News From Terre Haute, Indiana

Sports

Discussion

Welcome to our online comments feature. We welcome your thoughts and your opinions, including unpopular ones. We ask only that you keep the conversation civil and clean. We reserve the right to remove comments that are obscene, racist or abusive and statements that are false or unverifiable as well as posts that are attacking other users. Repeat offenders will be blocked. You may flag objectionable comments for review by a moderator.
comments powered by Disqus
August 30, 2012

Indiana coach Kevin Wilson impressed by Indiana State

Todd Golden The Tribune-Star

TERRE HAUTE — It’s easy to discern the benefits for Indiana State’s football program when it comes to playing Indiana, which the Sycamores will do for the next three seasons, starting with an 8 p.m. contest on Saturday.

It’s a chance for the Sycamores to play on national TV via the Big Ten Network, it’s a chance for Sycamores’ fans to have a nearby road trip, it’s a chance to play an in-state team in the Football Bowl Subdivision, and its a chance to play against one of the best-followed programs in the state.

It’s also a chance to get paid. ISU will take home a $400,000 check for the short jaunt to Bloomington on Saturday. In 2013, ISU will be paid $425,000, and in 2014, it will be paid $450,000.

That’s a cool $1,275,000 for a trip that’s no more taxing than the ones the Terre Haute high schools make to Indianapolis several times a year to compete in the Metropolitan Interscholastic Conference for nothing. (ISU will also be paid $425,000 to play at Purdue next season.)

And if ISU manages to defeat the Hoosiers? The attention and prestige it will bring to the program statewide is priceless.

So there’s myriad reasons for the Sycamores to play Indiana. The less obvious question is what’s in it for the Hoosiers?

Quite a lot, according to second-year IU coach Kevin Wilson.

“In my first three years here, we’ll play six home games. Certain people in the Big Ten are going to have eight games, every year. It’s almost non-negotiable,” said Wilson, in a teleconference with statewide media on Wednesday. “Indiana State gives us a chance to bring a crowd down, it helps our attendance, so it gets some great local attention.”

Wilson also made the assertion that playing ISU is good for their recruiting as well as it is for the Sycamores.

“I have recruits coming to the game this weekend. One of the reasons they’re coming? ‘Hey, my buddy plays at Indiana State.’ So it even helps getting kids on our campus,” Wilson said.

Wilson also tried to blunt a bit of motivation ISU might use against the Hoosiers. Its been asserted that several ISU players hoped to play at IU and some were recruited by the Hoosiers — such as running back Shakir Bell. The idea is that they will take it as a snub that they aren’t playing in Bloomington and use it as a chip on their shoulder come Saturday.

“Everybody says, ‘Indiana State has a lot of guys Indiana didn’t recruit.’ I look at my roster and there’s a lot of guys who weren’t recruited by anyone else either. They can have a chip on their shoulder, we need to have a chip on ours. That’s a wash there,” Wilson said.

Wilson was also asked how ISU’s most decorated players — Bell (a Walter Payton Award finalist), defensive end Ben Obaseki (a Buck Buchanan Award nominee) and others — compared to what the Hoosiers see on a week-to-week basis in Big Ten play.

“These are guys who may not have made the academic grade, or got injured during their senior year, or they played basketball and didn’t come [for football] until their senior year,” Wilson said. “You look at the NFL Draft and some of the best players in the country from under-the-radar teams …

“… What happens is if they go to a program that has great structure, great leadership and they match the plan? You see them flourish. That’s a product of what Trent Miles and his staff have done.”

Wilson’s current situation at IU — the Hoosiers are coming off a 1-11 season in his first go-around — has some parallels to what Miles went through at ISU went he went winless in his opening season in 2008.

Wilson has not faced the threat of program elimination, as Miles almost certainly did, but like Miles, Wilson does have a major task in front of him to turn the Hoosiers into a respectable Big Ten team.

“As far as what [ISU] was like and what [Miles] overcame? I can’t really answer that. I wasn’t in the area at that time.  I’m not a good judge of that, but I respect that his team’s play hard and I respect the way that team plays,” Wilson said.

“Coach Miles has created a really good environment of kids playing his style of ball. It’s impressive to watch. I expect them to play that way Saturday and I think they come in with every expectation of winning the football game,” he added.

Text Only | Photo Reprints
Sports
SPT052313WVBB fagg.jpg

Tribune-Star/Jim Avelis Defense: West Vigo second baseman Lucas Fagg fields a ground ball for an out in the Vikings semi-final sectional baseball game with Edgewood.

  • West Vigo advances to sectional championship with walk-off win in ninth

    High school baseball sectional games between West Vigo and Edgewood have had a tendency to be unpredictable over the years, but the Vikings and Mustangs outdid themselves in that area Thursday evening — and Thursday night.

