Indiana began the season with 12 consecutive victories.But coach Tom Crean said IU is a better team now than they were after capturing that 12th straight victory Dec. 22 against Maryland-Baltimore County.The No.The Fort Wayne area has left its mark on the football, women’s basketball and men’s soccer programs at Indiana University.
The coaches of those programs – Bill Lynch, Felisha Legette-Jack and Todd Yeagley – discussed that topic Wednesday during a stop on the IU Athletics Tailgate Tour.
“We have a lot of things going on in Bloomington right now, but I don’t care what I’m doing, when we have this gathering here in Fort Wayne, I am on my way,” Legette-Jack said. “This place has been good to our women’s basketball program.”
Legette-Jack will essentially be adding two area players to the roster this season. Sophomore Lindsay Enterline (Heritage) missed all of last season with a knee injury.
“She is coming back slowly, but surely,” Legette-Jack said. “She wants to be 100 miles per hour, but we’re trying to keep her at 20-25 miles per hour. We want her to slowly get back into it. She’s going to be fine during the season.”
She will be joined by freshman Andrea Newbauer, who helped Concordia to the 3A girls state title last season.
“Andrea is going to be great for us,” Legette-Jack said. “She’s a heady point guard and she can play the 2 for us. She can shoot the ball. We’re excited about our Fort Wayne connection.”
IU’s football team had seven Fort Wayne players on its spring roster. The list includes three from Bishop Dwenger (Mick Mentzer, Greg Svarczkopf and Steve Fiacable), and one each from Homestead (Kevin Bush), North Side (Damarlo Belcher), Harding (Dre Muhammad) and Bishop Luers (Lawrence Barnett).
In addition, assistant head coach Dennis Springer is a Northrop graduate.
“That is a significant number of guys out of one city playing for one Big Ten football team,” Lynch said. “There is a pretty good nucleus right now.”
Yeagley is the new IU soccer coach, but he’s not new to the program or Fort Wayne.
“We call it the soccer town of the state and it’s been real important for IU soccer when you look at the last 15 years or so,” said Yeagley, who played for the Hoosiers under his father, Jerry. “We’ve had a regular staple. It’s a nice trend and one we want to continue. Fort Wayne is a hot spot for soccer.”
Cameron Jordan (Canterbury), Nate Mitchell (South Side) and Tim Wylie (Carroll) are all vying for playing time.
IU athletic director Fred Glass wants to see the connection between the area and school extend beyond the field.
“Fort Wayne is critical to Indiana University. … I’m not sure that we on the IU side have been doing all we need to do to nurture that,” he said. “That’s part of the reason why we are up here and having some of the conversations we’re having in terms of strengthening our varsity club, strengthening our local alumni association and making sure this stays and grows as IU country.”
