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INDIANA UNIVERSITY FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

August 22, 2017

Fred Glass

Bloomington, Indiana

FRED GLASS: Thanks again so much for coming today and taking the tour with us and doing this little after set, as it were. I see we handed out our press releases which will say what I'm getting ready to say, and that will be fine. I'll be happy to take questions.

One thing I wanted to mention, well, first of all, we're going to talk about the Excellence Academy construction. I think we're largely done with that. We'll be happy to entertain any questions about that. Some fan experience enhancements that we're going to undertake this year, some new pieces on security, which I think we've previously announced, but cannot communicate enough some developments with traffic and parking, and then finally some things that are specific and unique to the Ohio State game. I'll go through those fairly briskly.

You've got the details in your materials, but, again, I'll be happy to answer questions.

The one thing I was going to note before we leave the Excellence Academy is it was kind of loud, so I didn't really slow it down, but this first rendering, I think it's the first one on your page, it's really a good view of how the existing concourse connects with the new concourse, which will hopefully create a seamless connection around the stadium. It also highlights, and if there's any architect nerds out there, you might like this, but the columns are a real common design feature throughout the athletics campus. So the columns are a big piece of Memorial Stadium. We're carrying that feel through the south end zone much like we did in the north end zone. It's really a feature of Assembly Hall.

Tim is probably the only person that knows this, Memorial Stadium and Assembly Hall were designed at the same time, and they were designed to relate to each other. That design was carried on into Mellencamp, Gladstein Fieldhouse, Cook Hall and so forth. So those are some of the things the design folks talked to us about when they're working on these projects.

So let me shift over to fan experience enhancements. I talked a little bit about the video board, the details on the size are in your materials. The board that's right above our head is 20 by 68 feet, cost $500,000. The new one will be 42 foot by 91 feet, and it costs $1.1 million, and we'll have the ribbon board on the south end zone, again, I think it will be great amenities for our fans.

We are the state school. We are the flagship university. We are proud of that, and as part of that we have commissioned the manufacturer of a fairly gigantic state flag, 60 feet by 100 feet. We'll unveil it, as it were, for the Ohio State game, and have different honored guests unfurl it and wave it. We think that will be a lot of fun. We'll do that in connection with our seeing it back home again in Indiana.

We're partially, well, primarily because of the construction, we're relocating Hoosier Village, but we actually think it will be a really desirable relocation. One we probably should have done anyway. Hoosier Village will open three hours before kickoff. It will have a variety of food vendors. It will have big TVs. So, of course, it closes at kickoff, but if people want to watch pre-games or other games going on and that sort of thing, it will be a great place to hang out after people get here early.

We'll talk a lot about why people need to get here early and one of the things you can do after you get here early, in addition to tailgating, is hanging out in Hoosier Village. There will be live music there, promotion ally testimonies, giveaways. The Varsity Club will be there and people will be able to buy merchandise and stuff like that.

I think it's the high-profile nature of it being right outside the west door of Assembly Hall. Hopefully they'll be able to drive traffic and make that an even bigger deal than it has been.

Speaking of Hoosier Village, we're going to move the walk to its original traditional jumping off point which will be the stairs right in front of the west doors of Assembly Hall. The team will congregate there and then promenade directly into Memorial Stadium, and that's where Coach Hepner originally envisioned the walk occurring. As you guys know, that happens about 2 hours and 15 minutes before kickoff.

We're also going to provide some free food to our students, encourage them to come to the game, maybe get something in their stomachs after they've been tailgating. So every student that comes to the game will get a voucher for a free hot dog and a free soft drink. Of course, we make water freely available within the stadium. You can buy it, but you can also get it in the stadium. We'll make that available complimentary as well.

We announced recently that we made use of a nationally prominent security firm, MSA Security that gave us a variety of recommendations. Two of the most prominent ones that directly affect our fans was a clear bag policy, and the metal detector policy. I was surprised to discover that we are the 10th school in the 14 member Big Ten to adopt a clear bag policy, and the other four schools don't let bags in at all.

So this is probably something whose time may have come before, but we're implementing it now.

I do want to emphasize that notwithstanding some comments to the contrary, I am pro-baby and pro-toddler. So families showing up with diaper bags will be able to access the stadium. We'll have an exception for diaper bags or if people have medical conditions or have to carry oxygen and so forth, there will be an entry point dedicated on each side of the stadium so they can conveniently have their bag cleared and take that into the stadium.

