• The Walk\nHoeppner started a pregame tradition where the team took a bus to the Woodlawn Fields across from Memorial Stadium. They left the bus and greeted fans before walking together across the street to Assembly Hall. At Assembly Hall, they turned left toward Memorial Stadium, and entered to the locker room through a gauntlet of fans.
• The Rock\nHoeppner brought a three-ton slab of limestone, cast away during the construction of the current Memorial Stadium, to the north endzone. Both the piece of limestone and the stadium became known as “The Rock,” begetting one of Hoeppner’s rallying cries to increase attendance, “Defend the Rock!” The team would gather around and touch The Rock before coming on to the field.
• Victory Celebrations\nAfter home victories, Hoeppner would bring the team to the student section of Memorial Stadium and lead the band and students in a rendition of the IU Fight Song. After some of IU’s bigger wins, he and players would enter the stands and celebrate with students.
• Big Wins\nHoeppner won several notable games in his two years at IU. He beat then-No. 13 Iowa in 2006, the first Hoosier victory over a Top 15 team since 1987. He defeated Illinois on the road that same year, snapping a 17-game road losing streak in the Big Ten. IU also defeated rival Kentucky the year before, in Hoeppner’s only IU-Kentucky game.
• Play 13\nHoeppner coined the motto “Play 13,” referring to IU’s quest to make it’s first bowl game since 1993. The motto, which was put onto rubber bracelets and given to students in 2005, was part of one of Hoeppner’s last e-mail messages to the team, when he urged his players to “defend The Rock, and play 13.”
