Terry Lee Hoeppner (August 19, 1947 – June 19, 2007) was an American

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

coach who served as

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

of the

Miami RedHawks The Miami RedHawks are the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I intercollegiate athletic teams that represent Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, United States. Miami is a member of the Mid-American Conference (MAC) East Divis ...

from 1999 to 2004 and the

Indiana Hoosiers The Indiana Hoosiers are the intercollegiate sports teams and players of Indiana University Bloomington, named after the colloquial term for people from the state of Indiana. The Hoosiers participate in NCAA Division I, Division I of the Nationa ...

from 2005 to 2006. Shortly after announcing that he would be on medical leave for the 2007 season, he died of

brain cancer A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and secondar ...

. Hoeppner was a 1969 graduate of Franklin College, where he was a member of the

Phi Delta Theta Phi Delta Theta (), commonly known as Phi Delt, is an international secret and social fraternity founded at Miami University in 1848 and headquartered in Oxford, Ohio. Phi Delta Theta, along with Beta Theta Pi and Sigma Chi form the Miami Triad ...

international fraternity. He played for the Indiana Caps of the Midwest Football League, and

Detroit Wheels The Detroit Wheels were an American football team, a charter member of the defunct World Football League. Founding Soon after Gary Davidson announced the WFL's formation in October 1973, he was approached by a man named Bud Hucul about putting ...

and

Charlotte Hornets The Charlotte Hornets are an American professional basketball team based in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Hornets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division, and pla ...

of the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest t ...

. He owned a 57–39 overall record as a collegiate head coach. He is a member of 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 ...

Family

Terry and Jane Hoeppner had three children: Drew Hoeppner, Amy Fox and Allison Hoeppner. Allison Hoeppner was killed in an automobile accident on September 24, 2016.

Professional career

Hoepper signed with the

St. Louis Cardinals The St. Louis Cardinals are an American professional baseball team based in St. Louis. The Cardinals compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (NL) Central division. Since the 2006 season, the Cardinals ha ...

of the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

as an

undrafted free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

in May 1969. He left the team during training camp due to an injury. He played for the Indiana Caps of the Midwest Football League in 1972. Hoeppner signed with the

Green Bay Packers The Green Bay Packers are a professional American football team based in Green Bay, Wisconsin. The Packers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) NFC North, North division. It ...

of the NFL in 1973, but they released him before the season on August 28, 1973. He played for the

of the

in 1974. The Wheels folded after the 1974 season, and Hoeppner was selected by the

in a WFL dispersal draft in October 1974.

High school coach

Hoeppner was a head coach of

Eastbrook High School Eastbrook High School is a public school located outside Marion, Indiana. The school teaches students from Upland, Washington Township, Matthews, and Van Buren. Description Eastbrook High School is located at 560 S. 900 E. in Grant County, Ind ...

Marion, Indiana Marion is a city in Grant County, Indiana, United States. The population was 29,948 as of the 2010 United States Census. The city is the county seat of Grant County. It is named for Francis Marion, a brigadier general from South Carolina in the ...

(1970–1972),

Pinson Valley High School Pinson Valley High School (PVHS) is a four-year public high school in the Birmingham, Alabama suburb of Pinson. It is the fifth largest of the Jefferson County Board of Education's fourteen high schools. School colors are garnet and gold, and t ...

Pinson, Alabama Pinson is a city in Jefferson County near Birmingham, Alabama, United States, northwest of Center Point. As of the 2010 census, the population was 7,163. History Pinson was incorporated in March 2004. Geography This city is located at (33 ...

(1973–1976), Mullins High School in

Mullins, South Carolina Mullins is a city in Marion County, South Carolina, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 4,663. Incorporated on March 4, 1872, Mullins was named after Col. William S. Mullins, who served as a representative for Marion C ...

(1976–1978) and

East Noble High School East Noble High School is a public high school located in Kendallville, Indiana and is the only high school that is part of the East Noble School Corporation. It serves to educate more than 1,000 students from the cities and towns of Rome City, ...

Kendallville, Indiana Kendallville is a city in Wayne Township, Noble County, in the U.S. state of Indiana. The population was 9,862 at the 2010 census. History Kendallville was laid out in 1849. The city was named for Amos Kendall, 8th United States Postmaster Gene ...

(1979).

College assistant coach

Hoeppner's first job as an assistant coach was at his alma mater, Franklin College, where he served as

defensive coordinator A defensive coordinator is a coach responsible for a gridiron football (American football) team's defense. Generally, the defensive coordinator, the offensive coordinator and the special teams coordinator represent the second level of a team's c ...

