Published: August 15, 2009 12:04 am         

Prettyman defends hire in face of criticism

TERRE HAUTE — Indiana State Director of Athletics Ron Prettyman was relieved to hire a baseball coach in the time frame he had hoped for, but while Rick Heller was welcomed by supporters at a news conference Friday in the ISU Student Union, not all ISU fans and alumni were on board with Prettyman’s decision.

There were four finalists for the job and many ISU fans and alumni were hoping former ISU player and coach Mitch Hannahs would get the job and were upset when he didn’t get the nod.

Hannahs, currently the coach at Lincoln Trail College in Robinson, Ill., was also a finalist in 2006 when Lindsay Meggs was hired and there was similar displeasure expressed when Hannahs was not hired then.

Prettyman acknowledged that he’s been criticized publicly and privately by some for the decision. The internet provided plenty of evidence of that.

Posts in the ISU message board community were visceral, at times, in the criticism of Prettyman in particular, most of the criticism levied because Hannahs was denied the job for the second time, some surmising that Hannahs was better for the job than Heller is.

There were also those who came out in support of the hire and Heller himself. A poll conducted on the Sycamorehoops.com web site indicated that 52 percent of those who voted liked the hire.

Others thought Hannahs should have got the nod, but thought the heat Prettyman was taking for not hiring Hannahs was not justified.

Hannahs himself weighed in on the criticism on the Sycamorehoops.com web site. Using the internet handle “pitcher5”, he posted the following on a thread regarding the baseball hire.

“Let’s get past all of these negative posts. A decision has made been made, and Rick Heller is a good man and will do a great job. Indiana State Athletics is and always will be bigger than any individual. I appreciate all of the support I have received on this forum, but it is time to move on and support the program. Thank you, Mitch Hannahs.” said the post by “pitcher5”

Hannahs confirmed to Tribune-Star on Friday that those were his words and gave permission to use them for publication.

For his part, Prettyman struck a defiant tone when asked about how he would respond to those who have been critical of the decision to hire Heller.

“What I do is not a popularity contest, if it was, I would’ve been gone a long time ago. I really believe Rick Heller has the personal qualities, the academic commitments, and the wherewithal that will make him successful. He had support from the nationwide baseball community that the other candidates didn’t quite have,” Prettyman said.

“A lot of what I would tell the naysayers is I hope you remain a part of this team and I hope that you can continue to trust the decisions made by Indiana State athletics. We haven’t made too many bad decisions yet, we’re going to continue to move this thing forward and I’m going to call the shots. Until we fall apart, I hope and expect this community and our alumni to back the program,” Prettyman added.

Prettyman was especially disappointed that many of those who expressed displeasure on the decision did not give themselves a chance to educate themselves about Heller.

“There’s a lot of people out there down on this hire who have no idea who Rick Heller is and that’s not fair to Rick Heller. I hope people give him a chance when they meet him face-to-face and see what he’s capable of on the baseball field,” Prettyman said.

For his part, Heller said that reaching out to the alumni was something he had success with at UNI and something that is a priority for him at ISU.

“I’m good with fundraising, I’m good with alumni relationships. I had a booster club at UNI where our alumni just loved me, we had a great group of guys. I got a card the other day from a ’97 guy thanking him for making him still feel a part of the team and that’s what I’ll do here,” Heller said.

“I’ll try to do a weekly e-mail throughout the season to every baseball alum who wants one and all of the friends of the Sycamores who want them. Hopefully, I’m sending out 1,000 e-mails in the next two years. My goal is to make [former players] feel like they’re back on the team again,” Heller added.