Oh, also for Ohio State, we'll be distributing plastic bags that cut the mustard in terms of requirements. We've got 40,000 of those. We're enlisting our ROTC partners, staff, and others will be sort of creating a perimeter around the stadium and going into the parking lots. So hopefully we don't have the unfortunate situation of somebody carrying their bag all the way in and having to take it back.

So we are going to work very hard to communicate this as broadly as possible, and even on game day we're going to be taking an aggressive approach to try to make sure people understand the policy and have access to those plastic bags suitable for re-use.

We also went with the walk through metal detectors as opposed to the wands. Apparently those are much more fast. My experience recently at the state fair walking through one was quite positive and quick. So that was reenforced that I think we made a good choice going with the magnetometers as opposed to the wands.

But they'll unavoidably be slower than they have before. Especially for Ohio State when we expect 52,929 to be there, it's going to be slower. So you're going to hear over and over, and I hope this would feature prominently in any stories that you write, please get here early, A, to Bloomington, because of the traffic, and please come to the stadium early. I know you want to get that last -- or some people might want to get that last 12-ounce curl in before kickoff, but come into the stadium. Especially for Ohio State, Game Day will be here starting at 6:00 o'clock. We'll be broadcasting that on the Jumbotron, again, I'm stealing my thunder from down the road, but we are going to open the gates at 5:30. Usually it's an hour and a half before the game, so the game starts at 8:00, so that would normally be 6:30, but we're opening them at 5:30. We'll be opening all the concession stands.

So we're really trying to incent people not only to get to Bloomington early, but getting to the game early.

So following up on traffic and parking. First of all, I want to thank INDOT and Governor Holcomb for the substantial progress that is now being made on 37. And also the commitment to do the best they can to limit Lane restrictions on key days, move-in week, home football games, home basketball games. Some of you may have experienced that they really made good on that commitment and all the lanes were open, at least north to south on move-in week. That really made things a lot better.

But still asking people to get here early, especially for the first game there will be lots of traffic. We'll continue to publicize alternate routes, including the most up-to-date information about lane closures and so forth, which we actually trust but verify with INDOT. We ask them, but we actually drive those routes so that we can provide that information as well.

Parking lots will open at least five hours before game time. Again, encouraging people to come early. I think there are lots of things to do: Tailgating, Hoosier Village which we just described, bars, restaurants, so forth.

We have a dedicated Uber pick up and drop off, so even if you come here very, very early and want to Uber down to Kirkwood and back or wherever, there are opportunities to do that. We're trying to make that as easy as possible.

Simon Scott Assembly Hall will be open. The south lobby if people want to go in and tour and look down at the court and that sort of thing. A lot of people have not seen that, sometimes enjoy to do that. We'll keep that open as well.

In addition to trying to limit lane restrictions, INDOT is going to put the lights on a go green system, so that hopefully the traffic will flow better than it might otherwise on a weekend.

There is undoubtedly young social media types who are familiar with the Waze app, which I only am because my tech savvy children told me about it, but it is really an awesome app, and many of you know that it may be one of the best ones of having up-to-date information. It takes information that other people feed into it.

We're also going to be able to program it, I suppose, to enable people to get to particular parking lots and so forth that they want to. So we're encouraging people to utilize and download, if they haven't yet, the Waze app, W-a-z-e, which is a great tool.

Also ask people to otherwise stay informed. I think the up to the minute text, that is something I use, my family uses. If you text IUFB for IU Football, IUFB to 313131, then you'll be on the list to get those texts. So we try not to kill you with stuff, but it does include a lot of information about traffic, parking, weather and so forth.

Also, you can go old school, I suppose, and @IUHoosiers on Twitter, follow information there, and then on our website at IUHoosiers.com.

We're trying to improve the parking situation too, so traffic is one part, parking is another part. We're moving aggressively toward pre-paid parking passes. We're including a $5 discount to try to encourage people to get pre-paid parking passes. We're trying to dedicate more and more parking lots to pre-paid parking passes.

I don't know if you've had this experience, but I've had this experience many, many times where I'm in line to get in, and five places ahead there is a 37-minute -- that may be an exaggeration -- it feels like a 37-minute conversation between the ESG guy and somebody trying to figure out where they're supposed to park. We're going to try to eliminate that with IUPD and others only allowing people to turn into pre-paid parking for those who have the pre-paid parking thing on their rear view mirror.

There is no silver bullet, but hopefully some of these things will help with that process.

We're also going to encourage people to consider, especially for big games where there is close to a sellout, knowing the Kelly Garage is open, the Poplar's Garage is open. Even down on third street again, you combine that with ride share and walking to your favorite watering hole or so forth.

