Indiana Football Coaches, The First Year: For Sam Wyche? It Was The Only Season

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

The cover of the 1983 Indiana football media guide was very much of its time. It features one-year coach Sam Wyche and the short-lived flying IU logo. The object in the bottom right corner is a drawing of the Metz Carillion. / Indiana athletics

It seemed like a strange hire at the time. In hindsight, it still does.

Sam Wyche – Indiana football coach. This after Wyche had spent his entire post-NFL playing career as an assistant coach in the professional ranks ... and his best-known years as a head coach in the pro ranks. It stands as a historical footnote for both the Hoosiers and the coach.

It was the first time Indiana turned to the professional ranks to try to change its football fortunes. It wouldn’t be the last, but it would be the briefest experiment.

Why change?

Lee Corso’s progress toward transforming Indiana into a winning program started slowly after he was hired in 1973. By 1976, there was speculation that Corso had to show some progress or else. The Hoosiers responded with a 3-3 start, and Corso was given a contract extension.

By 1979, things began coming together in a more meaningful way. Indiana started 3-0 and won their first two Big Ten contests.

The Hoosiers would not beat a ranked team – a 27-21 loss at No. 10 Michigan still resonates as a sore spot as the Wolverines scored on the last play of the game via a 45-yard Anthony Carter touchdown. Corso thought Michigan illegally manipulated the clock with a backward pass out of bounds just before the winning play.

However, the season ended happily as Indiana made just its second bowl appearance. In a shootout with high-flying BYU in the Holiday Bowl, Tim Wilbur’s 62-yard punt return touchdown in the fourth quarter provided a thrilling winning score in a 38-37 victory and an 8-4 record for the Hoosiers, their best since 1967.

Indiana would not reach those heights again with Corso. After a 6-5 season in 1980, the Hoosiers faded. After the 1982 season, Corso was not retained. He finished a colorful era in Bloomington with a 41-68-2 record.

A five-person committee was formed to find his replacement.

Names such as Bloomington native Dick Tomey, then at Hawaii and later known for coaching Arizona, were mentioned. So was former Notre Dame coach Dan Devine and then-Tulsa boss and later Ohio State coach John Cooper.

In the Christmas Eve edition of the Indianapolis Star, reporter John Bansch mentioned that Indiana might turn to the pro ranks. Among the names mentioned were Hank Kuhlmann, Lindy Infante and Jerry Glanville, all of whom would later be head coaches in the NFL.

No one saw Wyche coming.

Enter Wyche

Indiana football coach Sam Wyche stands on the field at Memorial Stadium in 1983. / Indiana University Arbutus

Wyche may not have been on the public’s radar, but Indiana athletic director Ralph Floyd had a relationship with the 37-year-old early in his career.

Wyche’s lone college coaching experience was as a graduate assistant at South Carolina in 1967. This was before Wyche had established himself as a back-up quarterback with the Cincinnati Bengals in the early days of their existence. Floyd was on-staff with Wyche for the Gamecocks.

Wyche had impressive NFL credentials. He was on Bill Walsh’s staff with the San Francisco 49ers – he was quarterbacks coach at the time he was hired – and was part of their Super Bowl XVI championship staff just a year before he came to Bloomington.

Moreover, there was a recent example of a NFL assistant succeeding in the Big Ten. Illinois coach Mike White was quarterbacks coach under Walsh before Wyche, and he revived the Fighting Illini’s fortunes. Illinois got back into Big Ten contention with quarterback Tony Eason, and one year after Eason left, the Illini would win the Big Ten title in 1983 with Jack Trudeau running the show.

Two days before he was hired, Wyche told the Indianapolis Star he was pondering  the offer.

“It’s not a question of whether I could do it or not, but I wonder if I would get into it and dislike it so much I’d regret the decision,” Wyche said.

Whatever concerns Wyche had in that moment were allayed. He took the Indiana job on Jan. 7. He frequently cited Walsh’s influence, saying his former boss encouraged him to take a college job. Walsh himself did the same thing when he left Paul Brown’s Cincinnati Bengals staff to coach at Stanford in the mid-1970s.

“I’m here because I’ve looked at it thoroughly. I’ve talked to everyone I know and respect in football who would answer me straight,” Wyche said when introduced as coach.

“Most of the people I talked to told me I couldn’t win here, that it's a basketball school, that Bob Knight has everyone pulling for him, that other sports were winning, but that football was a low-status sport,” Wyche said.

“But when I asked them if there was any one barrier to winning, there was silence,” Wyche said.

Year One

Indiana football coach Sam Wyche gives instructions to his team, including quarterback Steve Bradley (10). / Indiana University Arbutus

Wyche’s one season as head coach seems like a unicorn. Indiana introduced its short-lived “flying IU” helmet design, complete with a color scheme that was as close to actual cream-and-crimson as any football uniform since.

It was also the last season college football had the state of Indiana to itself. The Indianapolis Colts would move from Baltimore in the spring of 1984.

Wyche would install what is now called the West Coast offense and a “jailbreak” defense. He also made a big decision at the start of his season by naming Steve Bradley as quarterback over fifth-year senior Cam Cameron.

Indiana defeated Duke 15-10 in its opener, but quickly fell to 1-3. Wins over Minnesota and Michigan State came next, and as promised, the Hoosiers were scoring at a good clip. Indiana scored 62 points combined in the wins over the Golden Gophers and Spartans.

One innovation Wyche introduced at Indiana? He occasionally used a no-huddle offense and is believed to be one of the first to try it at any level of coaching.

The defense? It never got on track. Indiana lost its final five contests, giving up 40 or more points in four of them. A 31-30 near-miss loss to Purdue ended the season on a downbeat 3-8 note. Still, Wyche maintained his optimism.

“This is not the end of a season. It’s the start of an era,” Wyche said after the Purdue defeat.

Yeah about that. Wyche would soon blaze his coaching trail in the NFL as he high-tailed it out of Bloomington to Cincinnati ... where Wyche is far-more remembered as head coach of the Bengals.

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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.