Magisterium

In this (unlikely) scenario my recommendation for the “last guy” might be Matt Graves, the Assoc. HC for Schertz at ISU. Formerly coached at Xavier and Evansville and was Assoc HC at Butler for Brad Stevens iirc. Former Head Coach at South Alabama and probably knows nearly every high school head coach in the state of Indiana. Between the FAU system and the ISU system, I think May and Graves could put together a modern, competitive offense. And May’s a big enough name in Florida that they might even be able to keep recruiting Monteverde.

He could probably do the same at IU but something tells me that he and the IU athletic director want nothing to do with each other-just a wild guess

I don’t know if it’s a “good” list but it’s a list of guys who imo could be realistic candidates. I don’t expect there would be a “splash hire” the next time around.

I’m not necessarily a fan of either English or Valentine but I see them as the kind of guys Dolson might actually interview. English is in his 1st year at Providence and has wins over Wisconsin, Marquette, Creighton, Butler and St John’s. Valentine was on Moser’s staff when Loyola went to the Final Four and ran their defense before taking over for Moser as head coach and has major recruiting ties in the Midwest. I don’t expect the Administration to have interest in Beard, Pearl or Drew (and vice versa may also be true). Ironically, it sounds like Billy D may actually be on the market at the end of the NBA season, but I think he might end up as an assistant on some other NBA staff.

-Dusty May -Josh Schertz -Joe Pasternack -Kim English -Drew Valentine assuming all 5 are still in their current jobs a year from now (unlikely imo) that’s a realistic list

If they hired Lewis they could possibly retain Bostad and get Leonhard, and a more flexible and potentially effective offense IMO than Chryst would likely try to install. Not to mention that Lewis brings more energy and charisma to the table than Chryst could provide. Candle and his former boss Matt Campbell would be reasonable choices. And Barry Odom could be promising, especially if he brought his OC Marion with him.

The real problem is not the buyout per se; Glass had already put a similar one in the 2019 contract that the buyout in the 2021 was modeled after. The real problem is that Dolson chose to change the guaranteed part of the contract from “1st 3 years 100% and last 4 years 50%” (in the 3019 contract) to “1st 4 years 100% and last 3 years 50%” (in the 2021 contract). If Dolson had kept the former buyout terms the same in the new contract, the current buyout would only be about half of what it actually is.

Believe he’s already interviewed with A&M

Dolson was legally required, accordiing to Allen’s previous contract, to give the one-year extension. What Dolson did NOT have to do, but chose to do anyway, was to also take the expensive buyout from the 2019 contract and make it even more expensive. ARE as head coach would probably be Cam Cameron 2.0. Pass. I think it may be more likely that IU would make a “safe” choice like Chryst or maybe even Fitzgerald, although that could cause some P.R. problems. Personally, I’d be more inclined to go for an up-and-coming G5 guy like Sumrall or even a successful FCS coach like Vigen or Chesney. EDIT: maybe more than any of the aforementioned guys, I might be interested in Sean Lewis, even more because of what he did as HC at Kent State than what he’s done as OC at Colorado.

maybe Dolson could start buying out some conference games too (dws)

I don’t remember much evidence of many big-time programs seriously looking at Allen for very long other than Florida State, and in that case it was when Norvell was on shaky ground. And even after the 2020 season not all of us were sold on Allen as a savior who should’ve been given whatever new contract he wanted. I am still convinced that Dolson didn’t need to be as generous as he was in order to reward and retain Allen. I suspect that it could’ve been accomplished with something like 6 years and $18-20 Million guaranteed, including a less expensive buyout structure. I doubt it needed to be the 7 year, $27 Million guaranteed package it turned out to be. That’s not to suggest there was something uniquely bad, or even unique period, about Dolson’s deal, On the contrary, it was fairly typical of a deal you’d see AT A FOOTBALL SCHOOL with boosters willing and able to pick up the tab for a buyout as soon as things went off the rails. The problem is that Dolson gave out that sweetheart deal at a basketball school that can apparently find $70 Million to offer Brad Stevens but can’t even come up with the funds to replace, or even just upgrade, its football team’s practice facility.

The raise and extension came after Allen’s 6-2 Covid season in which IU faced Ohio State in OSU’s first game without Chase Young (NFL) and faced Michigan without Aidan Hutchinson (injury). And faced Penn State without J. Oweh (Covid) in a game that was decided by an official’s decision (correct IMO) that historically 9 times out of 10 would have gone against IU and resulted in a loss. Dolson was justified in giving Allen a raise and extension, but the length and buyout terms of the one he gave him were fiscally irresponsible.

It would go up by a good deal more than 50% if Notre Dame would join but I guess they’re just too darned special for that

Dolson, actually

I’m aware of Allen’s buyout numbers and hope the new TV rights money can help if a coaching change becomes necessary although Dolson makes it sound like that increased payout to the schools won’t be available right away

Interesting that Allen made the move before the stretch that includes Maryland and Rutgers and MSU instead of post-season makes me think that after last season Allen may believe he needs to win at least 1 or 2 more conference games this season or his own seat could get warm next year

IIRC the buyout doesn't drop from 100% to 50% until year 5 of his new contract, so I'd expect Allen to probably be here through at least 2024 regardless of his won-loss record most assistant coaches (unless they're "stars" in their own right like Venables etc) are only on one-year contracts, so I assume some of Allen's staff are not nearly as secure in their positions as Allen himself is

sorry but IMO after 19 losing seasons, getting to the outright B1G 10 title and Rose Bowl in just 4 years is at least as impressive as anything Fitz has done, especially with how many fewer bowl games there were back then. And I'm a pretty big Fitz fan. Wilson and, to date, Allen never got an outright B1G 10 title or Rose Bowl, and the B1G made sure last year to guarantee Allen's Big East success didn't get in the way of Ohio State.

nothing against Fitz, but it was Gary Barnett who turned the Northwestern program around, When Barnett was hired NW had had something like 19 straight losing seasons and Barnett got them to the Rose Bowl in 4 years and the Citrus Bowl a year later, winning one B1G 10 championship and tying for another one along the way. Fitzgerald has done an excellent job of restoring the program back to the level where Barnett had gotten it, and he has also done (for the most part) a very good job of sustaining it. It doesn't hurt that such a wealthy university finally acknowledged Barnett's and Fitzgerald's efforts by spending to renovate and add to the football facilities. It also didn't hurt that, as an original condition of Barnett accepting the job, NW lowered its admissions standards for athletes, which allowed Barnett to recruit "program-changers" like Darnell Autry.

true FOR NOW but if the season ends without another bowl bid (especially due to a loss to Purdue) recruiting and IU's national brand will undoubtedly suffer and, if not Allen himself, some assistants' seats will almost certainly be warm if not hot

thought before the season 6-7 wins was probably the ceiling and still do--I also "predict" that there will be off-season changes to the staff (duh) and, if IU misses out on a bowl due to a loss in the Bucket game, Allen's seat will begin to warm up a bit

IMO the Head Coach needs to make more than just one "correct decision" and some of those decisions don't involve Tuttle (or other players, for that matter)

I think, if he has a chance, that Franklin will run up the score: State Penn 41 Good Guys 16

AFC South now 0-6? that's some impressive work right there....

especially playing in a division with multiple blue-blood programs that take in as much $$$ from one home game as IU does from an entire season At this point in time P5 football IMO is as much about spending as it is about recruiting or coaching--something IU is willing to do in basketball but up until very recently hasn't been willing to do in football. The results speak for themselves, and unless future FB spending changes dramatically, I don't expect the results to either.