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Hoeppner leaving Hoosiers for second brain surgery
9/12/2006, 6:57 p.m. PTBy MICHAEL MAROT
The Associated Press
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (AP) ? Indiana coach Terry Hoeppner is facing brain surgery for the second time in less than nine months, but still hopes to be back on the football field soon.
Hoeppner, who is in his second season as Hoosiers coach since leaving Miami of Ohio, was to have brain surgery Wednesday morning in Bloomington to remove a possible tumor from the right side of his head. He is expected to miss two to four weeks, during which assistant head coach Bill Lynch will fill in.
Doctors fear it's a recurrence of the tumor they removed in December from Hoeppner's right temple, he said. But nobody's sure whether the growth, detected in a routine scan Friday, is cancerous.Doctors got the results over the weekend but waited to meet with Hoeppner until Monday ? after the Hoosiers erased a 17-0 first half deficit to beat Ball State 24-23, their biggest comeback since 2002, he said.
"We're hoping it's scar tissue, that's what our prayer is," Hoeppner, 59, said during a Tuesday evening news conference.
"I said 'Can we do this in January or February?' And they said that's probably not a smart thing. So I'm deferring to their expertise."
Hoeppner told his players before their afternoon practice. Afterward, receiver Lance Bennett, one of the team's captains, gathered the team in prayer on the field.
"When we got in there and heard that news, it was shocking. ... But he's upbeat, so it doesn't make it as depressing," Bennett said.
Hoeppner spent 19 seasons at Miami, the last six as head coach. He was 48-25 overall and led the RedHawks six straight winning seasons and their first bowl appearance in 30 years.
Jim Tressel, coach of top-ranked Ohio State, said Tuesday that Hoeppner appeared well during a coaches meeting in May and seemed better when they met again in July at the funeral for Northwestern coach Randy Walker, one of Hoeppner's close friends and his predecessor at Miami. Walker died of a heart attack at 52.
"He's real positive, upbeat, he's a player's coach, highly competitive," Tressel said of Hoeppner. "When the game starts, he's as excited as anyone in the stadium."
Even Hoeppner said he felt well Tuesday ? a vast difference from the headaches that prompted him to seek medical treatment in December. The headaches began on a trip to Cleveland to watch his prized pupil, Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback and Miami alumnus Ben Roethlisberger.
After returning to Bloomington on Dec. 26, Hoeppner underwent tests and had surgery the next day.Roethlisberger suffered a mild concussion and multiple facial fractures in a motorcycle accident in June and recently had an appendectomy.
"Ben is the only person I called outside the family," Hoeppner said Tuesday, his voice quivering slightly. "He first said congratulations on the win and get another win this week. And call me when you get out of the hospital."
The Hoosiers' were 4-7 in Hoeppner's first season and are 2-0 for the third straight year. It's the first time Indiana has opened three straight seasons with back-to-back wins in 100 years. Hoeppner is 54-32 in seven-plus seasons as a head coach.
Lynch promised to keep Hoeppner's rebuilding project going until Hoeppner can return.
"He told me that, one, he didn't want this to be an excuse, and, two, he didn't want this to be a distraction, so that will be our challenge," Lynch said. "We appreciate all he's done as staff and we're going to do everything to keep it going."
