he ignored the better coaches within the state that wanted to coach there, and because of that our AD signed one of the worst extensions in all of college basketball. BTW, I completely understand that firing a coach with a pre-season #1 team is ludicrous... But choosing to wait less than 365 days before handing him that extension is more than reasonable. For complete disclosure, I also have been adamant on here that I firmly believe Chris Beard is a better coach than Archie Miller. I say that very objectively because I'm sure you're thinking to yourself "well what would SouthernIndianaHoosier2 do if he were AD".. As AD I'm moving on to Chris Beard at the end of this year, barring a miracle.