Bill Mallory, 1935-2018.
Photo by: CUBuffs.com
Former CU Head Coach Bill Mallory Passes Away
May 25, 2018 | Football
Coached Five Seasons In The 1970s
BOULDER — Bill Mallory, one of three head coaches to lead the University of Colorado to a title in its former conference, the Big Eight, passed away Friday afternoon. He was 82.
Mallory suffered a fall near his home in Bloomington, Ind., this past Tuesday (May 22) and suffered a brain injury in the process. He underwent emergency surgery to relieve pressure on the brain, but there was no improvement and he was moved to an area hospice on Thursday.
"Our condolences to the Mallory family for Bill's untimely passing," said CU athletic director Rick George. "It was always heartening to see how he was embraced by his former players, and how years after his time here as coach he started coming back to various reunions and other functions so he could once again be around some of the players he coached and helped mature into men."
The late Eddie Crowder, after he resigned as head coach following the 1973 season but remained on as athletic director, hired Mallory on January 12, 1974. He had compiled a 39-12 record coaching his alma mater, Miami-Ohio, and the then-Redskins had finished 11-0 for 1973, 5-0 in Mid-American Conference play, and capped the season with a 16-7 win over Florida in the Tangerine Bowl. Miami finished No. 15 in the Associated Press poll and No. 17 in the UPI-Coaches balloting and was the nation's No. 1-ranked team in total defense, allowing a paltry 177.4 yards per game.
In five seasons at Colorado (1974-78), four of his teams posted winning records en route to compiling a 35-21-1 record, a 62.3 winning percentage. The latter is the fourth-best in CU history for those coaches who headed the program for five or more seasons. His teams were 8-14 against ranked teams (top 20 at the time), with one win against a top 10 opponent, a 31-20 win over No. 10 Missouri in 1975. While 1-11 against top 10 teams, he was 7-3 against those ranked 11th through 20th.
Mallory coached Colorado to its first share of a Big Eight football title since 1961 when the Buffaloes were tied atop the league standings in 1976 with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State with 5-2 records; but by virtue of CU's wins over both OU and OSU, the Buffs were awarded the conference's automatic berth into the Orange Bowl.
Sonny Grandelius coached CU to its first Big Eight title in 1961, and Bill McCartney to three in a row in 1989, 1990 and 1991, thus "sandwiching" Mallory's '76 team.
The Buffaloes were 17-3 in non-conference regular season games under Mallory, the impetus to opening 5-0 in his final two years that propelled CU to early season rankings of No. 3 in 1977 and No. 13 in 1978. CU ascended as high as No. 9 in 1975 and No. 12 in 1976, and in all, Colorado appeared in 26 national top 20 polls during his time (those '75 and '76 teams each finished the season ranked 16th).
UPI honored him as its national Coach of the Week for Oct. 28, 1978, when CU defeated No. 13 Missouri in Columbia, 28-27. After opening 5-0, the Buffs had suffered defeats to Oklahoma State and No. 4 Nebraska, and then fell behind the Tigers, 27-7, midway through the third quarter. But scoring drives of 80, 90 and 45 yards rallied CU to the win, to this day the school's largest comeback. Unfortunately, it would be his last win at the reins of the program.
At Colorado, he saw 37 of his seniors drafted into the National Football League, and another 16 players that he and his staff recruited in subsequent years. Seven different players earned first-team All-America honors, while 13 earned first-team All-Big Eight honors.
He was universally loved by his players, who nicknamed themselves, "Mallory Men." With rumors swirling that he was going to be fired after the team went 6-5 in 1978, at the senior banquet the Monday after the season-ending 20-16 loss to Iowa State, linebacker Jeff Lee pleaded to CU administrators to keep Mallory as coach when it was his turn to speak. Echoing the sentiments of his teammates, he literally called out Crowder and others that he should not be fired, but he was let go the next morning.
"A hard-nosed tough coach, who demanded that toughness from his players," said Brian Cabral, who lettered four years at linebacker from 1974-77. "I have all the respect for instilling that in me. That's how I survived in the NFL my first four years with four different teams before settling in permanently with the (Chicago) Bears.
