IU Columbus students and fans watch a Crimson Pride volleyball game at Ceraland.
Submitted photo
It’s an exciting time at IU Columbus.
The Crimson Pride are in Year 3 of intercollegiate athletics, and they’re about to begin their inaugural men’s and women’s basketball seasons. They’re currently in the middle of their second year of volleyball and men’s and women’s soccer and their third year of men’s and women’s cross-country.
Excitement has been building at IUC, and it has shown in the amount of students and other fans that have attended volleyball and soccer games the past couple of seasons. Officials are hoping that will carry over into basketball, which starts later this month.
“The amount of energy that’s on campus right now is through the roof,” IUC athletics director Zach McClellan said. “If you were around in the classrooms two years ago, to now, there’s no comparison. When you see the basketball players from both sides walking down the hallway, the interaction they’re having with their professors, it’s a different level. The coaching staffs that we have, it’s incredible.”
McClellan recently brought on a pair of new hires in the athletic department to fill the void left when former assistant athletics director Tyler Wright left for Division I Southeast Missouri.
Matt McCarroll
Matt McCarroll is the new assistant athletics director. McCarroll has a degree in sport management from Bowling Green and masters in coaching from Ohio University. He coached college football for four years at DePauw, Marian and Butler and was a high school administrator the past three years.
“We’ll make sure this thing keeps going in the right direction, and we can get to ultimately where we want to go, and that’s a the top,” McCarroll said. “I’m excited to dive in and get after it.”
McKenzie Cooper
McKenzie Cooper is the athletics operations coordinator. Cooper, a native of Greentown, played basketball at Defiance and IU Kokomo. She earned business administration and sport management degrees from Defiance (Ohio) and recently earned her masters in business administration from IU Kokomo.
“During the hiring process, Zach talked about the opportunities that Columbus is presenting, so I think it’s just great what this community has the opportunity to do,” Cooper said. “But outside of sports partnerships that we have going, you don’t see it everywhere, so that was something that drew me to the campus.”
In addition to basketball, IUC also has added cheer and dance teams. The cheer and dance squads have been performing at some volleyball and soccer games and will perform at home basketball games.
“Cheer and dance, I didn’t know exactly the energy they were going to bring to the table,” McClellan said. “It’s been incredible, and I think a lot of it has to do with their coach.”
The cheer and dance teams, coached by Pati Lara, will have their competition season in the spring.
“Even though it’s two teams, I’m bringing them together as one group, whether it’s community service, whether it’s fundraising, so the girls have already built that rapport with each other,” Lara said. “Practices are together, so they do everything together as a family and a group. They’ve built a foundation with each other.”
Hannah Lacey, a senior from Hauser, is captain of the cheer team.
“I have seen (the atmosphere) become way more positive throughout the years,” Lacey said. “All the students coming from the Annex, you can definitely tell how close-knit they are, and they have each other to support.”
IU Columbus students cheer at a Crimson Pride volleyball game at Nexus Park.
Ted Schultz | The Republic
IUC students are receiving free admission to Crimson Pride home athletic contests.
“Students will be free to sporting events to help garner that excitement,” McCarroll said. “It gets pretty loud there (for volleyball at Ceraland), so it’s a really good atmosphere, and hopefully we can bring that atmosphere to Nexus and the soccer fields and so on. That’s our goal with that.”
