They Fired Tom Allen!

[IUFootballHappyHappyJoyJoy]

14 hours ago, Alford Bailey said:

Our ineptitude in football will eventually cost us dearly 

You know those jokes over the years about the football program belonging to the Mid American Conference? 

Soon, it will be reality... For the entire program. 

[8bucks]

Rabby made a comment on the HH podcast that was interesting.  He said that one of, if not the primary reason, Kansas was not invited tot the BT when Nebraska came was that the BT looked at the investment Kansas was making towards the football program and decided they were not serious about it and thus were not invited.

Last year Kansas announced a big investment decision in the football program. Kansas announces plans for over $300M in football upgrades - ESPN

If Kansas can get $300M for football facilities upgrades, then one would think that IU could find funds to at a minimum, make a coaching change and hire a legit staff.  IU has $3.3 Billion in their endowment which certainly has some restrictions that keep it from being an easy source of money.  But, schools have "loaned" money from endowments and if there some solid financials on how winning football teams create reveune for the school, could this even be considered an investment.

If we stand pat, do we run the risk of being left behind by the BT because we are not serious about football?  A contrarian question would be can we even hope to keep up as the top 20-30 football programs may choose a "premier league" format and we might not be able to get into that realm anyway. 

Would it be better to spend to show we are serious despite the risk of being left out of the Premier College Football League? I think it is, because even if that league is developed, there is still a tier 2 after that and we are no where near even being in that second tier.

I would love to be in those leadership meetings to hear whether IU feels we have no hope or whether there are paths like this open but we cannot decide whether to jump in.

[Lebowski]

17 minutes ago, 8bucks said:

...

If we stand pat, do we run the risk of being left behind by the BT because we are not serious about football?  A contrarian question would be can we even hope to keep up as the top 20-30 football programs may choose a "premier league" format and we might not be able to get into that realm anyway. 

Would it be better to spend to show we are serious despite the risk of being left out of the Premier College Football League? I think it is, because even if that league is developed, there is still a tier 2 after that and we are no where near even being in that second tier.

...

IUFB is far from Premier. They're like a blind squirrel that finds a nut once in a while. If college football decides to go the route of a Premier League like structure, IUFB will be either at the 2nd or 3rd tier league. Most likely League One level (3rd tier) if we are all being honest with ourselves. 

[IUFootballHappyHappyJoyJoy]

The problem with Indiana is that we are proud of our heritage as a college basketball institution. 

However, outside of one month of the year, Joe Blow could care less about college hoops... Even the top programs struggle to maintain interest unless they have some elite NBA draft pick, and last year they didn't have that as the biggest prospect was playing in France's professional league.  Meanwhile, college football has built this monster that has consumed television rights, redefined cable, and absolutely destroyed conferences for all sports... Possibly forever. 

So... What does "five banners at Assembly Hall" IU bring to the table on the gridiron?  The most losses in FBS history and no bowl victories in over 30 years. 

Doesn't fill you with confidence. 

And it does not help that athletic directors always tiptoe around IU's irrelevant status in football while touting basketball superiority when the climate demands adapting to football.  Any upgrades to Memorial Stadium feel arbitrary instead of forward thinking, fir example.  We just finally gave the team their own fitness facilities.  It feels unfair to extol the handegg boys but the sad reality is that they are the ones bringing home the money that gives our Olympic sports the chance to recruit and bring in more championships and prestigious honors, so it'd be nicer if, you know, they didn't suck @$$? 

[bigrod]

38 minutes ago, IUFootballEndlessMisery said:

The problem with Indiana is that we are proud of our heritage as a college basketball institution. 

However, outside of one month of the year, Joe Blow could care less about college hoops... Even the top programs struggle to maintain interest unless they have some elite NBA draft pick, and last year they didn't have that as the biggest prospect was playing in France's professional league.  Meanwhile, college football has built this monster that has consumed television rights, redefined cable, and absolutely destroyed conferences for all sports... Possibly forever. 

So... What does "five banners at Assembly Hall" IU bring to the table on the gridiron?  The most losses in FBS history and no bowl victories in over 30 years. 

Doesn't fill you with confidence. 

