Filed under: Indiana, Big 10, Coaching
Bill Lynch has been fired as football coach at Indiana University. The move was announced at a press conference by athletic director Fred Glass. Lynch's tenure at Indiana was four full seasons, though he also coached a few games in 2006 when the late Terry Hoeppner was battling the illness that eventually claimed his life. Lynch gained steam as the head coach after the 2007 season, when the Hoosiers went 7-6 and to the Insight Bowl. It was the first bowl game for the Hoosiers since 1993, under Bill Mallory.
Of course, the flip side to that is the 2007 team was basically Hoeppner's. Lynch was handed the team after the untimely death of the very popular coach. Since that season, the Hoosiers have gone 12-24, with a 1-7 conference record in each of the three seasons.
The move wouldn't have been surprising at all had the Hoosiers not won at Purdue Saturday to bring back the Old Oaken Bucket. Still, the 5-7 (1-7) record just wasn't enough progress for Lynch after having four seasons.
The chore now for the Hoosiers is to find a coach who can thrive in the shadow of the historic and beloved basketball program. The facilities have been significantly upgraded in the past few years and there's a good amount of football talent to grab in the midwest. Of course, there is the problem that football will never be better than No. 2 at Indiana and you're competing with Notre Dame and Purdue in state, as well as several midwest football powers in the area like Ohio State. Cam Cameron and Gerry DiNardo failed before Lynch did the same. Hoeppner's brief stint should illustrate there is some hope to at least be a lower-tier bowl team, however.
A name like Brady Hoke at San Diego State, who previously succeeded at Ball State in Muncie, Ind., comes to mind as a fit, but anything beyond Lynch being gone is pure conjecture at this point.
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Source: http://ncaafootball.fanhouse.com/2010/11/28/bill-lynch-reportedly-fired-at-indiana/
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