Indiana football has had its fair share of lows. After all, this is a team with 27 seasons in which it had a winning percentage of .250 or less, and there has been at least one such season in every decade since the 1920s.
However, one could argue that the morale of the Hoosiers football team reached its lowest point at the end of the 1983 season.
Indiana thought it had found its man of the future when it hired San Francisco 49ers quarterback coach Sam Wyche. But the Hoosiers were blindsided when the Cincinnati Bengals hired Wyche as their head coach. Wyche left after just one season in Bloomington.
This was a major blow to the program, and Indiana seemed further away from consistent winning than ever.
Darkness comes before the dawn, as they say. Wyche’s brief stay proved to be a blessing in disguise. The next man to lead the Hoosiers would have had a sustained success that few coaches before him, or certainly after him, could claim.
Bill Mallory came to town.
Why change?
There was no public indication that Wyche might leave after the 1983 season. He was in Indiana for most of December. Indiana athletic director Ralph Floyd was on vacation when the events took place that set Wyche’s departure in motion.
On Christmas Eve, Cincinnati Bengals coach Forrest Gregg left the team to coach the Green Bay Packers. Wyche, who has always been a favorite of Bengals owner Paul Brown, was the only candidate he interviewed.
“He was the man we wanted from the beginning,” Brown said.
Wyche could not resist his mentor’s advances.
“I thought long and hard about leaving Indiana because they’ve been good to me and I’ll always be grateful for the opportunity they gave me,” said Wyche, who also said he “cried” over the decision. “It’s a career goal to be an NFL head coach and coming back to Cincinnati is like coming home.”
The decision came as a shock to Indiana supporters and administration. Indiana faculty representative Jack Wentworth, who was part of the committee that hired Wyche and would help find his successor, said Wyche’s decision would send the IU football program back to the dark ages.
Mallory’s performance
Indiana was in a panic. A serious search did not begin until Floyd returned from vacation, almost a week after Wyche left.
The options were not overwhelming. Mallory, who is now the coach at Northern Illinois after successful stints at Miami of Ohio and Colorado, was mentioned as a speculative candidate after Wyche’s departure.
Mallory had been considered for the top spot in Indiana before. In 1972, when he was at the height of his success in Miami, Mallory was interviewed for the job that ultimately went to Lee Corso.
It didn’t take Indiana long to identify Mallory as its man for this one. Although Indiana chose Nevada coach Chris Ault and John Meyer, a former Green Bay Packers defensive coordinator who was nearly hired when Wyche got the job, Mallory was hired on Jan. 5.
Mallory, 48, was courted by an influential figure. Immediately after Wyche left Indiana, Mallory received a call from basketball coach Bob Knight. He recounted the conversation in his introductory press conference.
“Are you interested in the job?” Knight asked Mallory. “At first I thought I was being kidded. The call took me completely by surprise… I didn’t even know Wyche had left.”
“He told me how much he believed in the university. He told me a lot of things I wanted to hear,” Mallory recalled.
Mallory’s interest was piqued after Floyd interviewed him in Chicago a few days later.
“Honestly, I never really understood why Indiana hasn’t won more. There are a lot of positives here, a lot to build on, and that’s why I feel challenged,” Mallory said.
Like Knight, Mallory placed a high value on academic achievement and discipline. While Mallory was not as impulsive as Knight, their shared values created a synergy in the mission of both programs.
Curiously, Mallory’s successor at Northern Illinois was Corso, who was still Indiana’s coach during the 1982 season.
Mallory had a career record of 99-50-1 before taking the job at Indiana, and his winning streak was tested to the limit early in his tenure in Bloomington.
Year One
One change announced during Mallory’s induction press conference? The cream and purple uniforms and the “Flying IU” helmet logo were on Mallory’s list of dislikes.
“Cream just doesn’t mean anything to me. And the logo? I saw the Indiana-Kentucky game on TV and couldn’t recognize it. That’s one thing I’m not convinced about.”
Under Mallory, Indiana returned to purple uniforms and block “I” helmets, a look that Mallory would once again establish as winning.
In 1984, however, that seemed a long way off. Indiana was able to bring back 15 regular players from the 1983 season, including quarterback Steve Bradley.
However, Mallory had to rely on a new West Coast-style offense from Wyche and the adjustment period proved difficult, especially because Indiana did not have sufficient experience on the offensive line.
More importantly, Indiana’s defense was weak under Wyche, and the consequences of that would continue to be felt in the 1984 season.
Indiana lost to both Duke and Kentucky at the beginning of the 1984 season. The 48-14 loss to the Wildcats had left Mallory somewhat depressed.
“I was hoping it would be a lot better,” Mallory said after the loss.
Big Ten play offered no respite from the losses, but perhaps a little hope. An opening loss at Northwestern was followed by a morale-boosting victory in a 14-6 home loss to No. 14 Michigan.
Bill Mallory talks about the 1984 Hoosiers after a 24-20 home loss to No. 17 Iowa.
The Hoosiers lost their next four games by nine points or less. But the tide did not turn. Heavy losses to Big Ten powers Ohio State and Illinois followed.
“People say, ‘Don’t get discouraged.’ Well, I don’t get discouraged, I get frustrated. I don’t like losing. I hate losing. I hate it. I’ve never liked it and I’ll never get used to it,” Mallory told the Indianapolis Star after the loss to Illinois.
Indiana had one last chance to avoid an 0-11 season, but a 31-24 loss at Purdue left the Hoosiers winless for the first and only time in program history.
“I know our record is 0-11, but I’m just as proud of this team as if they had been 11-0,” Mallory said after the loss to Purdue.
Indiana’s defense was once again like a sieve, allowing 30.7 points per game. Mallory’s run-oriented offense had not yet fully gelled, with no player managing more than 268 yards.
Making matters worse was that coaching changes in the previous two seasons hampered Indiana’s ability to recruit players at a time when the December/January period was so crucial.
It was an unfortunate start for Mallory, but Indiana stuck with him… and it would eventually pay off. He would become Indiana’s winningest coach after McMillin, with a career record of 68-78-3 and six bowl appearances.