So switching to Ohio State. We do have some special things for Ohio State, and I've heard Tom say this, and I think he's exactly right, when we're playing an opening game against a conference team, a division rival, they will be ranked second in the country, that's a big game.

That's sort of undeniably the biggest opening game in the Indiana University football history, and we are approaching it as such. Again, I would encourage everybody to get here early. It's a gigantic opening game. I'm not announcing a sellout now, but I'm very, very confident it will be a sellout crowd. Ultimately we're very, very close.

There are the traffic challenges. There are the new security measures, so, please, get here early to Bloomington, and get here early to Memorial Stadium. I think we've got it all set-up. I'm excited that the 37, I think, will be better than it has been. I think these walk-through metal detectors will minimize challenges. So I don't want anybody to be scared off about coming. We are committed to making it a positive experience. But please help us help you have a great experience by trying to get here early.

ESPN Game Day, as you know, will be here from 6:00 to 8:00. First time they've been in Bloomington for a football game. They'll be broadcasting inside Memorial Stadium, and we'll be broadcasting that, in turn, up on the north end zone Jumbotron.

There is also going to be the ESPN Megacast, which you're probably familiar. Six different broadcasts across three or four different stations, ESPNews, ESPNU, ESPN3, and this is the first regular season game in broadcast history that has had the Megacast, if you will. It's only been for College Football Playoff games heretofore.

So it's a big, big deal. I want to thank our facilities folks who have worked extra hard to facilitate that, because as you might imagine, that takes a lot of juice and a lot of wiring, and a lot of extra effort.

Many of you know Lee Corso will be here of course because he's a member of the Game Day team. What I don't think you know is we'll be honoring him with the Bill Orwig Award which we give annually to a non-IU alumnus who has made a great contribution to IU athletics. And Lee Corso definitely fits into that category, and it's sort of poetic justice that Bill Orwig hired Lee Corso in 1973, and now he's going to receive the award in his name and that will be at the end of the first quarter.

Again, as I mentioned, gates open at 5:30. Jim Cornelius, the Blackhawks guy, as some refer to him, great alumnus of the Jacobs School will sing The National Anthem for the Ohio State game. And, I might point out, that last time he was in Bloomington, he sang The National Anthem when the men's basketball team played and upset eventual national champion North Carolina. So we'll see if we have some good karma there.

We usually only do the balloon launch back home in Indiana at homecoming, but it is the biggest opening game in IU Football history. So we'll be letting out balloons. And I want to emphasize that they are environmentally friendly balloons. No turtles will be choked by our biodegradable balloons. And that concludes my report.

I appreciate your patience. There is a lot there, but there is a lot going on and I think this may be the most excited I've ever been going into a football season, and looking forward to a week from Thursday.

Q. (Inaudible)?
FRED GLASS: The best thing we can do is have Indiana fans buy all the tickets. So if you want to be a hero and you're an Indiana fan, please come to the game and buy a bunch of tickets.

I do think the Thursday night may make it a little less attractive for people who have to work the next day and schlep over from Ohio. It's going to be a late game, I imagine. But it's imperfect tracking these sorts of things. But based upon the sales to date and the zip codes from whence they come, I think we're going to have a primarily Indiana crowd.

Q. (Inaudible) from inside the stadium, will that still be the same set-up or will it be a bit different?
FRED GLASS: They'll be in the south end zone, so the construction will really be behind them. I don't think we've got any special arrangements for our kids to be there.

Jeremy, am I right about that? Yeah. Sorry I'm holding on so tight.

John told me this floor creaks like crazy, and I did not want to be shifting around. So I'm trying to stay steady.

Q. Little bit off topic, but first chance we've had to ask you about this. The Bryant Fitzgerald situation, can you address kind of what happened and what led to that error and what's been done to rectify that?
FRED GLASS: It's an extremely unfortunate situation. I really don't have anything to add to our statement for a variety of reasons, including FERPA implications. I'll just leave that where that is.

Q. What were some of the checks you have now to help prevent that again? How have you remedied that?
FRED GLASS: Really redundancies. Having more than one set of eyes review that and also using technology to be a back stop on those sorts of functions.

Q. Will this be a situation where there is staff expansion?
FRED GLASS: It likely will.

Q. I don't know if anticipation is the word, but the drama with Kevin Wilson coming back. I know you want to focus on the game, but yet that's going to be part of the talking points. Just your views on that? The irony of all of that?
FRED GLASS: Yeah, it adds an interesting story line to what I think is already a great story. I've heard Tom Allen comment on it a number of times that he and Kevin are in a good place and have communicated frequently. That Tom appreciates what Kevin did for him bringing him here.

