A few decades ago, Bloomington was land of tyrants (or at least a single tyrant) and championships, as Bobby Knight stomped the sidelines with impunity and led his Indiana Hoosiers to victory after victory on the basketball court. As his behavior became more boorish and our society became more sensitive, Knight drew the wrong kind or attention to the IU hoops program while continuing to tug at his ever-shortening rope until he was finally unceremoniously canned by former Indiana president Myles Brand in 2000. In the dozen years since “The General” left town, the program has struggled to regain its swagger, but current head coach Tom Crean finally has the Hoosiers back near the top of the college basketball world. Even as IU tries to take their next big step, though, it seems as though Knight’s shadow looms over the program in the form of continued and heightened scrutiny by the NCAA. On November 6, the eve of a new season, freshmen Peter Jurkin and Hanner Mosquera-Perea were suspended nine games each for receiving improper benefits.
It’s not at all surprising that Big Brother would have an eye on Bloomington, given Indiana’s recent past and the rising profile of the basketball team. What is surprising, to me at least, is the reason for and the severity of these particular penalties. According to USAToday.com, Jurkin and Mosquera-Perea received a total of about $15,000 in money and gifts from Mark Adams, who was their Indiana Elite AAU coach before rumors started to swirl in the spring of 2011. That’s a chunk of change, to be sure, but such exchanges between AAU coaches and their charges are apparently not rare, nor are they against NCAA rules.
The tenuous thread that hung Adams and the players out to dry is that the coach is a one-time donor to Indiana athletics program. From 1986 through 1992, Adams gave a total of $185 to Hoosiers sports, with gifts ranging from $20 to $30 each. For a little perspective, his transient affiliation with IU ended before Knight became a pariah, before Crean really got his coaching career rolling and before Bill Clinton landed in the White House. All of the donations also happened before either of the two suspended players were born, for what that’s worse.
The bright side for everyone in Bloomington is that these two guys are freshman and probably wouldn’t have been major stars out of the gate. The down side is that they’ll lose valuable time in growing accustomed to the college game, and then there is specter that this situation will present going forward. Crean will have to be even more cautious now than he has been to this point, which might be good or bad.
One thing is for sure: all eyes are on the Hoosiers this year.
Adam Hughes was raised, and still lives, in rural Indiana. He has been a fan of the Indiana University Hoosiers basketball program since the early 1980s and even holds a Ph. D. from IU (computational chemistry). He still has nightmares involving Bobby Knight and projectile chairs.
