Thursday, March 23, 2006

The Plane Game: Using the Skies to Track the Search for Indiana University's New Head Basketball Coach

This is a bit off-topic, but every now and then I see something that just deserves to be blogged...anyway, my alma mater, Indiana University, is currently searching for a new head coach to take over the Men's Basketball program. Rumors are flying everywhere, and some of the best ones are getting deleted by the moderators on the various Indiana boards. That's where we come in...

Some other high-profile coaching changes have been "tracked" by following the path of private planes that are used to ferry the candidates (or the AD) in and out of town. This doesn't work if the candidates are flying in and out of, say, O'Hare or JFK, but in a small college town with a small airport it works very well. So, assuming the candidates aren't driving into Bloomington (where IU is located), and aren't flying into Indy and driving down to Bloomington, we can probably learn quite a bti by following the travels of various planes associated with the University, or various University friends and donors. So anyway, here's the scoop...

At 7:00 am this morning, a twin-engine Gulfstream Jet owned by Cook Aviation of Bloomington, Indiana landed at Port Columbus Airport in Ohio. That plane was scheduled to leav Columbus at 7:45, and lifted off at 8:14 headed for Bloomington. The plane arrives in Bloomington at the Monroe County Airport at 8:50.

Another leased private plane left Bloomington at 12:59 and is headed towards the airport at the Ohio State University right now. This plane also made a round trip between Indianapolis and Ohio State yesterday. The Cook plane has added a flight back to Columbus, leaving Bloomington at 3:30 and arriving in Columbus at 4:11.

All this could mean nothing...or, it oculd mean that someone currently employed in Columbus (ie Thad Matta) is interviewing for the job today.

No comments: