Like Father, Like Son: How Indiana State Coach Curt Mallory Embraces Bill Mallory's Values

Indiana State and coach Curt Mallory are taking on coach Tom Allen and the Indiana Hoosiers this Friday at Memorial Stadium. Curt is the son of legendary Indiana football coach Bill Mallory, and he's preparing for taking on his Father's former team by embracing the lessons Bill taught him.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Curt Mallory had his mind made up. He wanted to take the head coaching job the Indiana State Sycamores were offering him in December of 2016. 

But before he accepted, he wanted to check with one more person. He wanted to ask his dad — the late, great Bill Mallory. 

Curt, then the defensive backs coach for Wyoming, met his dad for dinner in California, where Wyoming was preparing for the Poinsettia Bowl. As Curt started to seek his advice, Bill interrupted as soon as "Indiana" came out of his son's mouth. 

"Go for it," Bill said. 

No one ever loved Indiana, both the school and the state, quite like Bill Mallory. He coached the Hoosiers from 1984-96 and racked up 68 total wins and six bowl game appearances, more than any other coach in IU history. Even after Bill was fired following a 3-8 season in '96, Curt said, his love for the school remained the same. 

The younger Mallory will be in Bloomington this Friday when Indiana State takes on coach Tom Allen and the Indiana Hoosiers inside Memorial Stadium. Most of the headlines are focused on Curt playing his first game against the school where his dad coached for so long. 

People want to know what this game means to Curt. He's more focused on what it means to his players. That's what his dad taught him about coaching — the job isn't about you, it's about the team and the school. 

"He never stopped loving Indiana, and he never stopped supporting Indiana, because it was about the players, and it was about the program," Curt said. "He would never allow anyone to say anything negative about the program, or whoever the coach was that was behind them. It wasn't about him, it was always about the players in the program, and that's going to be my approach."

Indiana football coach Bill Mallory on the sidelines for a game against Illinois in 1990. Mallory led the Hoosiers from 1984-96, and is the school's all-time winningest football coach.  / © RVR Photos-USA TODAY Sports

Bill was thrilled at the thought of his son returning to the state of Indiana, according to Curt. Obviously, the Mallory family is most closely connected with IU. Bill is a program legend, and all three of his sons — Mike, Doug and Curt — worked as graduate assistants for him at Indiana after playing their college football at Michigan for coach Bo Schembechler. 

Doug and Curt both returned to Indiana even after their dad was fired. Doug served as Indiana's co-defensive coordinator under coach Kevin Wilson from 2011-13. Curt was the defensive backs coach in Bloomington from 2002-04 under coach Gerry DiNardo. 

In no sport do coaches receive more media attention than football. There's drama between coaches and schools — either as past or present employers — all the time. Sometimes when a head coach gets fired, he swears never to return, and assistants loyal to him join in resistance. 

Not Bill Mallory. He was still cheering for IU after he got the boot midway through the '96 season, forced to finish the final three games of his 13th year knowing he had already been fired. Years later, he was still happy to see both Curt and Doug return to the sidelines in Bloomington. 

"Sometimes when that happens, there's bitterness, but that was never my dad," Curt said. "He never stopped supporting Indiana. Even when I was on Coach DiNardo's staff and got fired again, he never wavered in his support."

"Obviously, he didn't agree with us getting fired, but it was never about that. He never lost his love for Indiana football, ever."

Though Indiana State obviously isn't one of the flagship schools of the state, Curt still feels like he's home in Terre Haute. One of the first things he did when he became coach of the Sycamores was change the non-conference FBS for the upcoming seasons. Out went scheduled games against Georgia, West Virginia and Florida International. In came Ball State, Purdue and Indiana. The state is special to him and the entire Mallory family, and he wanted those close regional matches on a regular basis. 

He and his dad felt a kinship to the people of Indiana. It's part of the reason he's close now with coach Allen. Curt first met the now-Indiana head coach when Allen was coaching Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, nearly two decades ago. 

Allen approached Curt and asked him whether he should try to get into college coaching.

"I told him, 'Of course, go do it, you'd be awesome,'" Curt said, and a year later Allen was coaching defensive backs at Division III powerhouse Wabash. "We've come full circle now, and gotten really close since then."

"I have a son right now that's playing for me, and I wouldn't have it any other way. But if my son wasn't going to play for me, then he was going to play for Tom Allen. That's the kind of respect I have for Tom."

Curt Mallory has been the Indiana State football coach since 2017.  / © Jamie Rhodes-USA TODAY Sports

Given the two school's close proximity (Terre Haute and Bloomington are separated by just more than 60 miles), there are always going to be connections. They range from Indiana State players Maddix Blackwell and Tyree Rochell having played at Bloomington South, to Larry Bird infamously leaving IU as a freshman to go play for the Sycamores. 

Fans are not locked in on Saturday's game for what's going to happen on the field. It's generally considered to be a game between a below-average FBS squad and a below-average FCS squad. But the Mallory name draws Indiana football fans like moths to a flame. It's been discussed all week, and likely will be mentioned on the TV broadcast probably 30 times or more. 

Curt acknowledged a lot of memories will come back to him in Memorial Stadium. From watching his dad's teams to being a graduate assistant for the 1993 Indiana Hoosiers, which will be honored at Friday's game. 

But he's still focused on the lesson his Dad taught him — this game is about his players, not him. It's about Indiana State, not Curt Mallory. 

Just like it wasn't about Bill Mallory. It was about Indiana, and the football program he loved so dearly. 

"He never stop supporting them and wishing for them to do well," Curt said. "Even when he was fired midway through the 1996 season, nothing changed. He wanted to finish the season, and he wanted to finish it the right way. Because it was about the program, not him. And that's just one of the many lessons I learned from him."

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