IU Gave Sports Fans Something to Smile About

I’m not a big stop-and-smell-the-roses kind of guy. From the famous Satchel Paige quote – Don’t look back, something might be gaining on you – to Tom Petty’s lyrical line – I don’t know but I’ve been told, you never slow down, you never grow old – just never saw the advantage in doing it. (And you can toss in a lesson I heard John Wayne say in a western – it’s harder to hit a moving target.)

But I got to tell you that this Indiana University football season gave me pause – a very pleasant one mind you.

Like a lot of us Hoosiers, I grew up a fan of our state teams – as well as our favorite sport, Hoosier Hysteria. No, I don’t mean just basketball. I mean high school basketball. I watched Big George McGinnis, Steve Downing and Co. lead Indianapolis Washington High School to the 1969 state championship with a perfect 31-0 record (coached by a man who would become a legend, Bill Green). I remember my Mom booing as Lafayette Jeff won back in ’64 (Mom was a proud Frankfort High School grad and hated Jeff). I was so proud when guys I knew from my home county led Carmel to the state title in ’77.

In colleges, I was a fan of all of them. Back when Lou Watson coached the Hurryin’ Hoosiers with Joby Wright and McGinnis and Downing I watched every game Channel 4 televised. Later when Bob Knight arrived, I became a bigger fan. Watched all the Purdue games on WTTV as well. Loved Rick the Rocket Mount and Billy Keller. Fred Schaus was one of my favorite coaches.

When fall rolled around, it was all about Notre Dame football.

My Irish grandmother, God rest her soul, was a devout Catholic and we would make a trek to South Bend once a year to light a candle in the grotto on the campus of Notre Dame. Long before I knew of Knute Rockne, the Four Horsemen, the Gipper and Ara Parseghian I thought Notre Dame was where we went to pray.

Here’s the thing about all that – it was easy to root for everyone because they all won!

Notre Dame won national championships in 1966, 1973, 1977 and 1988. IU won in 1976, 1981 and 1987. Purdue went to the final four in 1969 and 1980.

There were Big Ten titles and NIT titles in there as well.

The point is, from 1966 to 1988 – a span of 24 years – the teams I rooted for won seven titles and were in the final game two other times. That’s nine times in a little over two decades.

I thought that’s the way it worked and every few years we’d be enjoying another championship. Heck, if you toss in my Indiana Pacers from the ABA days and my two favorite baseball teams – the Pittsburgh Pirates and the Cincinnati Reds – there were seven more titles in that time (but pros felt different than college).

Winning seemed normal. Being a fan was so enjoyable.

It all ended in 1988.

Sure, IU went to the title game with that wonderful team led by Noblesville’s Tom Coverdale in 2002. Notre Dame fell to Alabama in the final game in 2012. Purdue, led by Zach Edey and Westfield’s Braden Smith came oh so close in 2024 before finishing runner-up to UConn.

But no titles in the last almost 40 years.

Enter Curt Cignetti and the most unbelievable sports story ever. This is so much bigger than Milan. Everyone knows about the magical 1954 state title. Thing is, Milan was a pretty danged good team. They almost got to state the year before, finishing 19-2 and losing in the semistate. Milan was good and expected to be good. IU has been the proverbial doormat in college football for generations — the losingest program in college football history. The worst. Bottom of the barrel. Perennial losers like Northwestern, Kansas State, Rutgers and others called IU when it came to scheduling Homecoming games.

Cignetti changed it all. It has been so much fun to watch. And it reminded me of just how rare these times can be.

In my seven decades on this rock, the college teams I root for won seven championships – until IU this year.

So for once I’m just sitting back and taking it all in. I’m going to continue smiling for a while, ever so thankful that Cignetti, Fernando, and the rest came to Bloomington. And I’ll keep rooting for Matt Painter and Braden Smith, Marcus Freeman and the Irish and whoever the latest IU basketball coach is. I’ll continuing humming Duke Tumatoe’s Lord Help Our Colts song. I’ll wait for Tyrese Haliburton to heal.

Got no idea when that next title will come – so this one will do just fine for now.

Thanks, IU!

Two cents, which is about how much Timmons said his columns are worth, appears periodically in The Times. Timmons is the chief executive officer of Sagamore News Media, the company that owns The Noblesville Times. He is also a proud Noblesville High School graduate and can be contacted at ttimmons@thetimes24-7.com.