"But that's life," he continued. "Life isn't easy, and he taught us many life lessons as well. But in his competitiveness, his intensity and toughness, you could not help but believe that he cared about you. And that all he was demanding was your best.
"I saw him as a father figure. Since his kids were always around, we were big brothers to his family, and you always saw his wife Ellie a lot, and that was tribute to his marriage and left a great impression on us. I can certainly say that I would not be the man I am or the coach I was if not for Bill Mallory's impact on my life."
"We had gone 5-6 my sophomore year before Coach Mallory came in," Dave Logan ('75) recalled. "The things that I remember most about Coach Mallory is that he brought and old school toughness to the program, a higher level of accountability and in terms of how we practiced, in a very physical style. He stressed to every player that you are accountable to the program, your teammates, the coaching staff and the university.
"It wasn't all smooth sailing for sure, but looking back on it, it was a valuable two years for me," Logan said. "Coach definitely humbled a number of us, but he would always find a way to build us back up and I'm forever grateful for the kind of head coach he was."
Former defensive back Mike L. Davis ('76) was recruited to CU by Mallory from Los Angeles, where he prepped at Locke High School and then played two years at East Los Angeles Junior College, posted this on Facebook:
"I loved coach because he believed in me unconditionally like he believed in us all. I can recall as plain as day when I came back to Boulder to finish up my degree after my rookie season, I was running the stadium stairs, just as I was finishing by the clubhouse, out comes Coach Bill getting his afternoon run. He stopped, we chatted a bit, then all of a sudden I got very emotional and told Coach how he rescued me from L.A., saved my life and made me a man that can look you in the eye to appreciate you and life."
Defensive lineman Mike Peerman ('79) wrote, also on Facebook, "(He was) the epitome of the meaning of (a) coach. He truly loved it and it showed. I was a transfer and coach Mallory told me if I was going to get on the field, I'd have to move to nose guard. I said whatever it takes, so Coach for a week straight would meet me on the field an hour before practice started and run me through drills, hold the bag for me, giving me directions. I'll never forget that."
After sitting out the 1979 season (he remained in Boulder on his small ranch farm), he returned to coaching in 1980 back in his old conference, the MAC, where he would coach Northern Illinois to a 25-19 mark over four seasons. In 1983, he led the Huskies to a 10-2 record, the MAC title with an 8-1 mark, and a 20-13 win over Cal State Fullerton in the California Bowl in Fresno.
Indiana then came calling, where he would eventually wrap his coaching career. In 13 seasons at the reins of the Hoosiers, IU was 69-77-3; but were 60-42-3 in the nine seasons between 1986 and 1994 including invitations to six of 11 bowl games in Indiana's history. He became the Hoosiers' all-time winningest football coach.
He was a two-time coach of the year in both the Mid-American Conference (1973 and 1983) and in the Big Ten (1986, 1987), the first to earn the honor in back-to-back seasons for the latter. His overall record as a head coach was 168-129-4. With Indiana finishing two seasons ranked in the top 20, he is one of just a handful of coaches in college football history to lead three different programs to a final top 20 ranking.
He is a member of the Hall of Fames for Miami University, Indiana University, Northern Illinois University (twice, as an individual and with the school's 1983 California bowl champion team) and the Mid-American Conference.
William Guy Mallory was born May 30, 1935 in Glendale, West Va., but grew up in Sandusky, Ohio, where he lettered in football, basketball and track in high school. He graduated from Miami (Ohio) University in 1958, where he lettered three years at end under the legendary coach Ara Parseghian and then John Pont; he earned first-team all-conference honors as a junior and senior. Prior to being named head coach at Miami, he was a graduate assistant at Bowling Green, where he earned his Master's degree in Education, Yale and Ohio State, where he worked for the late Woody Hayes.
His wife Ellie, their four children, Barbara, Mike, Doug and Curt and other family members were by his bedside in his last days.
Anyone wishing to send stories, memories, notes and/or condolences to the family can do so at a special email they created: billmallorymemories@gmail.com.
