Extra security will be on hand for Wednesday's basketball game versus Georgetown University, but it has more to do with an expected large crowd than it does with the special circumstances of the opposing coach's family, Pat Quinn, associate athletics director for facilities and operations, said.
Georgetown is coached by John Thompson III, older brother of former Ball State University basketball coach Ronny Thompson. The younger Thompson left Ball State this past summer, after racial notes were left in his office June 24. University officials have yet to find who placed the notes in the coach's office.
Quinn said the university planned to shift some officers to the ground level of Worthen Arena to increase the security of the most heavily traveled level of the building.
"It's not that big of a deal," Quinn said. "We always do it when we expect a big crowd."
Director of Public Safety Gene Burton said university police and the Department of Intercollegiate Athletics came to a joint decision to add a few more officers to help with security at the game.
"What we are doing is not based on a request from outside the university," Burton said. "We are just trying to be proactive."
Quinn said the athletics department had not been in contact with the Thompsons, so he didn't know if Ronny Thompson would be attending the game.
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