Expectation vs Reality

To quote Ren McCormick, "You don't get to turn my fight into a 'screw you' to your old man." 

Or at least not completely...

Saturday before the Miami game, the Brickyard Battalion released the statement to the right stating that they are "collectively disappointed by the club's lack of commitment to putting the best product on the pitch." While I'm as disappointed about the long-standing mediocre results as probably all long-term fans, that's only a part of my tiredness that I talked about in my article for the game against the Greenville Triumph in the Jagermeister Cup just a couple days before. Maybe I'll thinking too much of myself for one, but I think what I wrote helped others feel confident in releasing the BYB statement. It felt like the fanbase needed somebody to say what I said for others to speak up too. Maybe I'm incorrect and the BYB's timing is coincidental, but I don't think so. Others have latched onto my statement that "I'm fucking tired."

I want to be clear about some things.

First, and maybe foremost, I'm tired of writing about the team. This website is a hobby as my expression of my fandom, and when I said I was "fucking tired," it had as much to do with trying to write about the results as it was about the results themselves. 

I'm the only "media" that covers this team, not counting Rakestraw for the telecast, Soccer Saturday, or the ISC Network for the W League, and the Exitos Radio broadcast. There are no other mainstream media covering the team on a consistent basis, nor are there any other "grassroots" media outlets doing it either other than the periodic Cue the Smoke podcast. The only one, though, standing there in the post-game media scrum next to the team's personnel, is me and has been for at least a few seasons now. I'm tired of carrying the torch.  

Secondarily, I'm also tired of watching games without the pure joy of just being able to watch a game for the ups and downs of it. I always have an eye for tactical moments or which parts will or won't be interesting to read about. It's become tiring and not as much fun as I wanted for this hobby.

So my fight against the tiredness of covering the club doesn't mean that I necessarily endorse the BYB's announcement berating the top portions of the front office. "You don't get to turn my fight into a 'screw you' to your old man."

 

All that being said... and as long as we're being honest with each other right now...

I have had versions of this conversation over the years with various people, but the following quote has been the most eloquent way I have heard to say it: "Conflict arises when expectations exceed reality."

There's an expectation that Indy is one of the top clubs in the league. As a result, there is an expectation that Indy should be consistently at the top of the standings and winning most of their games. When that doesn't happen, people want to blame the coaches or the players or any number of reasons for them not meeting the expectation. The reality is that Indy (not counting the USL W league team or the Academy teams) has only had a modicum of success, spread out over just a few seasons in the twelve-year history of the team. Indy have a history of expectations exceeding reality. While this year's team is underperforming based on last year's results, the reality is that they're right where history has told us this team will be: 

• 2014 - Finished 10th out of 10 teams in the Spring Season; Finished 7th out of 10 in the Fall Season.
• 2015 - Finished 5th out of 11 in the Spring Season; Finished 9th out of 11 in the Fall Season.
• 2016 - Finished 1st out of 11 in the Spring Season; Finished 2nd out of 12 in the Fall Season (Spring Season championship required a Miracle at the Mike to get hardware on the 4th tiebreaker).
• 2017 - 6th out of 8 in the Spring Season; 8th out of 8 in the Fall Season. Lost to an amateur team in the U.S. Open Cup.
• 2018 - 7th out of 16 in the Eastern Conference (8 teams from the conference made the playoffs). Lost to amateur team in the U.S. Open Cup.
• 2019 - Finished 3rd out of 18 in the Eastern Conference (10 teams made the playoffs). Made it to the Conference Final.
• 2020 - Finished 3rd out of 4 teams in the Group E COVID-adjusted setup. Top 2 teams made playoffs. 
• 2021 - Finished 12th out of the 16 teams in the Eastern Conference (8 teams made playoffs). 
• 2022 - Finished 9th out of the 14 teams in the Eastern Conference (7 teams made playoffs).
• 2023 - Finished 6th out of the 12 teams in the Eastern Conference (8 teams made the playoffs).
• 2024 - Finished 4th out of the 12 teams in the Eastern Conference (8 teams made the playoffs).
• 2025 - TBD

I want to be clear that I don't necessarily fault most of the players that have come through Indy over the years. The majority have fought for the crest. That's about the most that you can actually expect in the game of soccer and I appreciate that. I don't think any of the players have wanted to lose. As I indicated in the Greenville game article, I do get disappointed when I see players like Foster not putting in the effort during a Cup game against a League One opponent. You shouldn't have to have one of the worst halves in team history and need to get your ass handed to you by the coach at halftime to finally put in more effort. However, that effort has generally been an outlier. Indy has had good players. You're only looking at the results if you think otherwise, because there are former Indy players scattered around this league, having good successful careers. Good players doesn't always mean a good team, and that's been the issue.

I don't fault the coaches. Hankinson got the boot after one injury-riddled season in 2017 after taking the team to the Soccer Bowl in 2016. Rennie had arguably the most successful season of any coach in 2019, but got tired of trying to play on a shit surface at Carroll Stadium and basically quit while standing on that shit surface in 2021. Lowry had also planned on being in it for the long haul and was trending upward, but seemingly didn't like the direction it was going leading up to the 2024 season. McCauley has a very good core of players and, again, you're only looking at the results if you don't believe that. Every single player in the midfield would be a starter in nearly every other team in this league. We know Amoh and Foster and Romario can still score amazing goals. Ofeimu is 25 years old and has a long career ahead of him. For whatever reason, this team has just failed to be consistent.

Maybe there are things that Stremlaw could likely be doing differently. I think he was mostly hired to get Eleven Park, which, to some extent, he did. A former cemetery and the Mayor of Indianapolis threw a wrench into that grand plan and it hasn't made it over the finish line. I do think the team needs an actual Technical Director. Somebody who knows soccer and its ins and outs, and that's not Stremlaw.

None of that matters though if there isn't any budget. To be clear, I'm not privy to the budget. Peter Wilt shared with me the early year budgets, but I no longer know what the salary budget looks like. What I do know, and I don't think this was told to me "off record," was that the team was already in a budget crunch as early as early May. If you need further indication that budget expectations and perceptions are different than reality, explain why there hasn't been any new player signings since Finn McRobb on February 7th, even as injuries, including a season-ending injury to a perpetual starter of Stanley, began to take its toll. As teams around the league have transferred and loaned and acquired players in recent days, Indy continues to sit with the same guys it had at the start of the season. Would a new signing help move Indy up the table? History would indicate probably not, but Indy isn't even trying.

Don't forget that EVERY. SINGLE. PLAYER. on the current roster was sold on coming to Indy with a carrot of playing in Eleven Park. THIS. MONTH. Eleven Park should be having its first game during this month based on the early projected schedules. Summer 2025 was the indication when the groundbreaking took place in the spring of 2023. Yet, status updates on the stadium are consistently met with silence or "we'll make an announcement when there's something to announce."

Best I can tell, nobody knows. And that might be extending up and down the entire front office staff. Maybe even Ersal himself. Hell if I know who knows because nobody is saying anything.

The expectation is that Indy will be competing for Championships in a world class facility. The reality is that Indy has been a club with middling results and above average announced attendance, but is struggling to come to grips with the fact that all outward signs point to Indy playing forever in Carroll Stadium or failing and ceasing to be.

The reality is that I'm pretty tired of writing and my expectation is that I'm going to need to take a hard look during the offseason at how this website looks moving forward.