Mallory suffered a fall near his home in Bloomington, Ind., this past Tuesday (May 22) and suffered a brain injury in the process. He underwent emergency surgery to relieve pressure on the brain, but there was no improvement and he was moved to an area hospice on Thursday.
"Our condolences to the Mallory family for Bill's untimely passing," said CU athletic director Rick George. "It was always heartening to see how he was embraced by his former players, and how years after his time here as coach he started coming back to various reunions and other functions so he could once again be around some of the players he coached and helped mature into men."
The late Eddie Crowder, after he resigned as head coach following the 1973 season but remained on as athletic director, hired Mallory on January 12, 1974. He had compiled a 39-12 record coaching his alma mater, Miami-Ohio, and the then-Redskins had finished 11-0 for 1973, 5-0 in Mid-American Conference play, and capped the season with a 16-7 win over Florida in the Tangerine Bowl. Miami finished No. 15 in the Associated Press poll and No. 17 in the UPI-Coaches balloting and was the nation's No. 1-ranked team in total defense, allowing a paltry 177.4 yards per game.
In five seasons at Colorado (1974-78), four of his teams posted winning records en route to compiling a 35-21-1 record, a 62.3 winning percentage. The latter is the fourth-best in CU history for those coaches who headed the program for five or more seasons. His teams were 8-14 against ranked teams (top 20 at the time), with one win against a top 10 opponent, a 31-20 win over No. 10 Missouri in 1975. While 1-11 against top 10 teams, he was 7-3 against those ranked 11th through 20th.
Mallory coached Colorado to its first share of a Big Eight football title since 1961 when the Buffaloes were tied atop the league standings in 1976 with Oklahoma and Oklahoma State with 5-2 records; but by virtue of CU's wins over both OU and OSU, the Buffs were awarded the conference's automatic berth into the Orange Bowl.
Sonny Grandelius coached CU to its first Big Eight title in 1961, and Bill McCartney to three in a row in 1989, 1990 and 1991, thus "sandwiching" Mallory's '76 team.
The Buffaloes were 17-3 in non-conference regular season games under Mallory, the impetus to opening 5-0 in his final two years that propelled CU to early season rankings of No. 3 in 1977 and No. 13 in 1978. CU ascended as high as No. 9 in 1975 and No. 12 in 1976, and in all, Colorado appeared in 26 national top 20 polls during his time (those '75 and '76 teams each finished the season ranked 16th).
UPI honored him as its national Coach of the Week for Oct. 28, 1978, when CU defeated No. 13 Missouri in Columbia, 28-27. After opening 5-0, the Buffs had suffered defeats to Oklahoma State and No. 4 Nebraska, and then fell behind the Tigers, 27-7, midway through the third quarter. But scoring drives of 80, 90 and 45 yards rallied CU to the win, to this day the school's largest comeback. Unfortunately, it would be his last win at the reins of the program.
At Colorado, he saw 37 of his seniors drafted into the National Football League, and another 16 players that he and his staff recruited in subsequent years. Seven different players earned first-team All-America honors, while 13 earned first-team All-Big Eight honors.
He was universally loved by his players, who nicknamed themselves, "Mallory Men." With rumors swirling that he was going to be fired after the team went 6-5 in 1978, at the senior banquet the Monday after the season-ending 20-16 loss to Iowa State, linebacker Jeff Lee pleaded to CU administrators to keep Mallory as coach when it was his turn to speak. Echoing the sentiments of his teammates, he literally called out Crowder and others that he should not be fired, but he was let go the next morning.
"A hard-nosed tough coach, who demanded that toughness from his players," said Brian Cabral, who lettered four years at linebacker from 1974-77. "I have all the respect for instilling that in me. That's how I survived in the NFL my first four years with four different teams before settling in permanently with the (Chicago) Bears.
"But that's life," he continued. "Life isn't easy, and he taught us many life lessons as well. But in his competitiveness, his intensity and toughness, you could not help but believe that he cared about you. And that all he was demanding was your best.
