Indiana University Athletics
IU Athletics Coaches Tour Stops in Louisville May 10
4/28/2006 12:00:00 AM | Varsity Club
April 28, 2006
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Indiana head basketball coach Kelvin Sampson, athletics director Rick Greenspan, women's soccer coach Mick Lyon and radio announcer Don Fischer will appear at the IU Athletics Coaches Tour at Joe Huber Family Farm and Restaurant on May 10. The reception gets underway at 5:30 p.m., and the program will start at 6:30 p.m. Adult tickets are $20 each, while kids 12-and-under are $10 each. The Kids Zone will be in attendance and features various interactive inflatables and other activities for young Hoosier fans.
Attendance is limited to the first 600 guests by reservation only, and the reservation deadline is May 3. For more information or reservations, please contact Les Wright at 812-967-3052 or 502-931-4283 or Bob Ardrey at 812-923-5311. The event is sponsored by the IU Varsity Club, the IU Alumni Association and the Louisville/Southern Indiana Chapter of the IU Alumni Association.
Sampson, a two-time national coach of the year who led Oklahoma to 11 NCAA Tournament appearances (three Sweet 16, two Elite Eight and one Final Four finish), 10 20-plus win seasons, three Big 12 Tournament titles and a share of the 2004-05 regular season league crown in his 12-year Sooner tenure, was named the 26th head coach in IU history on March 29. Sampson brings some impressive credentials with him to Bloomington, including a 455-257 (.639) overall head coaching record and a 279-109 (.719) ledger at OU. Sampson averaged 23 wins per season during his 12-year Oklahoma career, and the Sooners were sixth in the nation with 156 victories and a .776 winning percentage from 1999-00 to 2004-05. OU has finished among the top three of the Big 12 Conference eight of the last 10 years, and they have won 12 of their last 17 overtime games (18-11 total).
With a 20-9 record in 2005-06, Sampson coached OU to its ninth consecutive 20-win season. Including this season, only five other coaches have posted 20 victories each of the last nine years: Lute Olson (16), Tubby Smith (13), Mike Krzyzewski (10), Jim Boeheim (nine) and Jim Calhoun (nine).
Sampson's club was productive on the court and in the classroom. The squad posted a 3.14 grade point average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale in the 2005 fall semester, setting a single-semester record for the 12-year Kelvin Sampson era. Eight of the 12 team members recorded a GPA of 3.0 or higher.
In his two years as athletic director, Greenspan has overseen a department that has won six individual or team national titles, ranked among the Big Ten Conference leaders in academic all-league selections, enjoyed an 8.3 percent increase in Varsity Club annual giving and a record $11.5 million in gifts and pledges to the Big Ten's largest scholarship endowment, and is on pace to record its second consecutive triumph in the SBC Crimson and Gold Cup all-sports competition series with Purdue.
Lyon is preparing for his fifth season at the helm of Indiana's women's soccer program. Competing in one of the nation's top women's soccer conferences, Indiana has advanced to the Big Ten Tournament each of the last four seasons. The Hoosiers enjoyed a productive spring campaign, as they welcome seven talented newcomers to an already veteran ballclub.
Fischer recently completed his 33rd season as the radio voice of IU football and men's basketball. A 2004 inductee into the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Association Hall of Fame inductee, Fischer has earned Indiana Sportscaster of the Year laurels 22 times in his Hoosier tenure.
