Wayne Perry '72 Still Deadlocked for Indiana All-Time Football Coaching Record

September 29, 2005

September 29, 2005, Greencastle, Ind. - "Wayne Perry is about to break the career record of Hall of Fame coach Tony Hinkle, and at the rate he's going, Perry could leave a mark that might not be touched for years to come," notes a story on Perry, the head football coach at Hanover College and 1972 graduate of DePauw University. The Associated Press' Steve Herman continues, "Hinkle won 165 games in 32 years as football coach at Butler, a state record for 36 years until Perry tied it with a victory over Thomas More in the season opener this year. One more win will make Perry the winningest coach in Indiana college football history."

The article, published in today's Fort Wayne News-Sentinel, continues, "Perry's 165 wins have come over a span of 24 years, eight years fewer than Hinkle but still a remarkably long tenure that few coaches reach these days... After the season-opening win over Thomas More, [Hanover's] Panthers lost the next three games. They visit unbeaten Mount St. Joseph in their Heartland Conference opener Saturday before returning home to face Manchester the next week."

The coach is not worried about when the record falls. "I'll stay here until retirement. I love the game of football. It keeps me young." Perry adds, "Really, my record is my program's record. That's kind of how I look at it."

Herman writes, "Perry, a native of nearby Madison, was an offensive and defensive lineman at DePauw. After his graduation from DePauw in 1972, he was a graduate assistant with the Tigers for two years and then coached at East Central High School near Lawrenceburg in 1974-78. He joined the Hanover staff as offensive line coach in 1979 and replaced Pete Compise as the head coach in 1982. In his first 23 seasons, the Panthers won eight Indiana Collegiate and Heartland Conference championships, reached postseason playoffs nine times and had 10 victories four times."