    May 24, 2013 3 Photos

  • Wichita State shuts out ISU to force elimination-game rematch

    Indiana State starting pitcher Greg Kuhlman did his best.
    Actually, he did far better than he ever has previously in an ISU uniform, but while Kuhlman’s gutty pitching effort spoke volumes, ISU’s bats remained ominously silent.

    May 24, 2013

  • BOYS TRACK REGIONAL: North gets three winners, South two at Evansville

    Terre Haute North had three winners, Terre Haute South two, and the Patriots and Braves finished second and third respectively at the Evansville Regional for boys track on Thursday at Evansville Central.
    Hurdlers Cam Stewart and Cole Seward and discus thrower Lee Davis were the winners for North, enabling the Patriots to finish with 60 points to 59 for the Braves.

    May 24, 2013

  • Looking for Indy breakthrough, Kanaan enjoying role as team mentor

    Ask any IZOD IndyCar series champion and he’d say he would gladly give up that championship to win one Indianapolis 500.

    May 24, 2013

  • South Vermillion pitches team to sectional title, wins for her dad

    South Vermillion snapped one streak and extended another Thursday night to win Class 3A Sectional 28 8-5 over Brown County at Edgewood High School.

    May 24, 2013

  • RAMBLIN' RECK: Sunday promises to be big day in Indy

    Sunday promises to be a super day in Indianapolis.
    It’s the 97th running of the Indianapolis 500 followed by Indiana vs. Miami in the third game of the National Basketball Association playoffs.

    May 24, 2013

  • Luck having fun with his first OTAs

    A year ago, quarterback Andrew Luck was unable to attend the Indianapolis Colts’ organized team activity practices due to school commitments at Stanford.
    Luck, though, went on to have a stellar year for the Colts despite the lack of summer work with the team. Still, in a sense, he is a rookie during this year’s OTA workouts.
    “These are my first OTAs. I missed these last year, so I think it’s great. It’s great to get on the field with the defense and trouble-shoot some stuff. Obviously, some of us ran some of this stuff [offense] at Stanford [under new offensive coordinator Pep Hamilton]. But to get out there with the defense and trouble-shoot some stuff is good,” Luck said Wednesday as the team wrapped up its first week of on-field voluntary practice sessions.

    May 24, 2013

  • SPT 052213 JENKINS JUBI.jpg North baseball pulls away from South in sectional opener

    In high school baseball little things mean a lot, and the crack in the door doesn’t have to be open very wide.
    Terre Haute North burst through that crack in the bottom of the second inning Wednesday evening at Terre Haute South, scoring seven two-out runs and going on to a surprisingly easy 12-2 victory over the host Braves.

    May 23, 2013 4 Photos

  • SPT0512213mcmillan.jpg Blank, Mundy named McMillan Award winners

    Posing side-by-side for photos following Terre Haute North High School’s Senior Awards ceremony, seniors Calvin Blank and Chanli Mundy couldn’t look more different.

    May 23, 2013 4 Photos

  • Indiana State baseball now one win from MVC Championship

    Indiana State’s Wednesday morning wish list probably read something like this: a dominant complete game effort from starting pitcher Devin Moore, near-immaculate defense to support him, and a steady diet of clutch situational hitting from lineup spots one to nine.

    May 23, 2013

Local Interest
evans-jump.jpg

  • METRO ROUNDUP: Rose-Hulman's Evans honored as Great Lakes' top athlete

    Rose-Hulman senior Liz Evans earned her fifth career NCAA Division III Great Lakes Region Field Athlete of the Year honor, according to results released Wednesday by the U.S. Cross Country and Track and Field Coaches Association.

    May 23, 2013 1 Photo

  • SPT 051913 TIM TERRY.jpg Terry enjoys strong year with Wildcats, and still enjoying suiting up to play

    South Vermillion’s Tim Terry is the longest tenured coach in Wabash Valley high school baseball as his Wildcats are set to begin sectional play Thursday against Owen Valley.
    But on the Yankees, a 35-and-over team in the Terre Haute Men’s Senior Baseball League, Terry is “just a youngster” if you ask Larry Roesch, his 68-year-old teammate on the Volkers Group Yankees.

    May 22, 2013 4 Photos

  • softballsecs.jpg Softball sectionals up for grabs

    All three Vigo County high schools and Northview appear to have a realistic chance of winning sectional championships in softball this week.

    May 20, 2013 1 Photo

  • Indiana State baseball series canceled

    Heavy rain from Thursday through Saturday has forced Indiana State and Tennessee Martin to cancel their three-game weekend baseball series in northwest Tennessee.