I appreciate what Kevin did to help build a program here. You can disagree with someone and occasionally be disappointed with someone, but still really like them and be hopeful that they have success going forward. I think Kevin will. I just hope not too much of it as of a week from Thursday.

Q. 37 traffic, it sounds like maybe -- I guess in the past it seems there's always been one or two really big new initiatives. Do you feel like given this is what year three, year four of going through all of that, that there's a solid infrastructure in place at this point with IU athletics and game-day management and personnel that maybe you've worked a lot of the kinks out and it's as good as it can be in a lot of ways?
FRED GLASS: Yeah, I think we're in as good a position as we can be in with 37. I give the Governor great credit. That's a mess he inherited, but he owned it. Now that INDOT is solidly in charge, they're a great group of professionals. They weren't in charge of it before. They know what they're doing.

I think we really saw that here move-in week with all the lanes being open. I hope that can continue, because that makes all the difference if that's able to occur.

Q. You've been here for a while as athletic director. Has it surprised you how things get outdated with facilities?
FRED GLASS: I can't say it surprises me, but it's a challenge. Especially given the influx of technology and intercollegiate athletics, whether it's media communications technology or even how kids are trained or taken care of from a wellness perspective.

So I think part of our challenge is always being on the very front edge of that. Hopefully not being the last one to the party, but the first one to the party, and all the iterations that occur after that. I remember I'm old enough to remember when things seemed very, very new. Now they're very old and looks like too short a time period. But you got to be careful not to be nostalgic too much and make sure that you keep the spirit of the facilities and other pieces, but you have to be ready to move forward too.

Q. I was wondering what is it going to look like on Game Day? Is it going to look like this? Is there going to be a back drop to the construction?
FRED GLASS: It will primarily look like this. Game Day will be located right out in front of where it says home, I think, on the fence, noting the Future Home of the Excellence Academy. I think that's awesome because I love having progress vividly demonstrated on national television. So I would not block it out.

Q. Tom has talked about this being a breakthrough season. From your perspective, what do you think generates that optimism this is going to be a breakthrough season?
FRED GLASS: I'm glad Tom's embracing that and calling for that. I think it's a little tough even though there's great continuity even though he had been our defensive coordinator to suddenly expect a first-year coach to be the one to breakthrough given the history of our program. I think it's a little unfair and maybe a little ambitious.

But I like the positive approach, and I like that it applies across the board. It's breakthrough to make stops. It's breakthrough to score points. It's breakthrough to hold on to leads. It's breakthrough to overtake someone with a small lead.

If we could make a bowl, our back-to-back bowls was the first time in 26 years -- I haven't looked yet to see when the last time we made three in a row -- but it's been longer than 26 years. At least 27, maybe longer.

So I will be pleased if we continue the momentum that I think Kevin really did start.

Q. How big is it to have Game Day here with all that they do to promote wherever they are? I know sometimes marketing entities can put a dollar on that, sometimes they can't. How big is it? Do you have a dollar figure if you tried to buy the advertising?
FRED GLASS: I don't have a dollar figure, but I think it's really difficult to overstate what a big deal it is. I understand, you know, there is interest in Ohio State and that's certainly part of it. But we've earned that attention, I think, by being in the Eastern Division of the Big Ten. Coming up a little short, but given hour higher ranked rivals, pretty much all they've wanted the last couple years.

So I think we've earned making that an interesting game, that Game Day would want to cover. Having them here, you can't overstate it. Recruits have seen our stadium, and we're going to do everything we can to tell our story. And look, behind the nooks and crannies about our practice facilities, and our weight room, and the circle of excellence, and the future of the Excellence Academy and all those things.

We get a lot of pro scouts and coaches and others from other teams that say you're the best kept secret in college football. I look forward to when we are not the best kept secret in college football. I think everything's in place for us to breakthrough. And I think over the next two or three years we'll do just that.

Q. You've been a big proponent of doing things that help IU take steps and a chance to go to three consecutive bowl games would be very notable. Where do you think the program's at, and what do you think of the chance to have three consecutive bowl seasons?
FRED GLASS: Yeah, I think we're going the right way. I understand we've gone to two in a row, but we've had two losing seasons in a row. So I don't say I'm not satisfied with what some might view as mediocrity. But I think in Indiana when it's two bowls in a row in 26 years and four bucket wins in a row for the first time in 70 years, you know. The first linebacker to be an All-American in 30 years. I like it when a lot of the things that we're doing are 30-year things, 25-year things. Back when Coach Mallory really had it going on.

