First-Year IU Football Coaches: In A Season Tinged With Tragedy, Bill Lynch Had A Mission To Complete

The former Ball State coach was charged with building on the progress the late Terry Hoeppner had begun.

Dec 31,2007; Tempe, AZ, USA; Indiana Hoosiers head coach Bill Lynch looks on against the Oklahoma State Cowboys during the third quarter in the Insight Bowl at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona. Mandatory Credit: Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports / Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports

Winning and losing were the only things at stake when Indiana made coaching transitions prior to the 2000s. That was not the case when Bill Lynch was put in charge of Indiana’s fortunes in the summer of 2007.

Lynch took over in the shadow of tragedy. Terry Hoeppner, who had hired the former Ball State head coach as his offensive coordinator in 2005, dealt with the effects of brain cancer for the last year of his life before he died on June 19, 2007.

Hoeppner’s death shook Indiana football to its foundation. The affable and enthusiastic coach had won Indiana fans over with his commitment to making the Hoosiers a winner. He had made tangible progress, too. In his final season in 2006, the Hoosiers just missed bowl eligibility with a 5-7 record.

While football pales in comparison to life and death, Lynch had a mission in front of him – continue the progress that Hoeppner had started. The 2007 Hoosiers would.

The transition

After a first season in 2005 that won fans over, but where on-field progress was slow, Hoeppner began to show tangible progress in 2006.

Indiana won its first two games against Mid-American Conference competition, but then the health issues began to have an on-field impact.

Hoeppner had brain surgery to remove a tumor in December 2005, but recovered quickly, missing just one month of work.

In September 2006, a MRI revealed a spot on his brain. The initial hope was that it was scar tissue from the previous procedure. Hoeppner even asked his doctors if he could delay surgery until after the season and after Indiana played in a bowl game. His doctors advised him to have surgery immediately.

Hoeppner missed two games, both coached by Lynch. The Hoosiers lost both of them, but the good news at the time seemed to be that doctor’s thought it was scar tissue that they found.

Indiana fell to 2-3, but in the middle of the Big Ten season the Hoosiers won three of four to move to 5-4, including a victory over No. 13 Iowa. With three games to go, Indiana was one win away from its first chance at a bowl since 1993.

Alas, it didn’t happen. Heavy defeats to Minnesota and Michigan set up a win-or-else game at Purdue for bowl eligibility.

Indiana came close against an eight-win Purdue team. The Hoosiers, stymied by four lost fumbles, still pulled within two in the final quarter, but a late Boilermakers touchdown denied Hoeppner and the Hoosiers in a 28-19 loss.

“I don’t know if I’ve felt as bad for a group of guys as I feel for this group of guys. They’re taking it so hard that we don’t get to play together one more time,” Hoeppner told the Indiana media after the game. “I’m proud of the team. Sometimes in football as in life, you don’t get what you want, it’s how you respond. For the guys who are coming back … we fight on.”

Those words would take on far more poignance as 2007 played out.

In March 2007, it was announced that Hoeppner would miss spring practice. Lynch took over. As the year rolled on and Hoeppner did not recover and had additional hospitalizations, Indiana was put in a bad spot.

On June 15, athletic director Rick Greenspan promoted Lynch to interim head coach.

“For the past several months, Terry Has received chemotherapy and radiation treatments. This battle requires us to focus our energy and attention on aiding his recovery in every way we can,” Jane Hoeppner said in a statement.

Four days after Lynch was named as interim head coach, Hoeppner died at Bloomington Hospital. He was 59.

“I was thinking positive. When they told me he had passed away, I didn’t want to believe it,” Indiana cornerback Terry Porter said.

Indiana was in mourning, but football would eventually be played. When it was? The Hoosiers were on a mission.

Year One

October 27, 2007; Madison, WI, USA; Indiana Hoosiers head coach Bill Lynch watches from the sidelines during the game against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium. The Badgers defeated the Hoosiers 33-3. Mandatory Credit: Photo By Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports Copyright (c) 2007 Jeff Hanisch / Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports

Lynch, 53, was head coach at Ball State from 1995-2002. There were mixed reviews. The Cardinals won the 1996 Mid-American Conference title, but also lost 21 straight games during Lynch’s tenure.

No one was really thinking about that very much as the 2007 season approached. Indiana coaches, players and fans just wanted to carry on the progress that Hoeppner had made.

“There’s no doubt it’s the overriding motivation,” Lynch told the Bloomington Herald-Times, citing Hoeppner’s “Play 13” (as in games to be bowl eligible) mantra. “We don’t need to tell the players that. That’s there already.”

Lynch made no effort to replicate Hoeppner’s enthusiasm.

“I can’t replace Terry. He was truly a unique guy, his enthusiasm, his charisma. You’ve got to be yourself,” Lynch said.

Indiana had assets. Quarterback Kellen Lewis returned. So did running back Marcus Thigpen and wide receiver James Hardy, the leading rusher and receiver from 2006. Starters returned across the defense, too.

Indiana burst out of the gate. The Hoosiers started 3-0, suffered a home loss to Illinois, but then defeated Iowa and Minnesota to ascend to 5-1.

This time, Indiana had six chances to reach bowl eligibility, but it would get dicey. The defense fell off badly in defeats against Michigan State, Penn State and Wisconsin. Indiana gave up 121 points in the trio of losses.

Ball State’s visit to Memorial Stadium offered Indiana the chance to accomplish their mission. A 21-point second quarter lifted the Hoosiers to a 38-20 win over Lynch’s former team. Indiana was eligible to be bowl-bound.

Students serenaded the Hoosiers with Terry Hoeppner chants. The Hoeppner family joined in the postgame celebration.

“We have taught our kids all year to put no limitations on themselves and this is strictly Hep,” Lynch said.

Indiana would cap the regular season with a 27-24 home win over Purdue, a needed victory as it turned out, as the bowl eligible field was large in 2007 and the Hoosiers could have been left out despite having six wins.

But with a 7-5 record, the Hoosiers were invited to play in the Insight Bowl against Oklahoma State. The mission was completed. The Cowboys won 49-33 at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Ariz., but Lynch helped Hoeppner’s goal of getting Indiana to a bowl game over the finish line.

“You know, the thing about a bowl game, it’s the beginning and an end,” Lynch said.

He was referring to the end of the careers for Indiana’s seniors, but it proved to be prescient in his own case, too.

Lynch had the interim tag removed after the season, but it would never be as good again. Lynch was 19-30 in four years at the helm, but in 2007? He got the mission accomplished for the Hoosiers.

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