    April 27, 2013

  • METRO ROUNDUP: Rose-Hulman baseball to play DePauw on Thursday after Tuesday's rain

    The Rose-Hulman baseball team has rescheduled its non-conference game with DePauw to Thursday night.
    The start time remains 7 p.m. for the single nine-inning game that was originally scheduled for today. Tuesday’s scheduled Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference game at Anderson was moved to Sunday because of rain.

    April 24, 2013

High School
College
  • Wichita State shuts out ISU to force elimination-game rematch

    Indiana State starting pitcher Greg Kuhlman did his best.
    Actually, he did far better than he ever has previously in an ISU uniform, but while Kuhlman’s gutty pitching effort spoke volumes, ISU’s bats remained ominously silent.

    May 24, 2013

  • Indiana State baseball now one win from MVC Championship

    Indiana State’s Wednesday morning wish list probably read something like this: a dominant complete game effort from starting pitcher Devin Moore, near-immaculate defense to support him, and a steady diet of clutch situational hitting from lineup spots one to nine.

    May 23, 2013

  • Terre Haute's Mascari running 10,000 meters for chance to get to Hayward Field

    Indiana State freshman and Terre Haute North graduate John Mascari is among the enormous group of Sycamores competing this weekend at the NCAA East Preliminary. The top 48 NCAA track and field competitors in each event on this half of the United States are narrowed down to 12 who will compete at the NCAA meet at Hayward Field in Eugene, Ore.

    May 23, 2013

  • Manaea's shoulder causing him latest pain

    Indiana State pitcher Sean Manaea has battled through so many aches and pains during the 2013 season that it can be hard to discern the serious pain from the pain he pitches through.

    May 22, 2013

  • ISU's Negele answers call in big way in wake of Manaea injury

    When Indiana State starting pitcher Sean Manaea slumped on the mound in obvious pain after he took his warm-up pitches, red flags raised for ISU’s Missouri Valley Conference tournament hopes.

    May 21, 2013

Sports Columns
Pro Sports
Terre Haute Rex
SPT 071512 DORSETT FILE.jpg

Consultation: Rex manager Brian Dorsett talks with his pitcher and players during a time-out Sunday, July 15, at Sycamore Field. (Tribune-Star file/Bob Poynter)

Colts
Auto Racing
Latest News
Multimedia

Like us on Facebook!
Community Calendar
Loading…
Events by eviesays.com
TribStar.com Poll
Front page
AP Video
George: I slipped up LeBron, Wade on OT win Hill responds after Game 1 loss to Heat Vogel: We've got to play better Spoelstra: Welcome to the Eastern Conference Finals Raw: Kevin Durant Tours Moore After $1M Pledge Trout's cycle a boost for Angels NBA star pledges $1M to help tornado recovery Coach's quick call saves Moore football team Sergio Garcia issues an apology to Tiger Woods Sergio Garcia makes insensitive remark about Tiger Woods Athletes come to aid of Oklahoma tornado victims Tiger Woods on his relationship with Sergio Garcia NBA Draft: Top 5 Prospects VIRAL: Baby makes epic soccer goal Race Preview: Charlotte Motor Speedway Behind the Seams: Big Spenders are Busts Red Wings take 2-1 series lead McReynolds: Johnson Coca-Cola 600 favorite? McReynolds: 48 Team primed for Chase
NDN Video
AK-47-wielding thug may be the most bumbling crook ever Oklahoma Survivors, Heroes Survey Damage Trout's cycle a boost for Angels Raw: New Video of Deadly Oklahoma Tornado Kim Kardashian Flaunts Pregnant Bikini Body in Greece NBA star pledges $1M to help tornado recovery Shakira's Shocking Talent Morgan Freeman falls asleep on air GRAPHIC: Blood-Soaked Machete Killer Caught on Tape Elin Nordegren Furious With Lindsey Vonn For Parading Kids in Public Camera Captures Climber As He Loses Grip And Falls Helen Mirren Meets with Dying Boy in Queen Elizabeth's Place Crowd Chants '¡Si, Se Puede!' After Passage of Immigration Bill DWTS Crowns a Winner Police Ram House to End Hostage Standoff Demi Moore a Rocks Bikini at Harry Morton's Family House Anthony Weiner: I'm running for New York City mayor Kate Middleton's Dress Flies Up VIRAL: Baby makes epic soccer goal The Hangover Baby All Grown Up
Parade
Magazine
Click HERE to read all your Parade favorites including Hollywood Wire, Celebrity interviews and photo galleries, Food recipes and cooking tips, Games and lots more.
  • -

     

    March 12, 2010

activity