We’ve posted the presentations from today’s board of trustees meeting on our web site.

Just got here, to our front page, to find complete coverage including these files with all the interesting plans and artist renderings from both the Memorial Stadium and Assembly Hall discussions.

Join us tomorrow for a bit of an impromptu chat as we’ll try to answer any questions you might have about the recent news surrounding the facilities updates at the Indiana Bloomington campus.

Chime in with thoughts or concerns or questions or revelations and Doug and I will be along to answer the questions sometime in the afternoon. I know you’ll be anxious to get out of work on Friday, but drop by to check it out if you get a chance.

Just jump on over to http://www.heraldtimesonline.com/livediscussion/discuss.php to join us. Hope to see you then.

Should it stay or should it go now?

It’s up to you.

Option 1: Renovate Assembly Hall, the cavernously intimate home of all Bob Knight’s great success, at a cost of at least $50 million and probably closer to $100 million. Doing so would create a unified lower seating area — no more removable bleachers, just one big chunk of seating all around — add some sort of luxury suit/club box element within that lower bowl or possibly as a replacement for the balcony seats.

Option 2: Knock it all down and start all over again. Estimated price: $115 to $140 million.

Option 3: Do nothing at all. Except maybe a few piddly but necessary fixes around Assembly Hall as it prepares to be paired with the Basketball Development Center (i.e. building with a few extra gyms, a couple of offices and some locker rooms and training areas) by the end of 2008.

Cast your vote. Let your voice be heard.

No, this isn’t a democracy. It’s something much more powerful: it’s capitalism, and you’ve got all the money.

Click here to read an additional web update by Herald-Times reporter Steve Hinnefeld. 

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The Athletic Department presented three renovation plans for Assembly Hall today, and immediately after the meeting at least one member of the Board of Trustees — the president — said that updating the aging facility did not seem feasible.

Renovating Assembly Hall, which opened in 1970 but was designed almost a decade earlier, would cost at least $42 million. The most comprehensive plan — one that would add a row of club seating in the middle of the existing bowl — recommended by architectural firm HOK Sports would cost between $92 and $115 million.

“Considering those proposals, it seems obvious that renovation is not an option we would choose to pursue,” board president Stephen Ferguson said after the meeting. “If we’re going to spend that much, we might as well go build a new one.”

The board will hear proposals for the demolition and replacement of Assembly Hall at next month’s meeting. While HOK architect Jim Edson was hesitant to estimate the cost of a new building, he envisioned the project costing between $125 and $150 million.

We’ll have more on this story in the coming hours, including artists renderings of the possible renovations as well as updated drawings of the building that will connect the east and west stands of Memorial Stadium. Work on that project, by the way, is slated to begin by mid-June.

With none of that annoying “coaching” to do, and since he’s not really allowed to recruit off campus right now, Indiana coach Kelvin Sampson has dedicated the past few weeks to exploring the wonders of the world wide web.

He brings to you his very own site, predictably enough called www.kelvinsampson.com.

There’s very little new information on there, but it’s a nice little place to check out if you’re a Hoosiers fan.

And, just to avoid confusion, the first paragraph of this blog was a joke. Sampson didn’t design this himself. It’s run through a network that specializes in creating pages for coaches. Penn State coach Joe Paterno, 80, has one (not from the same company). I always thought the thing to do was make that page appear as though you were looking at it through JoPa’s thick glasses. Also, a recording of him berating a player in that crazy nasally Brooklyn voice of his should start when the page opens. Sweet!

Former Indiana wide receiver Jahkeen Gilmore has also landed with an NFL team. He signed a free agent contract with the Carolina Panthers, who in turn released the suddenly rendered useless Keyshawn Johnson.

OK, OK. I kid. Gilmore won’t replace Johnson. He’s likely to be a taxi squad guy, but, hey, it’s a hell of a way to make a living. Maybe he’ll improve enough to see some time with the big club. He’s got the athleticism, it seems, although his 40 times were low low low low low for a WR (4.5 range, reportedly.)

Gilmore is a personable kid, a guy you like to like. The Brooklyn native brought a sort of Brooklyn feel to the football field — that is, sort of groovy and clairvoyant compared to those uptight Manhattan cats — and you couldn’t help but enjoy it.

Sorry for the late post, by the way. Got home and saw the grill looking at me like it needed to be utilized. And of course you need a few beers while you’re burning up the brats and pork tenderloin (had a little bit of a dinner party.) So, Jahkeen had to wait. He was probably somewhere celebrating on his own. So I raised my  beer to him, and rolled over the tenderloin. It was great.

It’s been bouncing around the boards over at Peegs and HoosierNation all day, and now it’s confirmed: former Indiana defensive end Kenny Kendal has signed a free agent contract with the Cleveland Browns.

H-T sports editor and football beat writer Doug Wilson just spoke with Gary Kendal, who received a call from his son on Sunday. Kenny told his dad he hoped it was OK if he skipped his upcoming graduation since he needs to report to Browns camp later this week.

Mr. Kendal quickly forgot about the planned graduation celebration, saying “My wife had to pry me off the ceiling.”