Yesterday, as news of Coach Tom Crean being removed as the Indiana University basketball coach, many emotions went through my mind.
First, and foremost was remorse.
Remorse that it had gotten to this point in his relationship with the university and worse yet, the fan base.
Remorse for him.
Remorse for his family.
And remorse in that I may not be able to see and speak to him as often.
Tom Crean, forget the coach part, is a very good man.
A good man who used his spotlight to help a student whose car was stuck in a snow bank; who allowed me to take a high school student who is an IU fan and going blind to attend a game; who contacted me after the tornado that destroyed the school I taught at; who contacted numerous people dealing with traumatic events; who befriended many people who were sick and dying; and who believed that his job was much bigger than coaching basketball.
He is a man who I could start typing about the great things I know he did and what I heard he did and wouldn't end anytime soon.
The remorse I feel is for a man who was fired (never an easy thing to deal with) and his family who wants to be supportive, but may not be able to help other than to vent anger.
Sure, the amount of money he has been paid over the last nine years will soften the blow, but it still hurts and I hate that for him.
But I also realized that this meant a new beginning for both IU basketball and Coach Crean. An unfortunate separation that, in all honesty, needed to happen for all parties involved.
And often times a new beginning is the best thing that can happen to us. Whether they be voluntary or forced upon us a new page, a new view can refresh us.
Coach Crean will land on his feet and probably score a "10" in doing so.
His personality, contacts, knowledge, charisma, empathy, sympathy, and experience are just a few things that will land him where he desires eventually. He understands his purpose in coaching this silly game of basketball
IU basketball may be better off or worse with this separating of the ways, that is yet to be seen, but Coach Crean will be better off either soon or eventually. He can't not be because of the type of human being he is.
Finally, I just want to say "thank you" to Coach Crean. The program he inherited was awful, just awful and through his sheer will and the help of his assistants like Tim Buckley, they were able to bring IU back to national prominence even if irregularly.
For that IU fans owe him a huge, huge show of appreciation.
I will miss Coach Crean because I am a fan, but I will miss Tom Crean even more. Tom Crean touched more people in a positive way often out of sight than can be written in one small blog entry.
I just hope that he ends up somewhere close, or somewhere that I visit regularly so that I may stay in touch with Tom Crean and still watch his practices and know that he's still making a positive impact both on and off the basketball court.