And it does not help that athletic directors always tiptoe around IU's irrelevant status in football while touting basketball superiority when the climate demands adapting to football.  Any upgrades to Memorial Stadium feel arbitrary instead of forward thinking, fir example.  We just finally gave the team their own fitness facilities.  It feels unfair to extol the handegg boys but the sad reality is that they are the ones bringing home the money that gives our Olympic sports the chance to recruit and bring in more championships and prestigious honors, so it'd be nicer if, you know, they didn't suck @$$? 

Yes. Personally, I'm fine with being the kind of team that is trying to just get into a bowl every year, averaging 5-6 wins. Some years we don't make it, but every once in a while, we're sniffing the top 20. I'm not asking for us to have an awesome football team, just not to suck so badly. 

[Hovadipo]

1 hour ago, 8bucks said:

If Kansas can get $300M for football facilities upgrades, then one would think that IU could find funds to at a minimum, make a coaching change and hire a legit staff.  IU has $3.3 Billion in their endowment which certainly has some restrictions that keep it from being an easy source of money.  But, schools have "loaned" money from endowments and if there some solid financials on how winning football teams create reveune for the school, could this even be considered an investment.

This is what drives me so nuts about our position on football. It's entirely a choice to not have a respectable program. "Can't afford to <insert objectively good thing>" my ass. If the right people just decided to make the investment, we'd be in a good place. Instead, we cut corners literally everywhere and the product on the field for every year of my life, save...4?, is what we have to show for it.

[8bucks]

Pivoting another way, what coach could we attract that has the highest probability of getting us to the following somewhat modest goals:

• Bowl game 4/5 years
• Top 20 ranking 1/4 years
• No major embarrassing moments

Then what would it take/year to bring in such a coach and staff.

[Stuhoo]

18 minutes ago, 8bucks said:

Pivoting another way, what coach could we attract that has the highest probability of getting us to the following somewhat modest goals:

• Bowl game 4/5 years
• Top 20 ranking 1/4 years
• No major embarrassing moments

Then what would it take/year to bring in such a coach and staff.

That’s not how it works.

We either find someone that succeeds or we don’t. If they succeed we will probably lose them unless we do a complete 180 and massively invest in football.

If we lost someone as head coach because they succeeded that’d be a first, and largely a positive.

[8bucks]

13 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

That’s not how it works.

We either find someone that succeeds or we don’t. If they succeed we will probably lose them unless we do a complete 180 and massively invest in football.

If we lost someone as head coach because they succeeded that’d be a first, and largely a positive.

I am not saying this formula locks this in for life. Instead, who could we get and what would it cost.  Do we swing low and hope or do we swing bigger and overpay.  Assuming we want to invest heavily, I am curious how much that requires.

If we have someone come in, do well then move up that is something I can only remember happening once since I have been following (Sam Wyche). Cincinnati has found a way to keep chugging along, surely we can too.

Edited October 3, 2023 by 8bucks

[Scotty R]

3 hours ago, IUFootballEndlessMisery said:

The problem with Indiana is that we are proud of our heritage as a college basketball institution. 

However, outside of one month of the year, Joe Blow could care less about college hoops... Even the top programs struggle to maintain interest unless they have some elite NBA draft pick, and last year they didn't have that as the biggest prospect was playing in France's professional league.  Meanwhile, college football has built this monster that has consumed television rights, redefined cable, and absolutely destroyed conferences for all sports... Possibly forever. 

So... What does "five banners at Assembly Hall" IU bring to the table on the gridiron?  The most losses in FBS history and no bowl victories in over 30 years. 

Doesn't fill you with confidence. 

And it does not help that athletic directors always tiptoe around IU's irrelevant status in football while touting basketball superiority when the climate demands adapting to football.  Any upgrades to Memorial Stadium feel arbitrary instead of forward thinking, fir example.  We just finally gave the team their own fitness facilities.  It feels unfair to extol the handegg boys but the sad reality is that they are the ones bringing home the money that gives our Olympic sports the chance to recruit and bring in more championships and prestigious honors, so it'd be nicer if, you know, they didn't suck @$$? 

