The complete overhaul underway in Bloomington includes Tim Garl, the athletic trainer for IU basketball for nearly a half century during the tenures of six head coaches.
Garl’s run as the athletic trainer for the IU men’s basketball program has come to an end, an IU spokesperson confirmed to TDH on Monday morning.
The Daily Hoosier also obtained the following statement regarding Garl from his attorney:
“Long time Athletic Trainer for Men’s Basketball at Indiana University, Tim Garl, was informed by Athletic Director Scott Dolson, that his contract will not be renewed for his 45th basketball season. Dolson informed Garl that he would like a “fresh start” for the IU Basketball Sports Medicine staff. His last day is Monday.
“Garl feels grateful for the incredible opportunities he has had during his career having served every head coach starting with Bob Knight. He finds it a blessing that a kid from Elkhart, IN could be fortunate enough to participate in both collegiate and international competitions. Tim’s enduring legacy includes being at every IU basketball game for 44 seasons.
“He would like to especially thank Bob Knight and Ralph Floyd for giving him the opportunity to join the Indiana Family. Also greatly appreciated are all of the head coaches who continued to include him on their staffs through the years. Additionally, Tim would like to thank the players, assistant Coaches, Sports Medicine staff, Doctors, student managers and trainers, support staff and Hoosier Nation for their 4+ decades of support.”
Here is Garl’s bio on the IU Athletics website:
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Garl was hired by Indiana as he Head Men’s Basketball Trainer in 1981 and has continuously served in that position while also wearing many administrative hats during his career.
The Elkhart Indiana native started in sports medicine as a student athletic trainer (1975-1978) for the legendary Paul “Bear” Bryant at the University of Alabama and was part of two SEC Football Championships. He completed a degree in education while in Tuscaloosa.
In 1978 he was hired by the University of Mississippi as the assistant athletic trainer and served all Rebel men’s sports. He was part of the 1980 SEC Men’s Basketball Championship team. He completed a Master’s degree in administration at Ole Miss.
In 1979, prior to coming to Indiana he started working with the US Olympic Committee’s Sports Medicine program. Once employed at Indiana he continued to serve the USOC as a sport’s medicine provider and became a quality-of- care advisor until 2012. In 1987 he was named to the USOC Sports Medicine Committee and served 25 years, the longest serving member in the history of the program, where he was the Vice Chair and also Chairman of the USOC Sports Medicine Society.
While serving on the USOC Sports Medicine Committee the HIV/AIDS epidemic exploded worldwide. Garl was tasked with developing a document that addressed this threat to competitive sport. Enlisting the help of Bloomington Physicians Larry Rink, MD and Tom Hrisomalos, MD they authored the first policy statement on the subject. This was then presented at the Olympic Congress and was recognized internationally and adopted by numerous sporting bodies as a policy. It also found its way into the legislation of several States regarding sports participation. The US Army also adopted the guidelines and soon sent Garl to military bases around the world to educate recreation officers about the recommendations.
His summer time service to the USOC involved accompanying US National Teams around the world to various competitions. In 1982 he was with the US as they competed in the FIBA World Championships where an American team led by Doc Rivers earned a silver medal in Cali Columbia. 1983 found him traveling with Olympic hopefuls through Asia with a team led by future Olympian and NBA players Vern Fleming and AC Green. In 1984 he was on the staff for the Bob Knight coached, Michael Jordan and Patrick Ewing led Olympic Gold Medal team in Los Angeles, the last amateur team to win Olympic Gold. He spent 1985 traveling with the Hoosiers on the legendary Around the World Tour, a 20 game, month long plus, journey that circumvented the globe. 1986 found Garl back at the FIBA World Championships where a Lute Olsen coached team led by David Robinson won the Gold in Madrid. That was the last amateur team to win a Gold Medal. After the Indiana NCAA Championship in 1987, he toured with a US Select team through the Soviet Union. Finishing up he decade of international team travel Garl served as the Chef de Mission and athletic trainer for the 1990 U19 Tournament of the America’s where Calbert Chaney and Grant Hill led the team to a Gold Medal in Uruguay.
He continued his administrative work and served in several of the USOC Sports Festivals around the US. Garl also continued traveling for the USOC as a quality-of-care evaluator traveling to World University Games in Palma de Mallorca, Spain (1999), Beijing China (2001), Izmir Turkey (2005) and Bangkok Thailand (2007). He also served in the same capacity for the Pan American Games in Winnipeg Canada (2001) Santo Domingo Dominican Republic (2003) and Rio de Janeiro Brazil in (2007).
In 1994 Garl appeared in the movie Blue Chips. He played himself as a member of the Indiana team and served as an Athletic Trainer behind the scenes for the athletes participating in the production.
Garl has been a frequent speaker at both national and international Basketball and Sports Medicine clinics. He has authored numerous articles both in the US and Europe, and he published a book on Strength and Conditioning for basketball players.
He serves as a member of the Board of Directors for the College Athletic Trainers Society and is on the NCAA Task Force on Sleep and Athlete Wellness.
Garl also helped initiate the Hoosier Hills Food Bank food drive in conjunction with the annual Hoosier Hysteria practice. This even has collected over 200,000 pounds of food over the past 25 plus years.
Tim and his wife Jennifer (Denny) have three daughters – Emily (Jonathan), Meg (Nick), and Haley (Wyatt) and granddaughter Charlotte June and grandsons Roman and Fletcher.
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