Indiana Football Coaches, The First Year: Tough Start For Bill Mallory, But It Would Get Better

This is the latest in a series of how Indiana football coaches fared in their first season in Bloomington.

Indiana football coach Bill Mallory shouts instructions during spring practice in 1984. / Indiana University Arbutus

Indiana football has had many low moments. After all, this is a program with 27 seasons in which it had a winning percentage of .250 or less, and every decade has had at least one of those seasons since the 1920s.

However, you could make an argument that the end of the 1983 season was when morale for the Hoosiers football team hit bottom.

Indiana thought it had its man for the future when it hired San Francisco 49ers quarterbacks coach Sam Wyche. But the Hoosiers were blind-sided when the Cincinnati Bengals recruited Wyche for its head coaching job. Wyche flew the coup after just one season in Bloomington.

It was a big blow for the program, and Indiana seemed further than ever from consistent winning.

Darkness comes before the dawn, they say. Wyche’s brief stay turned out to be a blessing in disguise. The next man to lead the Hoosiers would have sustained success in a way few coaches before him or certainly after him could claim.

Bill Mallory was coming to town.

Why change?

There was no public indication Wyche could leave after the 1983 season. He was at Indiana through most of December. Indiana athletic director Ralph Floyd was on vacation when the events occurred that set Wyche’s departure into motion.

On Christmas Eve, Cincinnati Bengals coach Forrest Gregg left to coach the Green Bay Packers. Always a favorite of Bengals owner Paul Brown, Wyche was the only candidate he interviewed.

“He was the man we wanted from the beginning,” Brown said.

Wyche couldn’t resist the overtures from his mentor.

“I thought long and hard about leaving Indiana, because they were good to me and I will always be grateful for the chance they gave me,” said Wyche, who also said he “cried” over the decision. “It’s a career ambition to be an NFL head coach and coming back to Cincinnati is like going home.”

The decision was a shock to Indiana’s supporters and administrators. Indiana faculty representative Jack Wentworth, who was part of the committee that hired Wyche and who would help hire his replacement, said Wyche’s decision would put the IU football program back to the dark ages.

Enter Mallory

Indiana coach Bill Mallory gives instructions during the 1984 season. / Indiana University Arbutus

Indiana was in scramble mode. A meaningful search didn’t commence until Floyd returned from vacation, nearly a week after Wyche left.

The options were not overwhelming. Mallory, by now coaching at Northern Illinois after successful stints at Miami of Ohio and Colorado, was mentioned as a speculative candidate after Wyche left.

Mallory had been considered for the Indiana top spot before. In 1972, when he was in the midst of his success at Miami, Mallory was interviewed for the job Lee Corso ultimately got.

Indiana wasted little time identifying Mallory as its man this time around. Though Indiana looked at Nevada coach Chris Ault and John Meyer, a former Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator who was nearly hired when Wyche got the job, Mallory was hired on Jan. 5.

Mallory, 48, was wooed by an influential figure. Directly after Wyche left Indiana, Mallory got a call from men’s basketball coach Bob Knight. He relayed the conversation in his introductory press conference.

“Are you interested in the job?” Mallory said Knight asked him. “At first I thought I was being put on. The call caught me off guard … I didn’t even know Wyche had left.”

“He told me how sold he was on the university. He told me a lot of the things I wanted to hear,” Mallory recalled.

Mallory became interested after Floyd interviewed him in Chicago a few days later.

“To be honest, I never really understood why Indiana hasn’t been more of a winner. There are a lot of plusses here, a lot to build from, and that’s why I feel challenged,” Mallory said.

Like Knight, Mallory valued academics and discipline. While Mallory was not as tempestuous as Knight , their shared values created a synergy in the mission of both programs.

Oddly enough, Mallory’s replacement at Northern Illinois was Corso, coach of Indiana as recently as the 1982 season.

Mallory had a 99-50-1 career record before he took over the Indiana job. His winning ways would be tested to the limit early in his tenure in Bloomington.

