Mallory, head coach at Indiana, Colorado, dies at 82

Bill Mallory, who led Colorado to the Orange Bowl and became the winningest football coach in Indiana history, has died from a brain injury suffered in a recent fall. He was 82.

Indiana announced Mallory’s death on Friday, a day after his son, Indiana State coach Curt Mallory, posted on Twitter his father was in hospice care following emergency brain surgery earlier in the week. Curt Mallory said his father was injured in a fall on Tuesday.

Curt Mallory tweeted on Friday Bill Mallory “passed away peacefully” earlier in the day, surround by extended family.

Bill Mallory went 69-77-3 and took Indiana to six bowls from 1984-96. Indiana has only played in 11 bowl games in its history. Mallory’s blunt assessments and earthy phrases made him a favorite around Bloomington, Indiana, where he was perfect complement to basketball coach Bob Knight.

In 1987, Mallory became the first to win the Big Ten’s coach of the year award in consecutive years. Mallory was 168129-4 overall as a head coach with stops at Miami (Ohio), his alma mater, Colorado and Northern Illinois.

At Colorado, Mallory’s team won a share of the Big Eight championship in 1976 and reached the Orange Bowl, where the Buffaloes lost Ohio State. But he was fired two seasons later after going 35-21-1 over five years.

“A hard-nosed tough coach, who demanded that toughness from his players,” said Brian Cabral, who played for Mallory at Colorado. “I have all the respect for instilling that in me.”

Mallory was raised in Sandusky, Ohio, and went on to become a star two-way player for Hall of Fame coach Ara Parseghian at Miami. He later coached under Woody Hayes at Ohio State before returning to Miami for his first head coaching job. He went 39-12 at Miami, including an 11-0 MidAmerican Conference championship team in 1973.

That helped land him the Colorado job. He landed back in the MAC with Northern Illinois in 1980 and after going 10-2 in 1983 he took over at Indiana.

Mallory became a revered figure around Bloomington, where he continued to live and stay active with the program long after his firing in 1996.

Of course, it didn’t hurt to have the popular longtime basketball coach Bob Knight — a philosophical twin — on his side. While Knight often preached about academics and sticking to the rules, Mallory concurred and often talked about the need to find the right players.

“I was confident that Bill Mallory was a winner, and he’s proved it,” Knight told Indiana students during a 1986 football pep rally. “He deserves your support, because we need coaches like him, willing to work hard and play by the rules.”