I think we're going in the right direction. I'm not saying we're satisfied with six and seven. But I think another bowl appearance would really keep building that momentum. I WAS in here yesterday for freshman induction, and looking at the freshmen on that football team, and they look a lot different than the freshmen I saw when I got here nine years ago. So I think all the way across the board the program is on the upswing, and I think football's important.

We're all about 24 sports, one team, and we understand the preeminence of men's basketball. I don't shy away from that at all. But it's important that Indiana University have a football program worthy of our brand of being excellent, and it's where we have inventory to provide and where we can make some gains revenue-wise. But maybe more importantly have a football program worthy of the respect of Indiana University and our fans.

Whether it's fair or not, it disproportionately reflects on your institution, so we're going to do everything we can to support a resurgence of IU Football.

Q. Switching gears a little bit, and I know you can't talk specific recruiting, basketball has made a big impact in general in recruiting in the last three weeks. How satisfied or happy are you about that?
FRED GLASS: I'm really happy about it. One of the things that Archie and I talked about was he was an unbelievable recruiter at Dayton, but I think there is unavoidably a ceiling at Dayton with the A-10. A kid might love Dayton, but if he gets a chance to be at a power five or traditional power, Archie was going to have a hard time keeping him there. He and I thought that being at Indiana would largely remove that ceiling. You never know until you know, but seems like so far, so good in that regard. And the inside-out approach seems to be so far so good. So I'm very pleased with the earlier results on that CHK. Early results on that.

Q. What are some of your early thoughts on the challenges of the Big Ten basketball schedule that came out this week?
FRED GLASS: Yeah, it's really too bad that sort of the perfect storm with the acceleration of the schedule because of the need to be in Madison Square Garden early, Super Bowl and Minnesota, and the closing of Wil Shriner Arena at Northwestern for their renovations all came together to create too many quick turnarounds and all that. It's unfortunate.

But I will say I was very impressed the way the Big Ten took that head on. Jim Delaney spent eight hours calling every coach to explain what the situation was. I don't want to speak for my colleagues, but it was very helpful for me to have Archie here directly from the commissioner, and increase his understanding of where it was. It's a one-shot deal, and most of these those issues will go away next year.

So it's unfortunate, but I think the conference has handled it the right way and support what they're doing.

Q. Anything logistically for you guys or is it just a factor of some games that would have been in February and March are now in December?
FRED GLASS: It doesn't. The biggest challenge is the quick turnarounds which are unfortunate for the kids and unfortunate in terms of sort of equal challenges for the teams. But I think that the conference did the absolute best they could. I think they did a great job under the circumstances. I appreciate their transparency, and we'll play them when we're supposed to be there.

Q. On the quick turnarounds, does it change missed class time as far as Big Ten still has that rule that you have to be in the city, at the event 24 hours ahead of time? That still exists, right?
FRED GLASS: It does.

Q. How does that work on those things?
FRED GLASS: We may ask for some relief from those because -- no decisions have been made -- but it may make sense on the turnaround to go in the day of whereas before we had gone the day before. It would require relief, but given the schedule, I think that will hopefully be generously granted.

Q. As athletic directors overall, have you all talked about this? I hear other schools, like you said, may ask for relief or options?
FRED GLASS: We haven't talked about it collectively, but it's a fairly obvious way to maybe shave some of the rough edges off of this challenge.

Q. You talk about football being a breakthrough season, how do you define a breakthrough season in football?
FRED GLASS: Well, I think that's the beauty of the work breakthrough. Tom usually talks about it in the context of, I don't remember the statistics, but how many games we were ahead deep in the game or within a touchdown deep in the game, and couldn't make that play or get that stop to flip it around. So I think we'll hopefully take those breakthrough evidences as we find it. I don't think it means this record or anything like that. But I think it's the trust that breeds confidence.

I think this is a group that trusts their coaching staff. They trust each other, they're trusting themselves. And to me trust is the key factor to breaking through because it really comes down to confidence. Do you really think you can win or not.

I probably shouldn't tell this story. But I think it was my first or second year here and we were up at Northwestern. We were up, I think, like three touchdowns at halftime. I may be off. I was walking off the field, and I had this incredible feeling that Northwestern was walking off like they believed they were still going to win, and we were walking off hoping we could hold on.

As it turned out, they came back and won. I think that confidence is key and I do think it's built on trust, but then having some success and winning that close game and builds on it. I think Parcells talked about the evolution where you lose by a lot and then you lose by a little, and then you start to win. And I think we're at the fulcrum of that right now.

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