Indiana Football Coaches, The First Year: Oasis Of Calm In Phil Dickens Redux Before The NCAA Hammered The Hoosiers

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

Indiana football coach Phil Dickens is carried off the field after a 34-8 victory over Marquette on Oct. 15, 1960 at then-new Memorial Stadium. It was the lone bright spot in an otherwise doom-filled year for Indiana. The Hoosiers finished 1-8, but worse, the entire athletic department was placed on probation in April 1960 for football recruiting violations. / Indiana University Arbutus

The 1957 season was a disaster in every sense for Indiana football. New coach Phil Dickens was suspended before a game was played for violating the Big Ten’s new recruiting rules. “Coach-in-charge” Bob Hicks inherited an inexperienced roster with little depth and the Hoosiers were pummeled week-to-week in a 1-8 season. It was the Hoosiers’ 10th straight losing season.

Despite it all, Indiana stood by Dickens. If anything, support for the suspended boss was stronger than it would have been otherwise. Many Indiana fans thought the school was treated harshly by the Big Ten. The Hoosiers rallied around their suspended coach and the administration backed him despite the embarrassing situation.

There would be a Phil Dickens era at Indiana … and it would be eventful and impactful well beyond the confines of the gridiron.

Back In The Saddle

After the 1957 season concluded, there was no guarantee Dickens would be allowed back by the Big Ten. His suspension came from the league office, but the only way Big Ten commissioner Kenneth “Tug” Wilson could enforce it was to go through the Indiana athletic department. Threatened with expulsion from the conference, Indiana abided by Wilson’s decision.

On Dec. 12, 1957, the Big Ten reinstated Dickens.

Dickens spoke guardedly about the Hoosiers’ prospects in 1958 in a speech in front of the Indiana alumni banquet five days after he was reinstated.

He made note of the new Memorial Stadium – ground would be broken in 1958, saying it would account for “30 or 40% of recruiting boys.”

Year One

Dickens’ predecessors – Clyde Smith and Bernie Crimmins – stumbled in their first seasons, but Dickens would buck that trend.

Not that he had much faith entering the season. The Hoosiers had 20 returning lettermen, but they returned from a one-win team.

“We may be a trifle better than we were last year. Just a trifle,” Dickens told the Evansville Press in September 1958. “Our team speed isn’t there. We’re a long way from where we’d like to be.”

The schedule didn’t portend success. Like 1957, Indiana would play ranked teams in three of its first four games.

There was a hint of good things for Indiana in its opener at No. 5 Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish won 18-0, but the Hoosiers trailed just 6-0 at halftime.

Dickens’ first win came in a 13-12 victory over West Virginia in Bloomington the following week. Ted Smith had touchdown runs of 55 and 47 yards to lift the Hoosiers. But the Hoosiers were just 1-3 after four games.

Then Indiana turned things around. In a four-game stretch, the Hoosiers knocked off Miami of Ohio, Minnesota, Michigan State and Michigan … all of the games won by six points or less.

“It’s like a dream. These kids just keep playing over their heads, Saturday after Saturday. I just don’t understand how they do it,” Dickens told the Indianapolis Star after the Michigan victory.

Indiana’s defense was stout. None of the Hoosiers’ opponents in its four-game win streak scored more than a touchdown.

The Hoosiers capped their season with a 15-15 tie against No. 8 Purdue at Ross-Ade Stadium. It was the first time the Hoosiers had avoided defeat against the Boilermakers since 1947.

Indiana finished 5-3-1 and 3-2-1 in the Big Ten, good for fifth place. Dickens had never had a losing season in his career to that point.

The Big Ten did not have an official Coach of the Year Award in 1958. If it had, Dickens would have been an odds-on favorite to win it. He finished third in the American Football Coaches Association national vote.

Things were finally looking up for the Hoosiers, but it wouldn’t last.

NCAA Brings Hammer Down On Indiana

The promising start did little to take scrutiny away from Dickens. Recruiting violations were still suspected.

The bombshell came in April 1960 – and the ripple effect would have ramifications for Indiana well beyond the football program.

After the Big Ten levied a suspension against Dickens in 1957, the NCAA had largely stayed out of that specific case, apart from putting Indiana on probation in 1958. But the NCAA kept its eye on Indiana.

It found that Indiana was allegedly giving recruits bonuses of up to $800. The NCAA was particularly incensed given that five of the violations came in 1958, when the Hoosiers were on probation.

A headline from the April 27, 1960 Indianapolis News. The sanctions Indiana athletics received due to football recruiting violations were front page news. /

On April 27, the NCAA lowered the boom. Indiana University was placed on a four-year probation,  the most severe penalty ever placed on a single school.

Note that it wasn’t “football” placed on probation, but “Indiana University” – the entire athletic department.

For a four-year period, no Indiana team could appear in NCAA postseason play – even though  the recruiting violations were solely from the football program.

The Hoosiers were barred from sharing in any Big Ten television revenue and fined $85,000.

This time the Big Ten – which conducted its own investigation and found no wrong-doing – appealed to the NCAA on Indiana’s behalf. Indiana lobbied for the league to pull out of the NCAA entirely.

“Let’s face it. We’re dead unless the Big Ten decides it’s had enough of the NCAA and their star chamber sessions,” said an unnamed Indiana recruiter to the Indianapolis Star.

Dickens was back on the hot seat going into the 1960 season. His continued employment was contingent on a Big Ten vote, which he didn’t get until July 31, 1960.

Once again, Indiana rallied to Dickens’ cause, but the ramifications of the probation were far-reaching.

It wrecked the final years of Branch McCracken’s time as basketball coach. Indiana’s planned new arena next to Memorial Stadium was put on-hold.

The Hoosiers played in the New Fieldhouse, supposed to be a temporary facility, for all of the 1960s and into the early 1970s before Assembly Hall was finally opened.

Football never recovered under Dickens. From 1960-64, Indiana never won more than three games and went 3-28 in Big Ten games. As the losing continued, fan and university support eroded. Dickens resigned in December 1964 with a 20-41-2 record at Indiana.

Related stories on Indiana football

• FIRST-YEAR COACHES, PART 1: Clyde Smith had the unenviable task of following program legend Bo McMillin. CLICK HERE.

• FIRST-YEAR COACHES, PART 2: Bernie Crimmins was the hot name from Notre Dame, but the Hoosiers never lifted off under his leadership. CLICK HERE.

• FIRST-YEAR COACHES, PART 3: 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.