The first time I met Tom Crean was at halfcourt of Assembly Hall in 2008. I was a reporter for IU’s student newspaper and conducting our first one-on-one. The interview wasn’t being filmed, but Crean insisted on doing it at center court, seated in folding chairs three feet apart and facing one another. If it was possible to have an intimate moment in an empty 17,222-seat arena, this was it.
Alas, my icebreaker didn’t go very well. Here’s Crean, the newly-minted coach of the Hoosiers, staring me down while wearing a bright red sweater. In Assembly Hall. On the court The General made famous.