The Hoosiers new appointment as head coach was former Miami (Ohio) great John Pont who had coached his alma mater successfully and then lost but five games in two seasons at Yale. Bill Malinchak was moved to flanker and Pont immediately utilized a lot of sophomores. He put his mark on the uniform, introducing a white shell with two one-inch crimson stripes that flanked the white center ridge of the helmet. Opening day victory over Kansas State and a later victory over hapless Iowa left him with a 2-8 mark, unfortunately what had become "typical" for the IU program. However, sophs Terry Cole and Mike Krivosha at RB, and linemen Doug Crusan, Cordell Gill, and Jim Sniadecki all improved over the last part of the season. As new AD Bill Orwig moved into his offices, he addressed the team and publicly stated that he did not like the performance of the football team, and finished with "Boys, if you don't want to play football...don't come back!" Unfortunately, the admonition didn't work and they didn't win, dropping to 1-8-1 in '66 beating only weak Northwestern 26-14 in the season's second game. Attendance plummeted, rival Purdue stomped them 51-6 in Bob Griese's last regular season game, but Pont saw progress from Cole and the others. The big surprise was coming.

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