Big Ten Conference Best Practices: Indiana Makes You Better.

This blog is all about inspiration. We're spending 3 days elevating best practices from the squads that make up the Big Ten. You can tune in on this blog, or you can follow along on Facebook (linked here) or on Twitter -- I'm @pawlow34.

What makes something a best practice? This isn't about the most intricate experience. It's about looking at the world from your consumer's point of view and delivering something that hits it right smack on the head. In the case of colleges, I'm treating the primary consumer as that prospective student athlete.

Cool?

Thus far we've checked out how Minnesota defines player development (here) and how Michigan State defines their brand, (here).

Let's move.

Click into

I was all set to write this post around the Indiana Basketball Recruiting Guide, linked here. The fact that the Hoosiers abandoned the notion of a print media guide and shifted to a print recruiting guide is fantastic and forward-looking. As you should be able to see below, this can be accessed from 3 places on the site -- a button in the lower left corner of the page and twice in the main menu.

Clicking in gets you to the image below, easy access to PDFs of the Guide, broken into smaller pieces by topic. The recruiting component gives access to everything you might want, from product the team gets to the uniform to the roster and schedule.



But my favorite component comes below, in the Strength & Conditioning Section. Indiana gives us a look at the physical size and athletic measurements of select members of the team, past and present. Or, to be more direct, Indiana tells us what the players were like before they showed up in Bloomington and then again, after they completed their time.

As you can note, this includes NBA alum Eric Gordon, along with current players and recent grads. Gordon gained 8 pounds during his time on campus, but also gained 5 inches on his Max Vertical, got quicker (in the 25 yard sprint), and stronger (in the bench press reps). This is literally amazing -- you see how much players changed during their time, and in what areas. Great stuff - industry leading greatness.

How could this be better? Give us the athlete's take. I'd love to hear Eric Gordon (or read Eric Gordon) on what his time was like. What did he do to make sure he improved from an athletic standpoint? And what did he think of the strength & conditioning staff?

This is really big time amazing.

That's a wrap. Next week..... the Big East.

And, don't forget, you can follow along on Facebook (here) or on Twitter: I'm @pawlow34.