I just he different because I pay attention to college basketball from Nov thru April and watch it every night. As for College football I can take it or leave it. This past Saturday I watched old TV shows the I haven't seen for a long time over watching college football except for the IU game.  I couldn't care less about the bowl games because there are about 20 to many bowl games.

[IUFootballHappyHappyJoyJoy]

47 minutes ago, Stuhoo said:

That’s not how it works.

We either find someone that succeeds or we don’t. If they succeed we will probably lose them unless we do a complete 180 and massively invest in football.

If we lost someone as head coach because they succeeded that’d be a first, and largely a positive.

If we lose them, we lose them.  It's the nature of the beast.  Our biggest mistake was retaining a guy during his 15 minutes of fame and now look at us.  We got one of the biggest buyouts in America and compared to other coaches who regularly run at Top 10 and FBS Championship aspirations in programs where football is second to going to church, our coach blows chunks.  It makes us look stupid.  And the worst part is that we're just going to sit on the deal and let Tom Allen run around and blame everyone but himself when the team loses every week. 

[IUFootballHappyHappyJoyJoy]

3 minutes ago, Scotty R said:

I just he different because I pay attention to college basketball from Nov thru April and watch it every night. As for College football I can take it or leave it. This past Saturday I watched old TV shows the I haven't seen for a long time over watching college football except for the IU game.  I couldn't care less about the bowl games because there are about 20 to many bowl games.

Here's the thing... We have not won since the 1991 Copper Bowl. 

You may not care.  But I do. I want to see us win a stupid bowl game. 

[Scotty R]

1 minute ago, IUFootballEndlessMisery said:

Here's the thing... We have not won since the 1991 Copper Bowl. 

You may not care.  But I do. I want to see us win a stupid bowl game. 

I have watched IU football bror over 50 years and they have had 12 winning season and a couple .500 season. In basketball I have seen 3 national championships and basketball is my passion.  I have went to both basketball and football games at IU and there is no comparison on who has the better atmosphere.

If they told me that IU could only have football or basketball and not both it is an easy choice for me and that is basketball.

I know this isn't probably the popular choice for college fans but you can tell where the big donors at IU prefer to spend their money.  Sometimes I think it would be best for IU football that the top 30 football programs separate and leave the rest to play college football.

[Scotty R]

7 minutes ago, IUFootballEndlessMisery said:

Here's the thing... We have not won since the 1991 Copper Bowl. 

You may not care.  But I do. I want to see us win a stupid bowl game. 

I care about IU in bowl games but will not watch any of the other 20+ meaningless bowl games.

[Lebowski]

2 hours ago, 8bucks said:

Pivoting another way, what coach could we attract that has the highest probability of getting us to the following somewhat modest goals:

• Bowl game 4/5 years
• Top 20 ranking 1/4 years
• No major embarrassing moments

Then what would it take/year to bring in such a coach and staff.

Historically, your expectations are a tad bit high for IUFB, but I think they are reasonable. I'd really enjoy this type of consistency for IUFB. 

I don't think IUFB will have issue bringing in coaches. The Big Ten is an attractive job to any coach climbing the ranks or trying to maintain the rank. You could even say that CTA's salary makes the job attractive and desired. It's not like they didn't reward him for two consecutive years of unprecedented success of the program. Stuhoo already touched upon the historical way it works for coaches at IUFB, unfortunately. 

Personally, I think the job could be a job desired if the athletic department shows some sort of commitment to the program in general. But historically, that's not what they have done.

[Demo]

Yeah 

[go iu bb]

9 minutes ago, Demo said:

Yeah 

Man, IU can't even be first in this. smh

[JSHoosier]

8 minutes ago, go iu bb said:

Man, IU can't even be first in this. smh

Honestly, I'm kind of glad.  Imagine if Dolson got pantsed so bad he made Allen the most overpaid coach, oof.

[Demo]

11 minutes ago, go iu bb said:

Man, IU can't even be first in this. smh

True. But to be fair, Fisher’s is 95 mil, fully guaranteed. That one is on the Rushmore of all-time $hitty contracts. 

[go iu bb]

1 minute ago, Demo said:

True. But to be fair, Fisher’s is 95 mil, fully guaranteed. That one is on the Rushmore of all-time $hitty contracts. 

I guess IU still has #1 in not winning.