Wednesday, September 22, 2004
These are Days? Browny, you can go on all you want about the "Glory Days" with Bill Mallory. He may have been a good coach in the 1980s and early 90s, but that was when my father was filling my head with stories of Terry Bradshaw, Franko Harris, Dan Marino, and Tony Dorsett, who ruled Pittsburgh and western Pennsylvania during the 70s and 80s. When we made it to Chicago, I have some vague memories of the "great" Vaughn Dunbar, but have no recollection of Anthony Thompson, except through research of Hoosier archives.
You're right, a bowl bid is better than none and Mallory made it to several. But the only memories I have of him were you, me and Max sitting in the stands watching them get pumelled by [insert Big Ten team here] and calling the plays from the stands. Remember when we called the first two series perfectly? And I finally said, "If we know what they are going to run, you know [insert Big Ten team here] does." I also remember a 4th and inches when we were down a lot-a little and Mallory decided to punt. It just wasn't entertaining football.
The most memorable games during the Mallory era that I remember were loses. The loss to Northwestern in 1994 at Homecoming when we were 5-1, which started NU's run to the 1996 Rose Bowl. The loss to Penn State later in 1994 that because Mallory kept his starters in against Paterno's 4th string cost the Nittany Lions the national championship. And the loss to Ohio State in 1996 where more OSU fans showed up than IU fans. It turned out to be the Buckeyes Rose Bowl clincher, which temporarily saved John Cooper's job. The most impressive thing about that team was they didn't let the mob of fans tear down both goal posts.
IU needs more than 1 or 2 good players to win some games. And they will never get them unless they can recruit. And they can't recruit because they never win any games. It seems to be a vicious circle, unless you find some unknown players that turn out good. Antawn Randall El (spelled wrong) filled that void, but ended up not saving the program because his coach forget you need to play defense as well as offense to win games in the Big Ten.
So keep talking about the "good old days" and I'll keep wondering why they want to make improvements to Memorial Stadium when Bloomington South likely could put up a fight against some of the teams they have put on the field lately.
But I continue to hope, just like all the Cubs fans out there...
You're right, a bowl bid is better than none and Mallory made it to several. But the only memories I have of him were you, me and Max sitting in the stands watching them get pumelled by [insert Big Ten team here] and calling the plays from the stands. Remember when we called the first two series perfectly? And I finally said, "If we know what they are going to run, you know [insert Big Ten team here] does." I also remember a 4th and inches when we were down a lot-a little and Mallory decided to punt. It just wasn't entertaining football.
The most memorable games during the Mallory era that I remember were loses. The loss to Northwestern in 1994 at Homecoming when we were 5-1, which started NU's run to the 1996 Rose Bowl. The loss to Penn State later in 1994 that because Mallory kept his starters in against Paterno's 4th string cost the Nittany Lions the national championship. And the loss to Ohio State in 1996 where more OSU fans showed up than IU fans. It turned out to be the Buckeyes Rose Bowl clincher, which temporarily saved John Cooper's job. The most impressive thing about that team was they didn't let the mob of fans tear down both goal posts.
IU needs more than 1 or 2 good players to win some games. And they will never get them unless they can recruit. And they can't recruit because they never win any games. It seems to be a vicious circle, unless you find some unknown players that turn out good. Antawn Randall El (spelled wrong) filled that void, but ended up not saving the program because his coach forget you need to play defense as well as offense to win games in the Big Ten.
So keep talking about the "good old days" and I'll keep wondering why they want to make improvements to Memorial Stadium when Bloomington South likely could put up a fight against some of the teams they have put on the field lately.
But I continue to hope, just like all the Cubs fans out there...
