I would have love to have played for Self if I had any talent at
basketball, he seems to be cool dude. All I have seen is 10 Big 12
Championships in 11 yrs, he must be doing something right. I hope he never
leaves.
Bill Mallory Michigan State Lockerroom 1987
Bill Mallory speech to Michigan State players after MSU beat Indiana to clinch the berth to the Rose Bowl in the 1987 season.
Mallory DID NOT GO OVERBOARD. I talked with Bloomington Police and they
told me that when they caught a player messing up they did not take them to
jail, they took them to Mal's house - no matter what the hour. The police
told me the problem would be cleared up and the kid would be straightened
out. No more problems with him. They also told me that with Mal's
successors, the just locked the kid up. Its not messing up, it is building
men. Sometimes strong men need strong talk.
Man, that is SO fantastic - I just love it! To come into the lockeroom of a
team that just beat your team soundly to go to the Rose Bowl, and be so
complimentary and so upbeat - WOW!! I shared this with my 17-year old last
night, a couple of nights after MSU finally prevailed and is going to a
Rose Bowl after 26 LONG years! He thought it was amazing that Coach Mallory
did such a great, classy act. I'll always remember that, and it is firmly
entranced in MSU football lore.
These were the great years for IU football. We beat each Michigan and Ohio
State in '87. Mallory was a great coach but I know a secret about him. He
punched out a player once, Steve Bradley the quarterback after the Missouri
game when IU was 4-0. Bradley and some buddies had been out drining in
Bloomington when they got home and they got picked up by the cops. It is a
long story. Anyway, Mallory went overboard, just like Knight and Woody
Hayes before him. It cost him.
Coach Mal was the best!, and his record shows it. 6 bowls in 8 years, he
beat Michigan, won 2 straight vs. O$U, and was in charge of the best years
of Indiana football. I commend him for staying with the IU program even
after Brand fired him for all of the wrong reasons. Mal is the best, and we
here at Indiana will never see anyone as good. Hep was close, but Mal still
is on top. He ran his program with class, graduated his players, and won
football games, enough said.
I know from source on the team that Mallory just beat the shit out of Steve
Bradley after the victory over Missouri. Bradley had a great game and
immediately the annoucners were talking NFL. Well Bradley and some buddies
got drunk back in Bloomington and Mallory went off, beating the crap out of
Bradley in front of the whole team the following morning. Mallory was our
greatest coach. He was a real football guy but you just can't do that shit.
And think of how agonizingly close Indiana came to winning the Big Ten
title that year ('87). In late October, IU went to Iowa City and got beat
by the Hawkeyes, 29-21, but they actually led that game early in the 4th
quarter, 21-20. If the IU defense holds off Iowa for the rest of the way,
it's the Hoosiers, not the Spartans, who are headed to Pasadena for the '88
Rose Bowl. They were THAT close.
You're right, my mistake. If Indiana had beaten Iowa, the Hoosiers would've
finished at 7-1 in the conference -- MSU finished at 7-0-1, so the Spartans
still would've won the title. NOW...if MSU had lost to Iowa instead of
beating the Hawks by 5 points in early October, then Indiana would've been
7-1, MSU would've been 6-1-1, and IU would've gone to Pasadena.
Mallory took no shit, expectations were set, and very clear. If you F'd up,
he let you know. Different times, but he was respected by all of his
players, and not necessarily feared, just respected. Wasnt just Bradley he
punched, he got into it with many players that deserved it for doing stupid
chit, but like I said, different times. Great coach, good man.
I really wish someone could post the video of this game on youtube. I
cannot find it anywhere. I would really like to see the actual game, I have
not seen it since it actually took place in 87. I really wish someone could
post it on youtube or somewhere else.
@davidallenroth Thompson got screwed??? Let's not get carried away here.
That season Barry Sanders put up the most dominant rushing numbers in the
history of college football... To say his Heisman win was well-deserved
would have been an understatement.
@inguy22 Fair enough. In a normal year Thompson might have won. But Andre
Ware set 26 records that season. Ware is better remembered for being one of
the greatest NFL busts, but the numbers he put up in college were
ridiculous.
watching iowa and indiana on b10 network right now. i was in 4th grade and
remember the name anthony thompson. i miss those old iu uniforms as well.
bill mallory teased us with alittle winning at iu lol
Bill Mallory is a fine man. He is still a key part of IU football. All of
us associated with IU are better for knowing Coach Mal. This clip is a
small example of what a class act he was (and is).
That is so rad, cool, classy, emotional, and moving. I like how he is
honest and he might have helped MSU by supporting them! Plus he was the
best MSU coach I have seen in the last 20 years.
My parents were at this game and they said it was nuts. They still talk
about this speech as it was played on all the local sports news broadcasts
after the game. Very classy...
Bob Knight did in 2000 after a hard fought game the IU won but MSU still
went on to win the Big Ten. Told Izzo they had a special team and gave him
advice.