Is it possible to be saddened by the death of someone you barely knew? Well that’s where I find myself today when my brother texted me with the following message.. “dude coach hep died.” soon after, my mom called me, with a lump in her throat to break the news to me.

Coach Hep died in Bloomington from brain cancer. Everyone who cares about IU knew that Hep was pretty sick when we heard he wouldn’t be coaching in the spring and we feared the worst when told that Bill Lynch would lead the Hoosiers this year and not our beloved Hep. But no one was ready for this.

In January, I got the opportunity to talk to Hep about the National Championship game. Having coached against Urban Meyer during his brief tenure at Bowling Green and coaching almost annually against Jim Tressel, I thought Hep could give me some insight into what the matchup would be between the two. Hep patiently answered every question I had with insight and thought. And then at the end of our almost 20-minute interview. I threw my professionalism out the window. You see I’m a general assignment reporter who occasionally gets my editor to let me out of the office and do what I love: Write about sports. As an IU alum, I told Hep what a fantastic job he was doing and rebuilding our program and that I was proud of the work he’d done. He told me that he wished I could have been there for the win over Michigan State and Iowa this year and how crazy “The Rock” got after the wins. Today, as I sit here, I’m glad that I took that moment to be a fan.

Coach Hep will always be remembered by this reporter, this alum and this fan as a man who loved Indiana University. He said it was his dream job and he treated it as such. Indiana University and IU football is better for having had Coach Hep.

He will be missed by those who knew him and those who wished they had.

I realize now that I’m not saddened by the loss of someone I barely knew, I’m saddened by the loss of a member of the IU family.