Year One

One change that was previewed during Mallory’s introductory press conference? The cream-and-crimson uniforms and the “flying IU” helmet logo were on Mallory’s hit list.

“Cream just doesn’t do anything for me. And the logo? I saw Indiana play Kentucky on TV and couldn’t make it out. That’s one thing I’m not sold on.”

The 1984 Indiana football team. / Indiana University collection

Under Mallory, Indiana would revert back to crimson uniforms and the block “I” helmets, a look Mallory would re-establish as a winning one.

However, that seemed a world away in 1984. Indiana did have 15 starters back from the 1983 season, including quarterback Steve Bradley.

However, Mallory would revert to a new offense from Wyche’s West Coast style and the adjustment period proved to be difficult, especially since Indiana lacked experience in the offensive line.

Most of all? Indiana’s defense was poor under Wyche, and the legacy of that would carry into the 1984 season.

Indiana lost to both Duke and Kentucky to start the 1984 season. The 48-14 loss to the Wildcats had Mallory down a bit.

“I was hoping it would be a lot better than this,” Mallory said after the defeat.

Big Ten play offered no respite from the losing, but maybe a bit of hope. An opening loss at Northwestern was followed by a moral victory in a 14-6 home loss to No. 14 Michigan.

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Bill Mallory talks about the 1984 Hoosiers after a 24-20 home loss to No. 17 Iowa.

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The Hoosiers would lose their next four games by no more than nine points. However, the worm never turned. Heavy defeats to Big Ten powers Ohio State and Illinois followed.

“People say, ‘Don’t get discouraged.’ Well, I don’t get discouraged, I get frustrated. I don’t like to lose. I despise losing. I despise it. I never have liked it and I won’t ever get accustomed to it,” Mallory told the Indianapolis Star after the Illinois loss.

Indiana had one last chance to avoid an 0-11 season, but a 31-24 loss at Purdue left the Hoosiers winless for the first and only time in program history.

“I know our record is 0-11, but I’m just as proud of this team as if it had gone 11-0,” Mallory said after the loss to Purdue.

Indiana coach Bill Mallory talks with his team during the 1984 finale at Purdue's Ross-Ade Stadium. / Indiana University Arbutus

Indiana’s defense was once-again sieve-like, giving up 30.7 points per game. Mallory’s run-oriented offense hadn’t clicked yet. No one player rushed for more than 268 yards.

All of the above was exacerbated by the fact that coaching changes in the previous two seasons hindered Indiana on the recruiting front at a time when the December-January period was all-important.

It was an inauspicious start for Mallory, but Indiana didn’t waver in its commitment to him … and it would eventually pay off. He would be Indiana’s most successful post-McMillin coach with a 68-78-3 career mark and six bowl appearances.

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• FIRST-YEAR COACHES, BERNIE CRIMMINS: Bernie Crimmins was the hot name from Notre Dame, but the Hoosiers never lifted off under his leadership. CLICK HERE.

• FIRST-YEAR COACHES, PHIL DICKENS & BOB HICKS: Phil Dickens was hired in 1957 ... and then never coached a game. Big Ten recruiting violations put Bob Hicks in place as "coach-in-charge" for one rough season. CLICK HERE.

• FIRST-YEAR COACHES, PHIL DICKENS, PART DEUX: Phil Dickens finally takes charge. Winning follows, but it didn't last as the NCAA was on the prowl to give Indiana one of its most severe sanctions in its history. CLICK HERE.

• FIRST-YEAR COACHES, JOHN PONT: The ex-Miami of Ohio and Yale coach got a literal black eye when he took the Indiana job and got a metaphorical one in his first season, but it would get better. CLICK HERE.

• FIRST-YEAR COACHES, LEE CORSO: Just as quick with a quip as a head coach as he is as a TV commentator, Indiana fans needed the laughs in the early 1970s. CLICK HERE.

• FIRST-YEAR COACHES, SAM WYCHE: A one-year wonder for the Hoosiers, the Wyche Era is a real unicorn in Indiana's football history. CLICK HERE.