Indiana University Athletics
Indiana Head Coach Terry Hoeppner Quotes
11/19/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 19, 2005
Coach Terry Hoeppner Post-Game Quotes
Opening Statement:
"Congratulations to Purdue, on a very well-played football game. Obviously, everybody thought they were a great team coming into the season, and they recaptured whatever they were missing and played well today. I want to thank all our fans, our fans are fantastic, and I want to thank them. The Walk was the best-ever, absolutely incredible, the students, it was a great crowd, and it was a great pro-Hoosier crowd. So again, thanks to everybody that made this a special season, but I apologize for our performance today because it was shocking. Four turnovers in one quarter, I think we had a good plan, obviously we made some adjustments, we get the ball, we score, we take the lead. A flurry of turnovers - Will Lumpkin's turnover should have been the one that really let us seize the momentum in the game, and I really think we needed that - we needed to be able to do something positive. And, finally, to Ben and Toby and the rest of the Terry Cole family, our hearts go out to them; I know this was a tough day for them. It was an incredible week - I can't say enough about our seniors for the effort that they gave, for the leadership they gave us. Football is like life - speeded up though. Measure off 10 yards and speeded up. You don't always get what you want just because you worked hard, just because you do things the right way. Doesn't mean you don't necessarily get rewarded for that, but, you have the determination. I still think that we will build from what our seniors gave us this year. We need to be able to match up better against the Purdues of the world. Their two outside rush guys had a great game; we struggled all day to block them, and when you get pressure on the quarterback with four or sometimes three, it makes it tough. I thought we had some good performances, but unfortunately we had way too many mistakes - that's on me as a coach. It will give me great resolve, great motivation for the winter, spring, summer, and I look forward to the first chance I get to get back and coach with these guys. I challenged the underclassmen."
On looking back at the Purdue band at the end of the game:
"It was one of those soak it in [moments]. Soak it in - absorb it, don't try and avoid it, don't turn the page, as we want to say sometimes in athletics. I wanted to remember it, and I wanted to look at them, and it is frozen in my mind. I will be able to recall that, and like I say, use that as motivation. Coach Tiller said right after the game, `This game is always a game of turnovers, you'll learn that.' I said, `Well, obviously I learned it the hard way today.' But again, congratulations to him."
On what needs to improve:
"There are so many areas where we do things well, and we had guys step up and make plays today. There are so many areas right now where we need to increase our team speed. The motto for the winter is: If You Can Run, Than You Can Play. We have to get faster as a team, we must get faster, we must get faster with the guys who are here, we're attempting to recruit speed, but again, I love this team. I just told them - No buyer's remorse. If I knew then what I know now, I wouldn't change a thing. We're doing things the right way. I love this university. This was a very emotional week for us. A senior class that I fell in love with quickly, and I'm proud to be here, and I can't wait to play again. The worst thing for me is, we don't have a game next week."
