Field problems.

The construction in the north end zone continues, but IU's Memorial Stadium now requires a bunch of work before the Hoosiers can take the field on Labor Day weekend. As the Indianapolis Star and others reports, the torrential rains that have been hitting much of central Indiana somehow compromised the field and caused a sinkhole in the football field and various other damage to the rest of the field. IU's artificial turf field was installed in time for the 2003 season. IU played on the old-style artificial turf from the early 1970s through 1997. As was the trend then, IU went back to natural grass in 1998, but really could never get the field to drain properly or grow properly and aborted that experiment after five season. Somehow, I have retained from my sophomore year geology class that the part of southern Indiana where Bloomington is located is characterized by karst topography, which can be susceptible to sinkholes.

As the Hoosier Scoop notes, the resolution could be complicated because the company that installed IU's field is no longer in business (that doesn't mean there wouldn't be a successor-in-interest who would be on the hook for any defect in construction, but it's a complication nonetheless). But regardless of who pays for it, obviously IU needs to begin its efforts to repair the field or (more likely) install a new one before the season. Adding yet another wrinkle is a major event scheduled for early August in Bloomington. As part of its effort to attract a variety of musical and fine arts events to the city, Indianapolis secured a long-term commitment from the DCI Drum and Bugle Corps championships from August 7-9. While the Colts' new Lucas Oil Stadium will be the long-term host for the event, part of the deal was that Bloomington would host the 2008 competition if the new stadium were not ready in time. A few months ago, the city made clear that they could not guarantee that the new stadium would be ready, and so the event was moved to Bloomington. Now, IU is eight weeks out from that event with no usable football field. Not good.

Could IU's naming policy be an obstacle?

One thing to consider as some folks (including me) advocate naming the new end zone building after Terry Hoeppner is that IU's naming policy may make that impossible. I'm somewhat embarrassed that I didn't think of it before.

The policy distinguishes between Commemorative namings and Administrative namings and further sets forth a difference between naming of minor spaces (reading rooms, etc.), which can be approved by the university vice-president, and major administrative namings. Such major decisions require approval by the president, the board of trustees, and, a body you may not have known existed, the All-University Committee on Names. Cutting to the essence, here's the five year rule:

In general, for major facilities, there will be a five-year waiting period after the death of any individual before considering his or her name for commemoration in naming a major facility. The five-year delay was instituted by Dr. Wells to ensure that buildings were not precipitously named in the first emotional outpourings after the death of a public figure. He preferred a more contemplative process to safeguard the reputation of both the individual and the institution, and to eliminate overlap and duplication of namings. At his request, this rule was observed in the naming of the Herman B Wells Library. (Image of Herman B Wells Library courtesy of Indiana University).

Perhaps that is why Rick Greenspan has been non-committal on the issue. While I don't think calling the new building the Hoeppner Center would seem like a rash decision five years down the road, if the university wouldn't make an exception for Herman Wells, I'm guessing that they won't for Hep, if this policy applies.

That is, it appears, a big if. The article doesn't say either way, but it doesn't seem that the athletic department has followed the five year rule. For instance, the soccer stadium was named after now-deceased IU Foundation president Bill Armstrong years before he died. The field at Bill Armstrong Stadium now bears the name of recently retired soccer coach Jerry Yeagley. The soon-to-be-replaced weight room bears the name of retired coach Bill Mallory. Certainly, the weight room might fall into the minor category and outside the authority of the Committee on Names, but the soccer field and stadium would seem sufficiently major. Again, the policy, based on my quick reading, doesn't seem to mention athletic facilities but also doesn't seem to specifically except them.

Finally, every time the five year rule comes up, someone says, "but what about Mellencamp Pavilion?" Even if the five year rule does apply to athletic facilities, clearly it's different when someone is writing checks, and the policy says as much.

EDIT: In a sure sign that I have taken one too many "Hutch got scooped again!" cheap shots, Terry Hutchens beat me to the punch on the naming policy issue.

Groundbreaking.

At the request of the Hoeppner family, the show went on today. IU broke ground on the north end zone expansion of Memorial Stadium today. The H-T's Hoosier Scoop blog live-blogged it. Memorial Stadium will go from this:

To this:

Until told otherwise, I will refer to the north end zone building as the Hoeppner Center. In various forms and levels of detail, this project has been on the drawing board for years. It is no coincidence that this expansion moved beyond the idea stage during the Hep era.