Indiana University Athletics
Luce Gives New Meaning to Discipline
8/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Aug. 24, 2006
Discipline is a crucial aspect of college football. If a team lacks discipline on the field, it can come apart at the seams for a multitude of reasons. Off the field, players need to be just as disciplined, or they will not be in physical shape to endure the rigors of the on-field contests.
The Indiana defensive line shows strong discipline, partly because of its policeman - quite literally - junior defensive tackle Nick Luce, who this summer went through the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy and is now a full-fledged member of the police force.
"The biggest thing for me was the discipline," Luce said. "I've always been in sports, and the discipline aspect helped me adjust. The academy's run just like a military academy, `Yes, sir,' `No, sir,' be clean-shaven in the morning. I'd say doing that with coaches and with law enforcement, they go together."
Luce's father, Steve, has been a police officer for most of his life, and was recently elected Knox County sheriff in Luce's hometown of Vincennes, Ind. For the defensive lineman, law enforcement is something he has been around his entire life.
"I talked to a guy at the police department and they had a cadet program where you spend your first year as a cadet, a non-sworn law enforcement position," Luce said. "The summer after that, you go to the police academy and then serve your next year as an actual officer. My major's management, so it doesn't really correlate with law enforcement, but it's in my blood - my best friend's a cop, my father's been doing it his whole life - it's my calling I guess."
According to Luce, the program is unique to Indiana University, which, he says, "makes me the only NCAA athlete who is a police officer." And though his part-time job is a difficult one, Luce manages to balance school, football and his work as an officer, something that has taken much understanding from head coach Terry Hoeppner.
"During the season, I try not to schedule work during practice time," Luce said. It's hard to schedule on the weekends, because we have to travel for games. This summer, I was here in Bloomington, but I wasn't able to work out with the team, because we started the academy at 6 a.m. and went to 5 or 6 p.m. Coach Hep's been great - as far as balancing school and work and football, it's a heavy load, but it's going to pay off."
Though Luce was absent for team workouts, he was getting plenty of exercise in during his work with the academy, and was in playing shape by the time the preseason started.
"It's 16 weeks of certification from the Indiana Law Enforcement Academy in Plainfield - this is a satellite academy in Bloomington," Luce said. "We cover courses like criminal law, traffic law, firearms, emergency vehicle operations, first aid, everything you do in police work. We have personal training in the morning, run anywhere from 3-6 miles a day; it's very physical and very challenging."
According to Luce, the benefits of being a police officer are numerous. In addition to working in a career that he has a great passion for, he gets to give back to the community that comes out and supports him and his teammates week after week.
This week, he began his giving - his first work as an officer was Wednesday, Aug. 23, working traffic detail while IU freshmen began to move into the dorms. A chaotic first day indeed.
But come Sept. 2, the officer will be on the sidelines with his teammates. For Luce, though, there's not a big difference between the person he is in a football uniform and the person he is in a police uniform.
"It's a lot like football," Luce said. "It's a team atmosphere, you have to work together to get something done, you have to rely on your co-workers and your teammates. These are the people that you're going to work the streets with, and have your back, and can possibly keep you alive. It's the same thing on the field, your teammates are going to be there to keep you out of trouble or help you. I see a big relationship between law enforcement and football."
