Journal-News.com

I'm feeling pretty dismayed and discouraged right now, having been informed of the passing of Indiana University football coach Terry Hoeppner. I'm also thinking that, in doing so, I'm doing a disservice to his memory.

Because not once in the 20 years of having known the former Miami University coach did I hear him utter a single word of dismay or discouragement.

Concern and anger? Sure, especially on the morning of Sept. 11, 2001, when the former Miami University head football coach, a man who was never shy about sharing his patriotic fervor any time, any place, showed up for his weekly Tuesday press conference but was obviously preoccupied during the shortened, somewhat tense session by the notion that his country was under attack. At that moment he was a soldier ready for war.

Terry, as a matter of fact, was a man ready for anything except for the possibility of ultimate failure.

The late Randy Walker was largely responsible for bringing Miami's football program back to respectability and to the brink of greatness in the 1990s, with a giant assist from his No. 1 assistant coach, Hoeppner, who built the RedHawks' defense into an annual powerhouse. It was no fluke that Miami's record with Hoeppner as Walker's defensive coordinator was 32-11-1.

When Walker left for Northwestern, however, RedHawk fans still were waiting for that last piece of the puzzle, for a bowl game, for the championship.

It was Hoeppner who brought it home.

And thus began, through the sheer strength of his of his insistently upbeat personality — plus a decision to open up Miami's offense and, with the help of assistant coach Shane Montgomery, give Ben Roethlisberger the weapons and opportunity to become an authentic juggernaut — the second golden age of Miami football.

Some coaches play a role, whether they're trying to fire up their players or sweet talk the media or convince a recruit or glad hand a wealthy alumnus.

With Terry, though, the cheerful words and smiles and handshakes not only were authentic, they were intensely personal, and it was the same with his wife, Jane, whose own strength of character was equal to that of Terry.

I was never more moved, in fact, by the sight of Jane Hoeppner walking up to me and clutching my hands in the funeral parlor following my mom's death a few years ago, and by her words of apology that Terry, who was in the midst of the season, was unable to pay his respects at the visitation as well.

That's only one reason why my world seems a little less bright today. I've lost a friend, and college football has lost one of its best people.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2197 or pconrad@coxohio.com.