"I saw him as a father figure. Since his kids were always around, we were big brothers to his family, and you always saw his wife Ellie a lot, and that was tribute to his marriage and left a great impression on us. I can certainly say that I would not be the man I am or the coach I was if not for Bill Mallory's impact on my life."
"We had gone 5-6 my sophomore year before Coach Mallory came in," Dave Logan ('75) recalled. "The things that I remember most about Coach Mallory is that he brought and old school toughness to the program, a higher level of accountability and in terms of how we practiced, in a very physical style. He stressed to every player that you are accountable to the program, your teammates, the coaching staff and the university.
"It wasn't all smooth sailing for sure, but looking back on it, it was a valuable two years for me," Logan said. "Coach definitely humbled a number of us, but he would always find a way to build us back up and I'm forever grateful for the kind of head coach he was."
Former defensive back Mike L. Davis ('76) was recruited to CU by Mallory from Los Angeles, where he prepped at Locke High School and then played two years at East Los Angeles Junior College, posted this on Facebook:
"I loved coach because he believed in me unconditionally like he believed in us all. I can recall as plain as day when I came back to Boulder to finish up my degree after my rookie season, I was running the stadium stairs, just as I was finishing by the clubhouse, out comes Coach Bill getting his afternoon run. He stopped, we chatted a bit, then all of a sudden I got very emotional and told Coach how he rescued me from L.A., saved my life and made me a man that can look you in the eye to appreciate you and life."
Defensive lineman Mike Peerman ('79) wrote, also on Facebook, "(He was) the epitome of the meaning of (a) coach. He truly loved it and it showed. I was a transfer and coach Mallory told me if I was going to get on the field, I'd have to move to nose guard. I said whatever it takes, so Coach for a week straight would meet me on the field an hour before practice started and run me through drills, hold the bag for me, giving me directions. I'll never forget that."
After sitting out the 1979 season (he remained in Boulder on his small ranch farm), he returned to coaching in 1980 back in his old conference, the MAC, where he would coach Northern Illinois to a 25-19 mark over four seasons. In 1983, he led the Huskies to a 10-2 record, the MAC title with an 8-1 mark, and a 20-13 win over Cal State Fullerton in the California Bowl in Fresno.
Indiana then came calling, where he would eventually wrap his coaching career. In 13 seasons at the reins of the Hoosiers, IU was 69-77-3; but were 60-42-3 in the nine seasons between 1986 and 1994 including invitations to six of 11 bowl games in Indiana's history. He became the Hoosiers' all-time winningest football coach.
He was a two-time coach of the year in both the Mid-American Conference (1973 and 1983) and in the Big Ten (1986, 1987), the first to earn the honor in back-to-back seasons for the latter. His overall record as a head coach was 168-129-4. With Indiana finishing two seasons ranked in the top 20, he is one of just a handful of coaches in college football history to lead three different programs to a final top 20 ranking.
He is a member of the Hall of Fames for Miami University, Indiana University, Northern Illinois University (twice, as an individual and with the school's 1983 California bowl champion team) and the Mid-American Conference.
William Guy Mallory was born May 30, 1935 in Glendale, West Va., but grew up in Sandusky, Ohio, where he lettered in football, basketball and track in high school. He graduated from Miami (Ohio) University in 1958, where he lettered three years at end under the legendary coach Ara Parseghian and then John Pont; he earned first-team all-conference honors as a junior and senior. Prior to being named head coach at Miami, he was a graduate assistant at Bowling Green, where he earned his Master's degree in Education, Yale and Ohio State, where he worked for the late Woody Hayes.
His wife Ellie, their four children, Barbara, Mike, Doug and Curt and other family members were by his bedside in his last days.
Anyone wishing to send stories, memories, notes and/or condolences to the family can do so at a special email they created: billmallorymemories@gmail.com.
Colorado vs Delaware | Week 2 Highlights
Wednesday, September 10
Deion "Coach Prime" Sanders Weekly Press Conference
Wednesday, September 10
Colorado Football Postgame Press Conference
Sunday, September 07
Mark Johnson & Gary Barnett break down the win vs Delaware | The Buffalo Stampede: Colorado Football
Sunday, September 07