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Tom Allen Hired as IU Head Football Coach

akhosrof

By akhosrof
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hsrtxp Newbie

hsrtxp

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Just watched the press conference. Really excited for IUFB after watching it. Very impressed with Coach Allen and his vision for the program. Clearly demanding of excellence and getting everything he can from his players on AND off the field. Loved his enthusiasm and his comments about his Hoosier roots. I have no doubt he is all in and gives us a great chance to breakthrough.

I was also very impressed with Fred Glass. He speaks very well IMO. He made a very tough decision and seems to have worked through this in a very thorough manner independent of knowing what would come next. I liked his comments about outside counsel and relying on others to help him think through it. He put the athletes, the team and the institution first. He impressed me with his leadership today.

Welcome Coach Allen!
Go Hoosiers!


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akhosrof
akhosrof

The goodman deserves his own topic. His big day shouldn't be overshadowed by Glass and Wilson's quarrel. How about that introduction speech? WOW if there was ever the right man to lead IUFB, it's Alle

Hovadipo
Hovadipo

This has me over the moon. I've been so excited about this program the last few years and tonight has me more excited than I was at any time over my building excitement. There's just a lot of...excite

ccgeneral
ccgeneral

Boom! #812 staff all set. https://indiana.rivals.com/news/tom-allen-finalizes-staff-no-further-changes-coming IU head coach Tom Allen said that he doesn't expect any further changes to his c

GnarlyNormEllenberger Newbie

GnarlyNormEllenberger

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If (and that's a BIG if) you had to part ways with Wilson, I believe Tom Allen is more than a logical/capable successor. My reasoning...

- Despite his lack of head coaching experience and college coaching experience in general, he has made a sizable impact everywhere he has been. Look at what he did as a part of the Ole Miss defensive staff. Before Allen, they were ranked last in the SEC. With Allen, they finished near the top in TFLs and sacks. In his one season as a D-coordinator at South Florida, his unit led the conference in scoring defense. Each of those teams finished with a winning record.

- You cannot overstate how much he improved IU's defense this year. This is a unit that has been one of the statistically worse defenses over the last 20 years, even setting new records of failure during this time. Yet, in ONE year, he was able to move us from "bad" to "mediocre/respectable/legitimate". It was HIS defense that pushed us into a bowl game and kept us competitive in EVERY game, despite the inconsistencies of our offense. And this was coaching a unit that had many of the same players from the year before while even losing its whole D-Line the year prior. If there was an award for Assistant of the Year in the Big Ten, you would have been hard-pressed to find a more deserving coach than Tom Allen.

- He's an Indiana guy familiar with the program. Yes, that means something. He understands the landscape. He knows what he's getting into and the type of position he holds. Those were several traits that Wilson didn't possess when he arrived and it resulted in a rocky start to his tenure. The transition to Allen should be MUCH smoother. He should be able to retain many of our assistants and recruits and keep continuity. And that's a continuity of relative success for IU Football.

- Recruiting. He's highly respected among Indiana high school coaches. While Indiana is not a hotbed of recruiting, there are usually a dozen or so players who have legitimate Power 5 talent in the state each year. Nabbing his fair share of those guys could go a long way in continuing to build our program. His ties to the South with his stints at Ole Miss and South Florida will definitely help, too. He assisted in assembling some very talented recruiting classes while at Ole Miss. He's also known to have a very infectious personality (a Crean phrase, I know) that kids love to play for. That's huge these days, especially for a program that doesn't have a historical track record of winning.

- Who else should we have gotten? The fact of the matter is that going another direction would mean starting over. At no point during the history of the program has this resulted in immediate success. While Wilson elevated the program, we're still considered a lower-level Power 5 team. Look at the candidates at Purdue and you'll get more of an idea who we'd be in the running for. None of those guys would inspire any more confidence in the long term future of the program at IU anymore than what Tom Allen gives us, in my opinion.

akhosrof Newbie

akhosrof

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- Who else should we have gotten? The fact of the matter is that going another direction would mean starting over. At no point during the history of the program has this resulted in immediate success. While Wilson elevated the program, we're still considered a lower-level Power 5 team. Look at the candidates at Purdue and you'll get more of an idea who we'd be in the running for. None of those guys would inspire any more confidence in the long term future of the program at IU anymore than what Tom Allen gives us, in my opinion.

Good post. Your last paragraph is what it all comes down to. Yes, Les Miles is the pipe dream, but once you realize Les isn't coming here you're down to a list of PJ Fleck, Brian Brohm, and maybe Willie Taggart (who I think would hold out for a better job and would prefer to stay in the South). We've tried an LSU retread and it didn't work[emoji1] Hiring a G5 head coach likely represents a complete restart. We have the youth and talent to win now!

I don't necessarily believe Glass when he says Wilson's resignation and Allen's hiring were two separate decisions. However, I do believe that it worked in Glass's favor that Allen was naturally the best man for the job in the country and was the easy choice. Of course, the question will be was Glass scared of losing Allen and pushed Wilson out the door?

Based on the options above, as well as everything that has been stated in this topic, Allen is by far the best guy for the job. It's a perfect fit and a seamless transition. Young guys like Brohm, Fleck or Taggart would use IU as a stepping stone. Allen has the potential to be our Tiller.

Now if Allen can keep Hagen, Inge, McCullough and Frey, this will be a home run.

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Brass Cannon Mentor

Brass Cannon

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1 minute ago, iuswingman said:

Highly doubt Wilson went down to Florida to hire Allen so that he could be his replacement.

Depends how involved Glass was in the hiring. 

Very possible Glass was trying to get Allen in the door and if Wilson didn't shape up. Then he had a back up. 

I could see it also being that they would tolerate Wilson as long as our Offense was stellar but if the offense is losing us games was it really worth putting up with Wilson. 

bhaggard89 Newbie

bhaggard89

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http://www.indystar.com/story/sports/college/indiana/2016/12/02/insider-indy-area-high-school-coaches-laud-ius-hire-tom-allen/94795902/
Insider: Indy-area high school coaches laud IU's hire of Tom Allen

As has already been stated, CTA should really be a great boost for instate recruiting.


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He can start by securing a commitment from RJ Potts


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mdn82 Newbie

mdn82

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Ha I never realized I played against a team he was a coach on. Never knew he was an assistant coach for Marion in 97. That was one of the last times they were any good at football. Huntington North unfortunately is never good...


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akhosrof Newbie

akhosrof

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http://www.tampabay.com/sports/college/fennelly-brief-detour-back-to-tampa-for-new-iu-coach-tom-allen/2305190

Well written article in the Tampa Bay Times on Tom Allen. Writer makes a good point: with Taggart rumored to be a top candidate for Oregon, if Tom Allen wasn't promoted to IU HC, USF would have most definitely gone after him. I'll take it another step forward: if Taggart goes to Oregon, would he have used that Phil Knight Nike money to try and get Allen back as his DC?

Between those connections and Ole Miss, we were always going to be vulnerable to losing Coach Allen unless he was promoted to head coach. Makes me even more pumped to have him in charge!


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akhosrof Newbie

akhosrof

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https://www.google.com/amp/s/indiana.247sports.com/Article/Ole-Miss-head-coach-Hugh-Freeze-Indianas-Tom-Allen-a-natural-hea-49479823/Amp?client=safari

Another good article on Coach Allen and how he reached out to Hugh Freeze. Good insight into how Coach Allen may look at his staff after the bowl game. Freeze went through the same situation when he became the head coach at Arkansas State.

Pretty cool how IU players and recruits are tweeting #LEO. "Love Each Other". Even offensive players are tweeting it because of Coach Allen.


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