Bill Lynch (born June 12, 1954) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with ...

coach. He was most recently the head football coach at

DePauw University DePauw University is a private liberal arts university in Greencastle, Indiana. It has an enrollment of 1,972 students. The school has a Methodist heritage and was originally known as Indiana Asbury University. DePauw is a member of both the G ...

, a position he held in 2004 and re-assumed in December 2012 until his retirement after the 2019 season. Lynch also served as the head football coach at Butler University (1985–1989),

Ball State University Ball State University (Ball State, State or BSU) is a public university, public research university in Muncie, Indiana. It has two satellite facilities in Fishers, Indiana, Fishers and Indianapolis. On July 25, 1917, the Ball brothers, indust ...

(1995–2002), and

Indiana University Bloomington Indiana University Bloomington (IU Bloomington, Indiana University, IU, or simply Indiana) is a public university, public research university in Bloomington, Indiana. It is the flagship university, flagship campus of Indiana University and, with ...

(2007–2010). He was inducted into the

Indiana Football Hall of Fame The Indiana Football Hall of Fame is a sports museum and hall of fame in Richmond, Indiana. It honors persons associated with high school, college and professional American football in Indiana. It also works to establish scholarships and endowments ...

in 2005.

High school and college

Lynch graduated from Bishop Chatard High School in

Indianapolis Indianapolis (), colloquially known as Indy, is the state capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the seat of Marion County. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the consolidated population of Indianapolis and Marion ...

in 1972. He moved on to Butler University where was a four-year letterwinner as the

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

for the football squad and a captain of the basketball team. He quarterbacked the football team to a 28–12 record, led the nation in pass percentage in 1975, and often jokes that he "held" Larry Bird to 42 points in his final college basketball game.

Early coaching career

After graduating from Butler, Lynch spent seven seasons as an assistant there, where his positions included wide receivers coach, quarterbacks coach, recruiting coordinator, and

offensive coordinator An offensive coordinator is a member of the coaching staff of an American football or Canadian football team who is in charge of the team's offense. Generally, along with the defensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator, this coach re ...

. He then moved on to Northern Illinois University to assist former

Indiana University Indiana University (IU) is a system of public universities in the U.S. state of Indiana. Campuses Indiana University has two core campuses, five regional campuses, and two regional centers under the administration of IUPUI. *Indiana Universit ...

coach Lee Corso for the 1984 season as the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator. During the winter of 1984, Lynch followed Corso and coached quarterbacks for the Orlando Renegades of the short-lived USFL. In 1985, Lynch returned to Butler for five seasons as head coach. In four of those five years, his teams finished in the Top 20 Division II Poll. Lynch was then hired at

and worked from 1990 to 1992 as the quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator before heading to Bloomington for the 1993 and 1994 seasons as quarterbacks coach for Bill Mallory's

Indiana Hoosiers football The Indiana Hoosiers football program represents Indiana University Bloomington in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football and in the Big Ten Conference. The Hoosiers have played their home games at Memorial Stadium since 1960 ...

team. In 1995, Lynch returned to Ball State as head coach. His most successful year in Muncie came in 1996 when Lynch's

Cardinal Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

s went 8–4, won the

Mid-American Conference The Mid-American Conference (MAC) is a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I collegiate athletic conference with a membership base in the Great Lakes region that stretches from Western New York to Illinois. Nine of the twel ...

title, and played in the Las Vegas Bowl. Lynch was let go as head coach after the 2002 season. After a year off, Lynch was hired as the head coach at

. He led the Tigers football team to an 8–2 record and was named co-

Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference The Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference (SCAC), founded in 1962, is an athletic conference which competes in the NCAA's Division III. Member institutions are located in Colorado, Louisiana, and Texas. Difficulties related to travel distanc ...

Coach of the Year in his only season as head coach.

Indiana University

Following his 2004 campaign at DePauw, Lynch resigned his duties as head coach to join long-time friend

Terry Hoeppner Terry Lee Hoeppner (August 19, 1947 – June 19, 2007) was an American college football coach who served as head coach of the Miami RedHawks from 1999 to 2004 and the Indiana Hoosiers from 2005 to 2006. Shortly after announcing that he would be o ...