. He spent six years there before moving to

Miami University Miami University (informally Miami of Ohio or simply Miami) is a public research university in Oxford, Ohio. The university was founded in 1809, making it the second-oldest university in Ohio (behind Ohio University, founded in 1804) and the 10 ...

as a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, p ...

coach in 1986. After 12 years, Hoeppner worked his way up to assistant head coach and defensive coordinator. He was also able to retain his positions after head coach

Tim Rose Timothy Alan Patrick Rose (September 23, 1940 – September 24, 2002) (unofficial website by long-term correspondent of Rose's) was an American singer and songwriter who spent much of his life in London, England, and had more success in E ...

was replaced prior to the 1990 season by the late Randy Walker. Hoeppner was instrumental in the development of several NFL players, including

JoJuan Armour JoJuan Armour (born July 10, 1976) is a former safety in the National Football League (NFL) and linebacker in the Canadian Football League (CFL). On February 25, 2010, Armour announced his retirement after six seasons in the CFL. He was a high sc ...

, Dustin Cohen, and

Sheldon White Sheldon Darnell White (born March 1, 1965) is an American football executive and former National Football League cornerback. He played college football at Miami Ohio. He was drafted by the New York Giants in the third round of the 1988 NFL Dra ...

College head coach

Miami University

After spending 13 years as an assistant at Miami, Hoeppner became the RedHawks' 31st head coach in 1999. He succeeded Walker, who was named head coach at Northwestern. Hoeppner's first game at Miami was against Walker and the Wildcats, which resulted in a 28–3 Miami victory. Despite the win, his first year was considered by some to be a disappointment. The RedHawks were coming off a 10–1 season, and returned several starters including record-breaking running back

Travis Prentice Travis Jason Prentice (born October 27, 1976) is a former American football running back who played collegiately at Miami of Ohio. Prentice held the NCAA Division I-A record for career rushing touchdowns until it was broken by Wisconsin's Monte ...

, but were only able to post a 7–4 record. The dropoff was attributed in part to Hoeppner's installation of an open passing attack, rather than the running game Walker had used in the past. The change ended up paying dividends later, as Miami earned a 48–25 overall record under Hoeppner and finished among the top three in 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 ...

East in each of his six years at the helm. While at Miami, Hoeppner recruited and signed

Ben Roethlisberger Benjamin Todd Roethlisberger Sr. (; born March 2, 1982), nicknamed "Big Ben", is an American former football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He played college footba ...

by promising to play him at quarterback, whereas other programs were recruiting Roethlisberger as a wide receiver or a tight end. Roethlisberger went on to achieve great success in the NFL as quarterback of the

Pittsburgh Steelers The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional American football team based in Pittsburgh. The Steelers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) North division. Founded in , the Steel ...

. Hoeppner's best season was 2003 when Miami, quarterbacked by Roethlisberger, went 13–1 and finished #10 in the final

AP Poll The Associated Press poll (AP poll) provides weekly rankings of the top 25 NCAA teams in one of three Division I college sports: football, men's basketball and women's basketball. The rankings are compiled by polling 62 sportswriters and broadca ...

Indiana

During his first year as head coach at

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 ...

, Hoeppner tried to resurrect life into the program through his campaign entitled "Coach Hoeppner wants you." Hoeppner and the Hoosiers began the season 4–1 before losing their last six games. After the season, Hoeppner was diagnosed with a brain tumor CSTV Hoosiers page
The following year, the Hoosiers once again started strong, but eventually fell one game short of Hoeppner's goal of reaching a college bowl berth. His oft quoted mantra was "Play 13." In 2007, the inspired Hoosiers succeeded in Hoeppner's goal and became eligible to participate in the

Insight Bowl The Guaranteed Rate Bowl is an annual college football bowl game that has been played in the state of Arizona since 1989. Played as the Copper Bowl from inception through 1996, it was known as the Insight.com Bowl from 1997 through 2001, then ...

. In September

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

, Hoeppner required additional brain surgery, causing him to miss two weeks of the regular season. He returned to the team to coach 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 ...

Death

On March 18, 2007, it was revealed that he would sit out the 2007 spring practices due to health reasons. IU announced in June 2007 that Hoeppner would be on a medical leave of absence for the entire 2007 season and that assistant coach

Bill Lynch Bill Lynch (born June 12, 1954) is a former American football coach. He was most recently the head football coach at DePauw University, a position he held in 2004 and re-assumed in December 2012 until his retirement after the 2019 season. Lynch ...

would serve as head coach. Shortly after the announcement, Hoeppner died from complications from his

Head coaching record

College

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hoeppner, Terry 1947 births 2007 deaths Miami RedHawks football coaches Detroit Wheels players Franklin Grizzlies football coaches Franklin Grizzlies football players Indiana Hoosiers football coaches Midwest Football League (1962–1978) players Charlotte Hornets (WFL) players High school football coaches in Alabama High school football coaches in Indiana High school football coaches in South Carolina People from Allen County, Indiana Coaches of American football from Indiana Players of American football from Indiana Deaths from brain cancer in the United States Burials in Indiana American football safeties