Indiana Hoosiers football The Indiana Hoosiers football program represents Indiana University Bloomington in NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision college football and in the Big Ten Conference . History . Fall , 1884 The IU student newspaper made its first reference to football by reporting that a team was being organized . Fall , 1885 A Yale graduate , professor Arthur B . Woodford , came to Indiana to teach political and social science and during the next year he introduced football to Indiana University . Woodford coached the Hoosiers from 1887 to 1888 . Fall , 1891 Robert G . Miller , a former Bloomington attorney , came to IU as a law student and brought a football with him . Billy Herod , of Indianapolis , was named coach . Herod never played football but had seen it played in the East . Indiana lost to DePauw , Wabash , Butler , and Purdue . Fall , 1896 Indiana names Madison G . Gonterman , hired away from Harvard , as its football coach . Gonterman ' s teams go 6 - 2 in 1896 and 6 - 1 - 1 in 1897 . Fall , 1913 It was popular Jimmy Sheldon ' s last season as head coach . He had the longest tenure of a football coach at Indiana until Bo McMillin coached for 14 years ( 1934 - 1947 ) . Fall , 1914 Clarence Childs , a graduate of Yale University , where he was coached by Walter Camp , is hired as Indiana ' s first full - time football coach and athletic director . He hires Jim Thorpe , the Olympic great , as one of his assistants . Thorpe also coached baseball at Indiana . 1922 The original Memorial Stadium is under construction . It is to seat 22 , 000 fans and $ 250 , 000 is raised to erect the new facility . The new stadium is built on the grounds of the golf course and will replace Jordan Field , which had been the home of Indiana football since 1887 . March 8 , 1934 Bo McMillin leaves Kansas State to be the new football coach at Indiana . McMillin , known nationally for his wide - open approach to football , was a former All - America quarterback at Centre College in Kentucky . Fall , 1945 Bo McMillin is named national coach - of - the - year and the Football Writers Assoc . Man of the Year . Sept . 23 , 1946 Bo McMillin is named athletic director . He succeeds Z . G . Clevenger . Aug . 5 , 1957 Phil Dickins was suspended for one year because of a Big Ten recruiting violation . Bob Hicks serves as the acting coach , and the Hoosiers finish the year with a 1 - 8 mark . Aug . 27 , 1958 Construction begins on the new Memorial Stadium . The stadium was designed by the New York architectural firm of Eggers and Higgins . Fall , 1960 The NCAA decides to disallow any IU win during the Big Ten season because of Indiana ' s illegal recruiting practices . The Hoosiers lose seven games on their own . Fall , 1961 IU offers 54 scholarships to freshmen because the number of sophomores and juniors allowed on the Indiana roster is drastically reduced due to NCAA restrictions . Indiana signs 51 of the 54 players who are offered scholarships . Nov . 7 , 1969 A fire destroys the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house , the home for at least 11 Indiana football players . The players who lived in the house included : Harry Gonso , Eric Stolberg , Hank Pogue , Karl Pankratz , Don Warner , Chris Morris , Jamie O ' Hara , Chuck Thomson , Bill Bordner , Dave Hoehn , and Bill Simon . Jan . 4 , 1984 Bill Mallory is the choice of the Indiana University Athletics Committee as IU ' s new head football coach . He is approved by the Trustees on Feb . 4 . Mallory was a head coach at Miami ( Ohio ) , Colorado , and Northern Illinois prior to coming to Bloomington . At Miami , in 1973 , he went 11 - 0 and defeated Florida in the Tangerine Bowl . Sept . 5 , 1986 A $ 4 million overhaul of the IU football complex is complete . Former IU Coach Sam Wyche contributes $ 10 , 000 dollars . The Twelfth Man Club , a 60 - member group , kicked in the first $ 600 , 000 . Dec . 3 , 1986 United Press International honors Bill Mallory as its Big Ten Coach - of - the - Year . The award is voted upon by the Big Ten ' s head coaches . Oct . 24 , 1991 The Big Ten Conference suspends Coach Bill Mallory for one game for his angry press conference denunciation of the officiating in Indiana ' s 24 - 16 loss at Michigan . IU was given the choice of a one game suspension or a $ 10 , 000 fine . Mallory asked that the suspension be taken . Jan . 8 , 2002 IU Athletic Director Michael McNeely introduces Gerry DiNardo as the school ' s 25th head football coach . It marked the third collegiate head coaching stint for DiNardo as he had served as the head coach at Vanderbilt and LSU . He is quickly welcomed to Bloomington with a billboard that read " Welcome to Bloomington Coach DiNardo . The Football Capital of Indiana . Bowl games . Indiana has featured in only nine bowl games in 120 seasons , so consistently reaching the postseason is considered a primary goal of the program . An oft - spoken mantra , coined after Terry Hoeppner ' s death in 2007 , is to " play 13 , " meaning to play an extra game ( a bowl game ) after the 12 - game regular season . Home stadiums . Indiana ' s two Memorial Stadiums are entirely distinct venues and share only the same name , though never at the same time . The current Memorial Stadium was called Seventeenth Street Football Stadium until 1971 , when it was renamed Memorial Stadium and the original stadium was renamed Tenth Street Stadium . Tenth Street Stadium hosted the Little 500 bicycle race until Bill Armstrong Stadium was built in 1981 . It was demolished in the same year and its former place on campus is currently occupied by the arboretum . Coaches . Indiana athletic director Fred Glass announced the dismissal of the entire coaching staff on November 28 , 2010 , following a third straight season with only one conference victory . Glass announced the hiring of Oklahoma offensive coordinator Kevin Wilson on December 7 . On December 20 , Wilson hired New Mexico defensive coordinator Doug Mallory and Nebraska linebackers coach Mike Ekeler as co - defensive coordinators . Mallory , the son of former Indiana head coach Bill Mallory , was Indiana ' s defensive backs coach from 1994 - 1996 . Rivalries . Conference Rivalries . Indiana ' s most intense rivalry is with in - state school Purdue University ; the two compete for the Old Oaken Bucket , one of the oldest collegiate football trophies in the nation . Purdue leads both the overall ( 70 – 37 – 6 ) and trophy ( 56 – 27 – 3 ) series . Purdue currently holds the bucket after defeating the Hoosiers during the 2011 season . The Hoosiers also have a border rivalry with the University of Illinois , plus a second trophy game ( for the Old Brass Spittoon ) against Michigan State University . The Spartans are Indiana ' s dedicated cross - divisional rival . Indiana ' s rivalries with Purdue and Illinois remained intact , as all three schools are in the same division . Non - conference Rivalries . The Hoosiers also have a rivalry with the University of Kentucky . The Hoosiers played the Wildcats annually from 1987 until 2005 in what was known as the " Bourbon Barrel " game . The two teams played for a trophy called the " Bourbon Barrel " from 1987 until both schools mutually agreed to retire the trophy in 1999 following the alcohol - related death of a Kentucky football player . Indiana leads the series ( 18 - 17 - 1 ) .