Less than a hour after the August 8 press conference announced Billy Taylor as the men's basketball coach at Ball State University, senior guard Peyton Stovall walked to Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Tom Collins and wrapped his arms around him in a hug.
Both figures in the Cardinals' athletics department have been forced to deal with the uncertain, rocky foundation of the men's basketball program during the past month. With Taylor's arrival in Muncie, that foundation is certainly more stable. However, Taylor said he knows his arrival does not solve all the problems affecting the program.
"We've got a lot of work to do, both myself, assembling a coaching staff and with the student athletes we have coming into the program," Taylor said. "We've got to get a lot of things figured out for our guys so that we have a plan in place for them to be successful. It's going to take time, it's going to be a lot of hard work, but I'm committed to [this program]. I know it's not going to be an easy process, but I just hope everybody can be patient as we grow together."
Taylor stressed the road to success for the program will be a long one. In the past two months, the Cardinals' athletics department has faced NCAA and external investigations into its own internal investigation on NCAA violations with the men's basketball program.
However, most troubling to Taylor was the incident that involved anonymous racial notes found in the men's basketball office. Taylor said the incident, which occurred in late June, initially gave him concerns about joining the Ball State community.
"That was a deplorable act and that was a concern for me having a family with two small children," Taylor said.
Taylor said he spoke with Collins and Ball State President Jo Ann Gora about the incident and after receiving additional information his confidence in the university and the Muncie area was restored.
Also providing comfort to Taylor was the fact that he is from the Midwest region. Taylor, whose hometown of Aurora, Ill., is the same as Collins, played four seasons at Notre Dame University under coach John MacLeod.
"I'm very familiar with the state of Indiana," Taylor said. "It's a sad thing that an act like that would take place in this day and age, but it certainly could happen in any city at any time."
After Taylor established confidence in the community, he quickly turned his attention to the recent NCAA violations committed by former coach Ronny Thompson's staff. Collins reported to the NCAA that Thompson's coaching staff attended voluntary player workouts during the
off-season and those violations were termed secondary by the NCAA Rules Enforcement Committee.
However, a letter sent from the NCAA to Tom Collins on July 11 requested university review numerous other allegations. The allegations claimed Thompson had contacted a student athlete at another university in an attempt to recruit the athlete to his program and Thompson offered shoes as a reward for improved grades.
The NCAA also alleged Thompson had asked Gora for former women's volleyball coach Randy Litchfield to be fired after Litchfield's staff reported violations committed by the men's basketball program.
"That is an on-going investigation and I have no comment on that," Collins said. "We're going to let the process take due course before we offer a comment and I do not know when that will be."
Associate Vice President for Marketing and Communications Tony Proudfoot said that the university has retained the services of Bond, Schoeneck, & King to coordinate the investigation with the NCAA staff.
Taylor said he was aware of all the program's violations when he accepted the position.
"It certainly has some concerns for me as the coach coming into this program," Taylor said. "But I'm confident in the process that has been set forth to resolve the NCAA issues. Now I anticipate moving forward and having the opportunity to have somewhat of a clean slate."
Although there are still issues to be resolved, Stovall said he was excited to work with a new coach in the upcoming months.
"I've talked to a few of my teammates and they're just waiting patiently for a new guy to come," he said. "I think that once they meet him they'll be pleased."
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