Former IU football Coach Bill Mallory has been placed in hospice care after undergoing brain surgery due to a fall he sustained Tuesday, according to his son, Indiana State football Coach Curt Mallory.
Mallory’s son tweeted an update on his father’s health on Thursday.
“Sadly, there has been no improvement and hospice care has begun,” Mallory said in the tweet. “All your love and prayers are so very appreciated.”
Mallory ended his coaching career at IU in 1996 as the program's all-time winningest head coach with 69 wins. He still owns that record today.
Throughout his career, which featured head coaching stops at IU, Miami (OH), Colorado and Northern Illinois, Mallory finished with 168 career wins.
He is perhaps best remembered for helping a once dormant program rise to prominence in the Big Ten during his stint in Bloomington from 1984-1996. After taking over for Sam Wyche in 1984, Mallory took the Hoosiers to new heights, guiding the team to six bowl game appearances. They would win two of those, defeating South Carolina in the 1988 Liberty Bowl and Baylor in the 1991 Copper Bowl.
Mallory would also help IU to top 20 rankings in both 1987 and 1988, becoming the first coach to win back-to-back Big Ten Coach of the Year honors in 1986 and 1987 in the process.
Along with being inducted into the IU Athletics Hall of Fame in 2002, he is a member in the Hall of Fames at Miami (OH) and the Mid-American Athletic Conference.
A number of former players and individuals associated with the IU football program used Twitter to share their thoughts on Coach Mallory after the news Thursday.
Former NFL quarterback Trent Green, who played for Mallory from 1989 to 1992 and started on the 1991 Copper Bowl winning team, said his thoughts and prayers were with Mallory and his family.
“Praying for one of the best men I’ve ever known,” Green said in a Twitter post. “He helped mold thousands of young men through the game of football. He’s had a lasting impact on my life and countless others. Integrity, toughness and hard work only begins to describe Bill Mallory.”
Current IU Coach Tom Allen took to Twitter as well.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with Coach Mallory and his family,” Allen said in a Twitter post.
Murphy Wheeler
