Many Mallorys: Coaches leaving legacy on gridiron
Aug. 25—The Mallory kindred is tethered to the pigskin — America's most in-demand game.
Bill Mallory, the father of, from eldest to youngest, Barbara, Mike, Doug and Curt started a trend of coaches breaking down football from the booth, sideline and office.
"When I was born my dad was a head football coach," Curt said. "So my whole life my dad was a head coach, I've been around it my whole life."
Bill, who ended his time with Indiana as the most prosperous coach in program history with a record of 69-77-3, he won six bowl games in Bloomington. Before that, he coached at Miami (Ohio), Colorado and Northern Illinois.
Curt, the head coach at Indiana State, was born in Oxford, Ohio during Bill's initial stint with the RedHawks, several of his family members attended the Mid-American school. This planted the seeds for the boys to eventually network and get into the business at a school that was coined the "Cradle of Coaches" for its extensive network in college football.
"In this coaching profession, it's very tight-knit," Curt said. "There's a reason why my brothers and I all ended up at Michigan because probably the biggest compliment you can get as a coach is when another coach wants their son to come play for you.
"Not that my dad didn't want my brothers and [me] to play for him, he did, but if you weren't going to play for him, he wanted you to go play for someone he respected."
Curt opted to play for esteemed coach Bo Schembechler, the predecessor to Bill at Miami. Before that, Bill worked with Woody Hayes at Ohio State.
All three brothers played football in Ann Arbor, Curt, who played linebacker, didn't get the chance to suit up for the Navy and Gold with his siblings because of their age difference. Mike was an all-Big Ten linebacker and Doug was a defensive back.
Curt had a lot of success in Ann Arbor, winning games and playing in the Rose Bowl on multiple occasions.
"I was very fortunate, we had some really good teams," he said. "I got very lucky. I was around some good football players and our team had a lot of success. We won five Big Ten championships in my five years there. I went to the Rose Bowl four times. I went to the Gator Bowl once. That was a four-way tie, back before we had overtime."
Mike and Doug are currently analysts with the Wolverines, a preseason No. 2 ranked team in the country, for special teams and defense, respectively.
They've had stops notably on staffs in the National Football League and Louisiana State University.
Doug was a defensive backs coach for the 2008 BCS championship Tigers team. He said the family typically makes a lot of the bigger games, but not always.
"I don't think Mike and Curt made it to the national championship game, they were there in spirit," Doug said with a chuckle. "Sometimes, I think when you are in the profession, if you are playing that week, it's hard to be at some of those games, but we are always following each other's career."
Mike was the assistant special teams coach for the New Orleans Saints in 2010 when they knocked off the Indianapolis Colts in Super Bowl XLIV.
"They've actually done it at the highest level," Curt said.
Doug and Mike were ball boys with the Colorado Buffaloes when Bill was coaching there, their mom would bring them to practice.
Mike said the impact their dad had on people's lives made him want to follow in his footsteps and pay it forward.
Doug said being a first-hand witness of it was huge.
"Just growing up in a football family is awesome because growing up, one, being able to see dad you had to go watch practice," Mike said. "It was such a good time. We would be playing on the side, throwing the ball around, or playing with the dummies or whatever. When practice was over we would be able to run around the field. Maybe see some of the players, talk to some of the players. It was a great experience."
The brothers often text each other after games to stay in touch. They said sometimes they and their sister will catch Curt's Indiana State games on TV on Saturdays.
His brothers said they don't give the family many pointers after games but do share notes when they have common opponents and have time in the offseason sometimes to share about football.
Curt said another career he thought of pursuing was a park ranger, instead of being surrounded by trees and nature, he's surrounded by a different kind of trees — Sycamores honing their craft on the field.
"I need football more than football needs me," he said is what his dad used to relay to him.
"My whole life I've watched my father be a head coach and my brothers, as well, as far as seeing that and seeing the passion he had for what he did," Curt said. "He was an incredible role model for my two brothers and my sister. There is a reason why we all chose and followed the profession that he did. It was because of the impact he made on young men's lives."
Curt coached the defensive side of the ball before getting to Terre Haute. He started as a graduate assistant with his pops at IU. He had stops at Illinois, Akron, Wyoming and Michigan.
While he was coaching the Cowboys, the secondary he directly worked with included Jacksonville Jaguars safety Andrew Winger, Las Vegas Raiders safety Marcus Epps, Raiders cornerback Tyler Hall and more.
"A place like Wyoming, you bring guys in and you develop them," Curt said. "No one does it better than coach Craig Bohl at Wyoming. Of course, we had [Buffalo Bills quarterback] Josh Allen who was a tremendous talent as we all know. Logan Wilson is the starting linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals. We had an unbelievable group of young men that were developed. That's exactly what we've done here."
Currently, in Terre Haute and Ann Arbor, the second generation of Mallory football coaches are living on their pop's passion.
"He gave me great advice, gave all of us great advice," Mallory said. "He just said, 'Whatever you do, make sure you love it. If you love what you do you will be great at it.' That's how he coached, with a passion. He truly loved what he did. He never told us what to do."
