Coach Hoeppner: RIP

[Drake]

An IU official confirmed to The Herald-Times this morning that Indiana football coach Terry Hoeppner has died.

The team was told the news in an early-morning meeting today.

-------------------------------

I couldn't find the thread where Hoeppner's illness was being discussed. Sorry.

[Ksyrup]

Wow. That's unfortunate.

[TroyF]

Sad.

[Lathum]

shame he battled so hard and lost in the end

[Mizzou B-ball fan]

I blame Bobby Knight.

[miami_fan]

Sad sad situation. It has been a tough couple of offseasons for the Big Ten coaching fraternity.

RIP

[Swaggs]

Sad news.

I knew he was in bad shape, but I didn't realize that he was near death.

[cody8200]

Heres the link:

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2908831

So damn sad. I'm really going to miss him being our coach. It's a shame. He was a great guy.

[spleen1015]

Originally Posted by Mizzou B-ball fan

I blame Bobby Knight.

STFU, dude.

Sheesh.

[Butter]

I was afraid this was going to be the case since he had been out so long with such a serious illness. I was looking forward to IU improving... hopefully, they can pick up the pieces and move on.

[Kodos]

Wow. I didn't know he was in that bad shape. They had said they were letting him out of the hospital last Friday. Very sad news.

R.I.P. Coach. We love you for who you were and what you did for our team.

[cougarfreak]

Sad news indeed. This guy was a true inspiration. Did great things with the Miami football program and community, and IU had just seen the tip of the iceberg with him. He was close to a local sports talk host's son, who was like 5 and developed leukemia, and did good things for him and his so far successful fight. RIP Coach, prayers for the family.

[st.cronin]

This is very sad news. My condolences to Hoosier nation and the rest of his fans.

[kurtism]

My condolences to Coach Hep's family and his team - he will surely be missed. Hep brought a real enthusiasm and fun to the IU football program, something that had been long missing prior to his arrival. He was a class act on and off the field, and will be missed by all.

[kingnebwsu]

Wow...just very sad

[rowech]

As a Miami (OH) guy, Hoeppner and Randy Walker were great coaches and great guys who both sought to do the same thing at non-traditional football schools in the Big 10 after they had great success at Miami. Though they both finished with other schools, they'll be Miami guys forever.

[Kodos]

Just a little something from one of the editors of the Indiana Daily Student. I think it's probably hard for people outside the Big Ten to understand what he meant to our football program over the past couple of years. He was joyous to take over a program that most any other major college coach would seek to avoid. His enthusiam for Indiana Football single-handledly energized a fanbase that had mostly given up on the team ever being competitive. He believed he could take the Hoosiers to a Rose Bowl for the first time since 1967. And he made us believe it too...

hxxp://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070619/SPORTS0601/70619038/1247/SPORTS

Coach Hep: A student's perspective

By Brian Janosch

Brian Janosch, 21, is an Indiana University senior. He shares his thoughts on Terry Hoeppner at the request of the Star.

I was sports editor at the Indiana Daily Student when they hired Hoeppner, and then again for his first season at the helm. I look back at those semesters with fondness because I was one of only a select few sports editors that got to add fuel to the fire of excitement that surrounded the football team. Most semesters, we struggle just to get a spark.
Two things come to mind about Coach Hep. The first is a story from the week of his very first home game. We had a editorial cartoonist named Shane Johnson and leading up to that week's game he drew a cartoon somewhat satirizing the "Coach Hep Wants You" campaign, questioning whether or not it would transfer into anything legit.

Well, the next day Hoeppner called the office and wanted to talk to Shane. Instead of yelling at him, he asked him to join the team on the very first rendition of "The Walk." Shane agreed. And despite taking a 'shot' at the team, there he was marching with the boys in red wearing a brand new cap compliments of the coach. Just a few weeks (and a few wins) later Shane drew a cartoon of Coach Hep in his body shop repairing the IU Football Mobile.

Also, during that time as editor, we would get a letter from Coach Hep nearly every week. It was always a rallying cry to come out and support the Hoosiers. My co-editor and I always laughed because you knew it was a Coach Hep letter if there were at least three words in all caps and every sentence ended in an exclamation point. Usually the last one ended in three or more.

Long story short, Hoeppner will be sorely missed within the IU community. He was only here a few short years, but nobody has won over this campus faster and more completely than Coach Hep did.

