Mention Bill Lynch to those who have played with him, played for him and coached with him during his nomadic football career and the response is unanimous.

Nice guy. Really nice guy.

Don't be fooled, Brent Baldwin said.

"We used to call him 'Chucky,' " said Baldwin, Goshen High School's coach who was a starting quarterback on Lynch's teams at Ball State. "You know those Chucky dolls from those horror movies? He's got those blue eyes, and he'll get after you.

"He was really nice, but any time he got mad, you knew it."

Lynch, who was named Indiana University's interim head coach Friday, will take charge of a college program for the fourth time in his coaching career. He spent the past two seasons as the Hoosiers' assistant head coach and offensive coordinator.

The former Bishop Chatard High School and Butler University quarterback has directed the programs at Butler, Ball State and DePauw, and has had separate terms as an IU assistant under Bill Mallory and Terry Hoeppner.

Lynch has an 81-67-3 record in 14 seasons as a coach. His only genuine struggles came during his five seasons at Ball State (37-53). The Cardinals won the Mid-American Conference championship in 1996 with Baldwin at quarterback, but suffered through a school-record 21-game losing streak from 1998-2000.

Lynch got the Cardinals back to a tie for first in their division in 2001 and a 6-6 record in 2002, but was fired after a change of athletic directors.

Baldwin cited a few reasons for the decline: recruiting budget constraints, facilities that lagged behind other schools, a brutal nonconference schedule against national powers designed to maximize income and the recruiting success of incoming coaches Cam Cameron (Indiana) and Joe Tiller (Purdue), who wooed in-state players that might have gone to Ball State in previous years.

"I could tell you it wasn't because of coach Lynch's effort or knowledge," Baldwin said.

"He cared about us as players and we would have done anything for him. We still would. Whatever the 'it' factor is, coach Lynch has it."

Ken LaRose was an offensive lineman at Butler when Lynch quarterbacked the Bulldogs. He later coached with Lynch, and became the coach there two years after Lynch departed.

He compared Lynch to Colts coach Tony Dungy for his ability to command respect with a low-key demeanor.

"He's a fair coach, very organized and very disciplined," said LaRose, now a sales rep for Harcourt School Publishers. "He comes across as everybody's friend, but he gets tough when he needs to.

"He commands so much respect, you want to perform for him whether he's a player or a coach. He does things right, he's smart, he works hard and treats people right."

Those sentiments were echoed by DePauw coach Matt Walker, who was an assistant on Lynch's staff when the Tigers finished 8-2 in his only season as coach there in 2004.

"Bill's such a great person," Walker said. "That's the first thing you learn about him. You grow to want to win for Bill because of the kind of person he is."