Classic Hoosier film gets shoutout in newest Ted Lasso episode

INDIANAPOLIS — The latest season of the Apple TV+ hit show, Ted Lasso, has premiered, and the Indiana classic basketball film Hoosiers got some recognition.

The show features Jason Sudeikis, who plays a Midwest American college football coach who is hired to coach AFC Richmond, an English soccer team, while having minimal experience with the sport. Ted Lasso first aired in 2020 and has since skyrocketed in popularity.

In the season three opening episode, viewers were met with an exchange about the film between AFC Richmond assistant coach, Coach Beard, and highly successful soccer star, Roy Kent.

At around the ten-minute mark of the episode, Kent tells Coach Beard he’s finally watched the movie, and he liked it.

“Gene Hackman was good. The drunk geezer. Stuff with the team,” Kent said.

The 1986 film stars Hackman as Coach Norman Dale and Dennis Hopper as Shooter, or “the drunk geezer.” Hoosiers tells the story of a small-town Indiana high school basketball team that enters the state championship.

The $6 million dollar project began filming in the fall of 1985.

Although Kent liked the movie, he was confused about one thing.

“I did have one question. Why the f---- is it called Hoosiers?” Kent said.

Unfortunately, viewers will never know how Coach Beard decides to respond because the conversation gets cut short.

The easy answer is that the movie takes place in Indiana, and Indiana is referred to as the Hoosier State. There are many theories as to why the state has gotten that nickname, but the first known reference to the word Hoosier dates back to 1827.

One of the most popular theories is that a contractor named Samuel Hoosier preferred to hire laborers from Indiana to construct the Louisville and Portland Canal along the Ohio River. The Indiana workers were called “Hoosier’s men.”

New episodes of Ted Lasso air Wednesdays on Apple TV+.