In one year, just one year, he turned the attitude around here from "Who cares," to "You know what, maybe there's a chance." And that's all we could ask for having not visited a bowl game in more than a decade.

It's a shame that we students won't get to be yelled at by Coach Hep any more. It's a shame that he won't be challenging us to stay up all night long in preparation for the Homecoming game. But more than anything, it's a shame that he will never get his due credit for changing an entire school's attitude toward football. I hope we make a bowl game this year. And when we do, I hope Terry Hoeppner gets his name sprawled really big across our new stadium.

[dervack]

A tough year for the Miami, OH football program, losing 3 coaches.

[Kodos]

hxxp://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=2914372&campaign=rss&source=NCFHeadlines

Sorry to beat this to death. I just think Coach Hep was a great man, and want as many folks to know about him and his legacy as possible. In a time filled with Pacman Jones and Michael Vick types, I find it inspiring that there are still good guys like Hep out there. He was a strong positive force for Indiana Football, and for the whole state of Indiana.

Thousands gather at Assembly Hall to remember Hoeppner's life

Associated Press

Updated: June 23, 2007, 5:50 PM ET

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Jane Hoeppner wanted her husband to have one last game day.

So players dressed in their white jerseys and red sweat pants, met at Assembly Hall and even got a pep talk from the coach's wife. But when Terry Hoeppner couldn't lead them across the parking lot to the football stadium, his spirit did.

Members of the Hoosiers' team say they will make it their duty to remember coach Terry Hoeppner's legacy.

Players, coaches, friends and colleagues gathered Saturday for a farewell to the coach who spent two seasons reinvigorating Indiana football. Hoeppner, 59, died Tuesday from complications of a brain tumor.

"I want you all to know how genuine and how sincere his love and commitment to this place was," the coach's wife said. "It was just magical. This is the start of something great and don't let anything get in the way of it. You are going to be a team, and we are going to go to a bowl game and coach Hoeppner will be there with us."

A crowd of several thousand showed for Saturday's public memorial service. The family had a private funeral.

For most of the 90-minute service, the crowd listened to nearly a dozen speakers, some fighting back tears and most struggling to get through their remarks. Afterward, most gathered outside Assembly Hall.

"I just don't know what to do without him," star receiver James Hardy said. "He's been a father figure for me. He told me he had my back and he did at a difficult time in my life. It's the responsibility of the players on this team to make sure his legacy continues forever."

The service included speeches from university officials, Hardy and co-defensive coordinator Joe Palcic, who played for Hoeppner at Miami (Ohio). It also featured two video tributes, one capturing some of his favorite sayings: "We have no problems, just opportunities" or "play 13," a reference to reaching a bowl game.

Some fans wore crimson shirts that read, "Coach Hep Got Me," a play on Hoeppner's phrase, "Coach Hep Wants You."

Among those in attendance were singer John Mellencamp, outgoing Indiana president Adam Herbert, former women's basketball coach Sharon Versyp, former trustees president Fred Eichhorn and Miami (Ohio) athletic director Brad Bates, who hired Hoeppner as the RedHawks' coach in 1999.

Bates read a letter he wrote to two other ex-Miami coaches who have died in the past year, Northwestern's Randy Walker and Michigan's Bo Schembechler.

Jane Hoeppner often attended her husband's news conferences and stood with him on the sideline. She spoke of how she savored the time with her husband during his 18-month struggle, which included two brain operations and three medical leaves from the team.

Drew Hoeppner talked of how, like many children, he thought his father invincible. Daughter Amy Fox recalled lessons her children learned from their grandfather. Another daughter, Allison Balcam, choked away tears when describing her parents' relationship.

Indiana athletic director Rick Greenspan, who hired Hoeppner in December 2004, drew laughs as he recounted his first job interview with Hoeppner.

"He'd come back from a Big Ten meeting and say 'You know what I did today? I spent the whole day with Joe Paterno. How cool is that?' ... His most endearing characteristic was his boyhood spirit," Greenspan said.

Hoeppner went 9-14 in two seasons at Indiana, but his energy and passion were paramount. Each speaker urged players to keep Hoeppner's legacy alive with his game-day message.

"Hoeppner still wants you," said former Indiana star Anthony Thompson, now a church pastor. "I say to his players, Hep still wants you to play 13."

Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press