, who had been hired as head coach at Indiana. There Lynch assumed the positions of assistant head coach, offensive coordinator, and

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Like ...

s coach. Under Lynch in 2006, the Hoosiers offense scored their most points since 2001 and quarterback Kellen Lewis enjoyed one of the best freshman seasons in school history. In the spring of 2007, when Hoeppner took a leave of absence to attend to his health, Lynch took over spring practices and the daily work of head coach indefinitely. As Hoeppner's illness became worse, Lynch was named interim head coach for the 2007 season. Four days after this announcement, on June 19, Hoeppner died from complications of brain cancer. In his first season as head coach, Lynch led the 2007 Hoosiers to a 7–6 record, the best for any Hoosier head coach in his first year since 1905 and the best record for an Indiana football team since 1993. The Hoosiers also earned their first bowl berth since 1993 with an invitation to the Insight Bowl to play

Oklahoma State Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New M ...

. After much speculation, Lynch signed a contract extension to coach the Hoosiers through 2012. The 2008 Indiana team was hampered by a number of injuries. Against

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, the Hoosiers were forced to play three quarterbacks and four

centers Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics * Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

. 13 starters in total were injured during the year. Still, Lynch was able to pull in the one the strongest recruiting classes in recent history. 2009 showed marked improvement on the field, although the record ledger failed to show it as the team took 4th quarter leads into three Big Ten road games before falling short. During Lynch's tenure, the players established a Player's Leadership Council, which elect weekly game captains and select the community service organizations the team volunteers with. The Boys and Girls Club of Bloomington and Riley Children's Hospital of Indianapolis are two favorite causes of the team. On November 28, 2010, it was announced that Lynch would not return for the 2011 season.

Later coaching career

After being let go by Indiana, Lynch became the associate athletic director at his alma mater, Butler University in Indianapolis. He held this position for nearly two years before being hired as the head football coach at

in Greencastle, Indiana. Lynch previously held this position for the 2004 season, leading the Tigers to an 8–2 record. Lynch replaced interim head coach Scott Srnka, who was promoted after Robby Long was fired mid-season. The 2013 Tigers opened with four losses but won four of their final six games, finishing 4–6. DePauw improved to 7–3 in 2014, finishing third in the NCAC, then took a second place conference finish in 2015 with an 8–2 mark, repeating that in 2016 and 2017. He retired after the 2019 season with a final coaching record of 145–122–3.

Family

Lynch and his wife, Linda, have four children. His son, Billy, is an assistant coach at

Delta High School (Muncie, Indiana) Delta High School, also known as the University of Delta High School, is a public high school located northeast of Muncie, Indiana. The school serves about 800 students in grades 9 to 12. The towns of Eaton, Albany, DeSoto, and Royerton are als ...

. Another son,

Joey Joey may refer to: People *Joey (name) Animals * Joey (marsupial), an infant marsupial * Joey, a Blue-fronted Amazon parrot who was one of the Blue Peter pets Film and television * ''Joey'' (1977 film), an American film directed by Horace ...

, is the quarterbacks coach and passing game coordinator for

Vanderbilt University Vanderbilt University (informally Vandy or VU) is a private research university in Nashville, Tennessee. Founded in 1873, it was named in honor of shipping and rail magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt, who provided the school its initial $1-million ...

. His youngest son Kevin is the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach at

. All three played college football. They also have a daughter, Kelly, and eighteen grandchildren.

Head coaching record

References

Additional sources

NYTimes – Out of Uncertainty, A Coach Brings Success

External links

*
Butler profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lynch, Bill 1954 births Living people American men's basketball players Ball State Cardinals football coaches Butler Bulldogs football coaches Butler Bulldogs football players Butler Bulldogs men's basketball players DePauw Tigers football coaches Indiana Hoosiers football coaches Northern Illinois Huskies football coaches Orlando Renegades coaches Coaches of American football from Indiana Players of American football from Indianapolis Basketball players from Indianapolis Bishop Chatard High School alumni