Indiana AD: Football is a priority
Indiana hasn’t had a winning Big Ten record since 1993, but new athletic director Fred Glass said the Hoosiers are committed to football.
“Football’s important on it’s own, but it drives everything else,” Glass said Monday morning from Big Ten football media days. “The reason IU is last in the Big Ten in terms of how much money we have to spend per sport is we don’t fill Memorial Stadium. So getting football right is not only important for football’s sake, but it’s important for the entire department.”
Glass said the Hoosiers will institute some fan-friendly measures this year similar to what they did to keep attendance steady during last year’s down basketball season. A stadium upgrade and new weight room are in the works.
“We want to win, we expect to in and I’m not dumb enough to not understand that the best thing for attendance is winning and we’ll get there,” Glass said. “But I’m also not going to sit back and say we as administrators can’t do anything to help drive attendance absent of consistent winning on the field.”
Michigan hosts Indiana this year for homecoming Sept. 26.