Play Thirteen

When I got to work this morning, an email from Tradd was waiting for me:
"It has been confirmed by Hoosier Nation that Coach Hep passed away this morning. IU should be releasing a statement sometime this morning. What a truly sad day for IU..."

My heart sank. I had to check the IU athletics website to confirm it. Sure enough, IU head football coach Terry Hoeppner died this morning due to complications from the brain tumor he had removed 18 months ago. He was 59.

What a horrible day. I'm sick to my stomach, and I feel like there's a void that just can't be filled. I know I've sung Hep's praises before, but it's hard to truly understand just how much he meant to IU unless you are an IU football fan. You just couldn't understand. This was the guy we've been waiting for. This was the guy we needed. After nearly 15 years of futility, he was supposed to be the one who would lead us to the promised land; the one who was to pull us from this black hole our football program has been in since the early '90s. He came in to Bloomington two years ago with an enthusiasm about IU football that no coach had ever had. The man called IU his dream job. Do you know how hard it is to find a legitimate coach whose dream job is the IU football coaching job? The IU football community was abuzz.

Coach Hep was the perfect ambassador for a program that hasn't seen a winning season since 1994 or a bowl game since 1993. His excitement couldn't help but rub off on people. In a basketball-leaning state and university, someone like Terry Hoeppner is exactly the shot in the arm that the football program needed. The man could sell a slab of ribs to a vegan. As the billboards said, "Coach Hep Wants You" and, as the t-shirts said, "Coach Hep Got Me." In his first season, attendance was up 39%, season ticket sales were up 46%, and student season ticket sales were up 110%. He brought in "The Rock" -- a three-ton chuck of limestone left over from when Memorial Stadium was built in 1960, which now sits north of the north end zone -- which is now the focal point of the team's pre-game ritual and the inspiration for Hep's slogan, "Defend the Rock." He started "The Walk," a pregame ritual where the team buses drop the team off beside the tailgating fields 2 hours before game time, and they walk to the stadium through the fans. After each home victory, he started a tradition of leading the team to the student section and singing the fight song. Hell, he helped convince the university to renovate Memorial Stadium to close off the north end into a horseshoe and build a state-of-the-art training center and student-athlete academic center attached to the stadium.

He believed -- and more importantly convinced the players and fans to believe -- that IU could "play thirteen." That was his mantra, and they came pretty damn close last season. They beat a top 15 team for the first time since 1987 (after which, Hep called the IU program a "shooting rocket"). They won a Big Ten road game for the first time since 2001. They overcame deficits of 14, 16, 18 to win games that past IU teams may have lost by 30 or 40. While they fell one game short of a bowl berth, two of their losses (both 7-point losses at home to teams we should have beaten) came while Hep was sidelined because of a follow-up brain surgery. The man had his second brain surgery in less than a year and took only TWO weeks off. That's an indication of how much he loved the game and how much of a competitor he was. He didn't know how to give less than everything. Needless to say, there was so much promise for the 2007 season, especially with 16 starters coming back.

In the back of my mind, I've been fearful that this day would come sooner rather than later. After the end of last season, I was speaking with a fellow alum whose parents have been season ticket holders for many years and are "in the know." He said that Coach Hep's health was a lot worse than Hep lead on, and that Hep probably wouldn't coach another game for IU. I refused to believe it. I refused to let my plans for Hoeppner to become the winningest coach in IU history be dashed by some non-believers' pessimism. I just wanted to say, "You know what? Fuck you for telling me that. I've bided my time. I went to every single home game when I was in college and law school. I've missed four home games in the past 11 seasons. Since I got to Bloomington in the fall of 1996, all I've wished and hoped and prayed for is that we would go to a bowl game, even if it's the Motor City Bowl. I suffered through the last year of Mallory. I suffered through the Cam Cameron era of underachievement. I suffered through the DiNardo debacle. But now the man who's going to get us over the hump is finally here. IU football is finally heading in the right direction, and so help me God, you will NOT take that away from me." It turns out God has taken that away from me.

It absolutely kills me thinking about a man with such charisma and lust for life spending his last moments in such a weak physical state. Tradd and I were lucky enough to have met him last August at the IU Football Kickoff here in Chicago. Even then (just a month or so before he missed the aforementioned 2 games), he seemed a little bit off. He was still energetic and enthusiastic and inspiring, but just a little off. Regardless, I'll cherish this picture.

In closing, I am saddened for so many reasons: saddened for Hep's wife, Jane; saddened for his children; saddened that his grandchildren will never again be able to hang out with Grandpa Hep; saddened because 85-90 players are without their coach; saddened because IU lost a great ambassador; saddened because every time I'll look at The Rock from now on, I'll think of Coach Hep; saddened because I've never before seen an IU football coach give 110% like he did; saddened because I'm not sure if anyone else ever will again; and saddened because -- selfishly -- I'm scared of what this will mean for IU football. Hep's passing will mean one of two things for the program: (1) it will galvanize the team and the coaches, leading to success on the field and Hep will be remembered as the "man who saved IU football"; or (2) this will set IU back another several years. For Hep's legacy, I sincerely hope it's the former, since he deserves it. There's nothing I would love more than for the team to play thirteen this year for Coach Hep. Lord knows I'll be there, whether it's Detroit, Orlando, El Paso, or Pasadena, and Lord knows Coach Hep will be there, watching from above with an ear-to-ear grin on his face as the "shooting rocket" he launched continues to rise. Rest in peace, Coach Hep.

For a nice little video tribute by one of the Indy news stations, click here. ESPN.com also has a video about him. Here is a YouTube photo montage, set for some reason to Green Day's "Time of Your Life."