Friends, colleagues react to Hoeppner's death

College athletics was rocked Tuesday morning by the passing of IU football coach Terry Hoeppner.\nHoeppner had only been IU’s head coach for two years, but he left a lasting impression on those who coached against him in the Big Ten.\n“The Big Ten Conference, along with our institutions, coaches and student-athletes, are greatly saddened by the passing of Terry Hoeppner,” Big Ten Commissioner James E. Delany said in a statement. “In his time in Bloomington, we came to know Terry as a great leader of young men and an important member of the Big Ten coaching community.”\nBefore coming to IU, Hoeppner was the head coach at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio. During his six seasons at Miami, the Redhawks had a 48-25 record with two bowl appearances. \n“Terry was a mentor,” Miami coach Shane Montgomery said in a statement. “I wouldn’t be where I am today without him being a mentor to me. Everybody knew what a great coach he was, but he was a great person. He was a great person to be around. He was a coach’s coach and a player’s coach and had a great attitude about everything. I know he was fighting until the last day, and that’s just the type of person he was.”\nIn 2003, Hoeppner’s most successful year as a head coach, Miami finished with a 13-1 record and was ranked 10th in the Associated Press poll. That season the Redhawks were led by Ben Roethlisberger, now an NFL quarterback for the Pittsburgh Steelers.\n“Coach Hoeppner has inspired me to be who I am today,” Roethlisberger said in a statement. “He has been a second father, a teacher and a friend. He believed in me and I owe everything to him for where I am in life. I hold the deepest love and respect for him, his wife Jane and their family. He has been a role model for so many young men. I aspire to be as honorable and touch as many lives as Coach Hep. I will miss him more than words can describe.”\nNorthwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald remembers Hoeppner’s words after the death of then-Wildcats coach Randy Walker. Hoeppner was an assistant coach under Walker and preceded him as head coach at Miami. Walker died on June 29, 2006 of an apparent heart attack.\n“Northwestern is deeply saddened to hear of the passing of Terry Hoeppner,” Fitzgerald said in a statement. “Our thoughts are with his family, the Indiana University community and everyone who was touched by this great man. Terry was a coach with outstanding character, a great love for the game and his players, a tremendous motivator and an ideal family man. We all remember the moving reflection he gave at Coach Walker’s memorial service just less than a year ago. Like Coach Walk, he was one of the great role models in our coaching profession. This is a truly sad day for college football.”\nPenn State coach Joe Paterno never faced Hoeppner, as the Nittany Lions had been off the Hoosiers’ schedule for the past two seasons. Hoeppner was still able to impress Paterno in his interaction with him, however.\n“I admired him as a person and a football coach,” Paterno said in a statement. “I wasn’t around him a whole lot since we haven’t played Indiana (the past two years), but during the time I spent with him at Big Ten meetings, you could see that he was a very honest and courageous person.”\nPurdue coach Joe Tiller remembers Hoeppner as a competitor both on and off the field.\n“As a staff and as a program, we are deeply saddened to hear of Coach Hoeppner’s passing (Tuesday) morning,” Tiller said in a statement. “I know Hep was a fierce competitor, and he battled an unforgiving disease. Our thoughts and prayers continue to go out to Jane and their family and the Indiana University community. We hope they find comfort in knowing that he is no longer in pain and is in a much better place.”