June 19, 200719 yr A tragedy he was a good man who could have led IU back to respectability. God bless him and his family and all of the team.
June 19, 200719 yr Unfortunately cancer seems to always find the good folks. I began rooting for IU when he took over the program. Hard not to root for a guy like him.
June 20, 200719 yr RIP Coach Hep. I was shocked to hear that he passed this morning. I didnt know that he was in such dire straits of being near death. I had heard there were some complications and so forth, but never expected this, so quickly. Had a passion...the coaching fraternity will surely miss him.
June 20, 200719 yr From Lonnie Wheeler (best writer in Cincinnati) Terry Hoeppner Contrary to popular opinion, what a sportswriter most treasures is not the food in the press box. It's a coach who answers his own phone. We loved Terry Hoeppner. We knew, of course, about the tumor that had been removed from his temple in 2005, a year after Indiana University hired him away from Miami. We knew that he'd been on medical leave since March. We didn't know he would die today, at the age of 59. He wasn't the type to let on, to elicit sympathy, to occasion any kind of melancholy. Hoeppner was a young 59 -- lively, upbeat and fiercely determined. He was, by all accounts, what a football coach is supposed to be. In two seasons at Indiana, he went 9-14 and left no doubt that he had the Hoosiers on the right track. In six seasons as head coach at Miami -- after 19 years as an assistant -- he led the RedHawks to a 57-39 record and consecutive bowl games (2003 and 2004). It was prior to the first of those that, calling unannounced, I reached him in his Oxford office to talk about Miami's inability to attract a BSC bowl bid after going 12-1. And his answer was the candid, comprehensive kind -- Hoeppner could be colorful, as well, when the scenario called for it -- that encouraged guys like me to call him back again and again. "In a perfect world," he said, "we'd be playing in a major-paid bowl game this year. I read where all the teams ranked ahead of us and four of the teams ranked below us are going to major-paid bowl games. Instead of making enough money to pay for our trip, it would be nice to be able to help the rest of the athletic department. "But here's what I can't argue with. Our football team is worthy, but we have to keep developing our football program. It's more than the team; it's the fans, the alumni, the students, all of those things. We've taken a quantum leap this year. We've had 99 percent capacity for our home games. Our applications for the university are up 46 percent. Merchandise sales are up 24 percent. It's hard to quantify the ESPN factor; it's hard to understand the significance of three and a half hours of infomercial. It's had a very dramatic, very tangible effect in recruiting. We've been rewarded." The coach was nevertheless flattered that one computer analyst, Jeff Sagarin, had the RedHawks rated as high as third in the nation after their 12 straight victories. "I don't know Jeff Sagarin," Hoeppner said, "but I like the guy. He must be a Miami grad." Hoeppner, for the record, was not a Miami grad. But I liked the guy. A lot. We all did. http://frontier.cincinnati.com/blogs/lonniewheeler/2007/06/terry-hoeppner.asp#links
June 20, 200719 yr Author Reading more and more and talking to some poeple today. It's absolutely amazing how in two short years this man left such an indelible mark on the University of Indiana, it's fans, students, and administration. The good really do die young!
June 20, 200719 yr I am quite saddened by this...my first feeling was shock...then complete respect as this great man seemed to have his life play out and end on his own terms...which I am quite sure we all would like to do.
June 20, 200719 yr Hard to believe he passed just a few days after the announcement of the assistant coach taking over for '07. In a years time Bo, Randy Walker and Hep all pass, three very good coaches.
June 20, 200719 yr Author http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/columns/story?columnist=maisel_ivan&id=2909527
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