Coach Hep was a great coach and an even better human. He came in and taught a couple of our Coaching of Football classes at IU. He wanted to be there, he was engaging and loved to talk ball. He's had Cig's confidence and vision and Tom Allen's enthusiasm. Great tribute to him.

Sammy, this for sure is one area where IU has excelled in hiring football coaches who were also good people. Hep was a leading example along with Lynch and Allen. No disrespect intended by excluding KW, but he wasn’t quite the nice guy those guys were based on my interactions. Doesn’t mean I dislike him as I don’t at all and just accepted him for the value he brought to IU which was a tougher culture.

I wanted all of them to be successful, but sometimes being a great guy doesn’t make you the right guy and for Hep he was just robbed of time. It feels good to know that the success we have experienced this season shines a light on Hep’s vision that was never realized until this year. I’m sure he is smiling from heaven seeing this program arrive to the promised land. There were so many emotional moments this season that I haven’t experienced for IU football since 2007 when Austin Starr kicked the final field goal to essentially seal the dream to “Play13” for the first time in well over a decade in the season directly following his passing.