Grill

Six days before Indiana University football players reported to campus, HSSTM sat down with new head coach and Bishop Chatard graduate Bill Lynch on the dock of his summer home at Heritage Lake. The 1972 City Athlete of the Year and three-sport high school standout has spotted the state of Indiana during his coaching career at the likes of Butler, DePauw and Ball State. We wanted to find out what was on his mind after an emotional offseason at IU, what he plans for the future of the program and how Chatard helped shaped his career. HSSTM: Nice day out here and not a bad view. Would it be fair to say you enjoy having the lake house? Lynch: Absolutely love it. This is actually my last day down here for the summer, I hate to go. But we can come back, my wife (Linda) will be here some and I should be able to slip back, maybe on a Thursday night. HSSTM: You had the coaching staff down a few days ago, how'd it go? Lynch: Well it sounded like a good idea, but of course it rained the whole day. The staff has a bunch of young kids, too, and they would go outside for a little bit and have to come right back in. But we did have a shuffleboard tournament. HSSTM: So you sit here today, the so-called last day of your summer, what's on your mind? Lynch: In fact, I just came up (to the deck) to do some work. I thought I could do that while I listen to the Brickyard. We got together as a full staff last week, just preparing for getting things started. You can't get away from it, but it's better sitting here than doing it anywhere else. HSSTM: Work is work, but there's no question the IU program has had a tough offseason outside of job responsibilities with the passing of coach Terry Hoeppner. How do you reflect on that now? Lynch: Obviously, it was an emotional month of June. It will be emotional when the guys come back next week and it will be emotional when we take the field for the first time. But at least as a football team, we've all been through it together. Hoepp's illness and eventual passing wasn't something that happened abruptly, so it was really a tough year-and-a-half for us. HSSTM: Hoepp was a friend of yours for many years. What will you remember most about him? Lynch: You know, Hoepp's enthusiasm, his passion, his charisma - all those things are what created new passion with Indiana football and got the buzz going. The other thing that he did was, he made the football players and everyone around the Indiana program believe that we could win. I think it had just become an attitude where IU wasn't going to ever win in football, but he created that feeling that we could do this thing. From my experience with him, just our time at IU, that's his legacy. HSSTM: There have been many beloved coaches and figures that somebody has had to follow. Explain a little bit about what it's like to follow in Hoepp's footsteps. Lynch: You can't try to emulate a guy like Hoepp. He was a unique personality, had a unique presence to him. I learned a long time ago in coaching that you can't follow anything, you have to coach within your own personality. HSSTM: So what is your personality, in relation to your coaching style? Lynch: I usually like to leave that kind of thing for people on the outside to judge or evaluate. But I do know this - we can coach this football team. We've all been around this team for 3 years as a staff with this group, and I think the players are comfortable with how we go about things and what's expected. There won't be many surprises and I know continuity and consistency right now is very important to these guys. HSSTM: With all of the emotion surrounding the program, how do you deal with preparation from a football standpoint? Lynch: We talked about this as a staff the other day. We feel like our point of emphasis is taking care of all the little things. The goal has to be to get a little bit better each day. If all we do is look at the big picture, playing 13 games and going to a bowl - we don't have to say that to the players, they know that. But if we take care of all the little things, treat these 29 practices before the first game as a little season in itself, I think the big picture will take care of itself. HSSTM: This season's freshman class has quite a few hailing from Indiana and the Indianapolis area. As far as your recruiting goes, what does this state mean to you? Lynch: Football here in this state, high school football, is so much better than it used to be - it's not even close. We want everything to start here in Indiana and do everything we can to get the best guys here. It's a competitive state because there's not the number of high schools in relation to supporting two Big Ten schools, Notre Dame, two premier programs on either side with Michigan and Ohio State. They're not afraid to come in and recruit some guys. I know there are quality players here and we'll have to compete for them. HSSTM: Speaking of high school football, what do you think of when your days at Chatard come to mind? Lynch: It was a great place to go to school and I was very fortunate to play for some great coaches. Dick Dullaghan would be obvious. My first game as a quarterback, my sophomore year, was his first game as a head high school football coach. I played basketball for Dave Alexander, who went on to be the baseball coach at Purdue for a long time. Basically, I was really fortunate to play for good people. HSSTM: Chatard is a very tight-knit place, between the students and the alumni. You could call it the Chatard Family? Lynch: It is a family type atmosphere. I was one of four in my family that went there; my wife is the oldest of eight that went there. So just within our immediate family, we know it well. I was a neighborhood kid who grew up right down the street and always looked forward to going to school there. And, obviously, some of my closest friends are people my wife and I went to school with. HSSTM: So you have been a head coach for 15 years and have 30 years of coaching experience. One of your sons, Billy, is on your staff at IU. Another son, Joey, just took the offensive coordinator job at St. Joseph's College, while Kevin is still playing at Franklin College. Safe to say you have a lot going on? Lynch: It's been fun that everyone has gotten involved. No doubt football has been a big part of our life and it's certainly kept us busy, kept my wife busy (laughs). She'll spend a great deal of time watching Kevin play since he's the last one on the field. We've always had a philosophy that, as the kids grow up and we have to choose between playing and coaching, we were going to watch the kids that are playing. She'll have quite a few places to go to on Saturday afternoons.