Things are finally taking a turn for the better for Indiana football. Senior linebacker John Pannozzo has witnessed first-hand the influence first-year Hoosier head coach Terry Hoeppner has already made in Bloomington.
"Just the attitude and the enthusiasm he's bringing to the Hoosier nation," Pannozzo said. "When I say that, I mean the town, the team, the student body. He's just trying to get everybody involved in IU football."
Pannozzo's excitement is shared by many in the Hoosier state. Indiana's 3-0 start to the 2005 campaign is its best since 1994, and Hoeppner has brought the winning attitude his teams at Miami of Ohio had, to Bloomington. In their last game, two weeks ago against Kentucky, the Hoosiers played in front of a home crowd of 40,240 — larger than any attendance at Memorial Stadium last season.
"Our fans at the last home game were fantastic," Hoeppner said. "I am looking forward to continuing to improve. The parallels to our football team and football program are similar. The team continues to get better, while the program continues to pick it up.
"This needs to be a hot ticket," he added. "It should be a special time. Going to a school like Indiana University, part of your experience should be to spend Saturday evenings at Memorial Stadium with your friends making memories. You want to come back and enjoy homecomings, to remember those days when the team was fun to watch."
While at Miami, Hoeppner enjoyed quite the run, leading the RedHawks to a 48-25 mark over six years. The highlight of his tenure came in 2003, when star quarterback Ben Roethlisberger led Miami to 13-1 record, a MAC Championship and a No. 10 ranking in the Associated Press final rankings. Hoeppner endeared himself so much to the late-blooming Roethlisberger that the now-Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback called him "a second father."
"I think he's brought really a positive and enthusiastic attitude," Wisconsin head coach Barry Alvarez said. "You know, Terry is excited. That's the job he wanted. He grew up in Indiana. That's the job that he wanted and [he] is very excited about it. He's been there. He's coached. He's worked his way up through the ranks, been a successful Division I coach at Miami of Ohio, and so he knows how to win."
Alvarez's words are high praise for Hoeppner, who said prior to the year that Wisconsin's resurgence under the former Notre Dame assistant was something he planned to attempt to mirror at Indiana. And after spending an off-season and the first three games of the year under him, Hoeppner's players appear to be buying into his plan.
"He's real enthusiastic," Pannozzo said. "He's a proven winner. He's brought a whole new attitude to Bloomington, a whole new attitude to the team. He's a great guy."
Pannozzo is practically a case study in the changes affected by first-year Hoosier head coach Terry Hoeppner. Prior to Hoeppner's arrival, the Brooklyn, N.Y., native lined up in the Hoosier offensive backfield, totaling 28 yards rushing and 375 receiving as a fullback. However, this spring he made the move across the line of scrimmage and assumed his current spot in the middle of the IU linebacking corps.
The move has paid off quite nicely for Pannozzo and the Hoosiers through the season's first three games, in the form of a team-leading 21 tackles and two forced fumbles for the senior. The transition didn't take too long, either. Against Central Michigan, in just his first game playing linebacker, Pannozzo earned Big Ten player of the week honors after recording three tackles-for-loss to go along with a sack and a forced fumble.
"I played eight years of linebacker in my life," Pannozzo said. "From fifth, sixth grade to senior year of high school I was primarily a linebacker. Of course it's not the same as playing at the college level, but I did have some background."
Pannozzo and the Hoosiers will now look to take Hoeppner's reclamation project on the road when they travel to Madison this Saturday. The weekend will serve as the biggest litmus test of the young season for the Hoosiers, who have yet to play a Big Ten conference game.
"We've been watching them on film a lot," Pannozzo said of the Badgers. "They're a hard, physical team. They're going to run the football; they're a tough team. Coach Alvarez, that's the type of teams he has, very hard, good teams. And I'm fired up for the challenge."
