Everyone knows Bird and Magic. Far fewer know the coach who took that fateful Indiana State team to a national title game that launched March Madness as we know it -- even when that coach works in the same building.
"Sometimes, I wonder if those kids even know who they're being coached by," Virginia Tech coach Seth Greenberg said.
Yes, the architect of the magical 1979 Indiana State Sycamores -- now 68 years old and the proud grandfather of five -- is still working, still teaching and still coaching. He lives in Roanoke, where he pulls daytime double-duty teaching history at William Fleming High School and basketball at North Cross, where he just took over after coaching at nearby Roanoke Catholic.
It was the year ISU won its first 33 games on the way to a historic matchup with Magic Johnson and Michigan State, the year his team catapulted into the national consciousness, the year a mid-major team from Terre Haute, Ind., contributed as much as anyone to the modern popularity of the NCAA tournament.
A few years later, after his three post-Bird teams went a combined 34-47, Hodges found himself besieged by unrealistic expectations produced by his success. The university failed to renew his contract, and he suddenly found himself jobless.
"I always tell people I left Indiana State because of illness," Hodges said. "Because everyone got sick of me."
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