Hoosier Headlines for September 17, 2009: death of Myles Brand and other news.

by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Sep 17, 2009 8:51 AM EDT Comment 0 comments

Bob Kravitz: Brand wasn't afraid to make tough decisions (The Indianapolis Star)
Brand, Knight forever linked by coach's dismissal at Indiana (USATODAY.com)
How Will Myles Brand be remembered for his time at IU? (Hoosiers Insider, The Indianapolis Star)
"I'm guessing if you look around at the different stories written about Brand in newspapers across the country today, the majority of them will mention that single fact within the first few paragraphs. It was like a dark cloud that followed him to the grave."

This Hutchens quote echoes a common theme in today's coverage, and I really don't get. it Myles Brand became president of the NCAA only because he fired Bob Knight. After the Knight firing, at a time when the IU community needed to heal, Brand went on something of a victory lap, making speeches to the National Press Club and in other venues about reining in college athletics and so on. For taking on Knight, Brand became a cult hero among university presidents and he ultimately became the NCAA president. It's absurd to contend that mentioning the Knight firing early in Brand's obituary is some sort of slight to the man. The Knight firing was the defining moment of Brand's career, and if it hadn't happened, he wouldn't be so widely eulogized today.

NCAA's Brand was the strongest figure in college sports (USATODAY.com)
Brand left a stronger IU (The Indianapolis Star)
I wonder if anyone from the Star looked back into the paper's older coverage. Brand's tenure was not without controversy, and in the early 2000s the Star wrote an article quoting a lot of people within IU who were critical of Brand. Perhaps that's not the stuff of obituaries, but I don't think this article reflects and sort of consensus concerning Brand's tenure. And the $40 million donation from the Jacobs family came in 2005, three years after Brand left IU. Maybe it had been in the works for that long, but this at least requires some explanation.
IU player ready for triple teams (The News-Sentinel)
After a poor 2008, IU is back among the nation's sack leaders, and although Greg Middleton doesn't have one yet, he is a major factor in IU's pass rush.
Hoosiers coach sees improvement in Zips and MAC (Ohio.com)
Indiana giving Evans dose of playing double-duty (cleveland.com)
Crean to speak at IU Auditorium (Indiana Daily Student)
This continues a tradition begun by Bob Knight.

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