Chicago — Coping with tragedies that struck their football programs, Northwestern University head coach Pat Fitzgerald and Indiana head coach Bill Lynch have made an effort, along with their players, to put losses on and off the field behind them.

Not so long ago, Fitzgerald and his teammates were stunning the college football world and taking Northwestern on an improbable run to the Rose Bowl during the 1995 season.

But then, things began to change. Gary Barnett left for Colorado after the 1999 season, and new head coach Randy Walker overhauled the offense, turning the Wildcats from a rushing team to a pass-happy one.

Walker, who had previously coached at Miami (Ohio), led the Wildcats to a Big Ten title in his second year.

But then things changed again, and the college football world was left stunned.

In June 2006, only a few months before the season was set to begin, Walker died of a heart attack.

Fitzgerald, who was on Walker's staff since 2001, became the new head coach.

"There's things you could control and things you could not, and this was one of those things you couldn't control," Fitzgerald explained at the Big Ten media conference Tuesday.

"It was difficult for the players to respond to the adversity of losing coach Walker. He was a father figure to a lot of our players."

Fitzgerald was 31 and became the youngest head coach in Division I-A football.

Northwestern finished 4-8 last season, including an emotional win to begin the season over Miami, Walker's old program.

At the conference, Fitzgerald said he struggled trying to help the team prepare for the season with so little time before the season started.

"When you have the whole year to prepare for a season, you're much more prepared. Everything is ready to go," Fitzgerald said.

"Last year, I was just trying to figure out the keys to my office."

Just when Northwestern and the Big Ten coaching family was beginning to heal, tragedy struck again.

Terry Hoeppner was in the middle of leading a football revival at Indiana University, bringing the Hoosiers within a game of their first bowl appearance in more than a decade.

Hoeppner made a name for himself at Miami before moving to Bloomington, beating Walker 28-3 in his first game as head coach of the Red Hawks.

The two were very close friends.

A brain tumor discovered after the 2005 season set Hoeppner back, but not completely - he battled back to coach all but two games in the 2006 season.

However, in June, the same month that Walker died, it was announced that Bill Lynch would step in as head coach for the season because of difficulties with Hoeppner's health.

The 59-year-old Hoeppner died shortly after the announcement.

"Terry was a great person and a great football coach," Lynch said during his press conference.

"He did things the right way,"

The current coach of the Hoosiers talked about experiences shared with his mentor at Butler University and Ball State University.

Lynch also explained he had acquired experiences from knowing Hoeppner for 25-30 years.

"I figured if I couldn't beat him, then I'd join him - and I say that out of respect," Lynch said.

Both Fitzgerald and Lynch said in the press conference they have communicated with one another concerning their former bosses, but declined to say what the conversation entailed, choosing to keep the matter private.