Allen Says Thank You to IU, Gives Cautionary Advice For Future of Indiana Football

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Indiana head football coach Tom Allen was dismissed on Sunday morning just hours after losing 35-31 to Purdue and ending the season at 3-9 (1-8). Allen released a statement to Ross Dellenger of Yahoo! Sports saying:

It has been my greatest professional honor to serve as Indiana's head football coach for the past seven years.

Representing this University and this State has meant more to me than you can imagine.

Our entire journey here has been based on a simple concept - Love. Each. Other.

It's what we've done, it's what we'll always do. I continue to believe it's a recipe to change the world. There have been so many incredible memories made and relationships formed. I'll always be grateful for the players, coaches and staff who believed in our vision and gave their heart and soul for this program.

College football has changed dramatically over the past several years. Some of those changes have been a shock to the conscience of those who support IU football. The time has come to fully embrace those changes and I pray that IU does just that.

To each and every player who put on the Crimson and Cream over the past 7 seasons, I love you, thank you and God bless.

#LEO

On multiple occasions during his tenure at IU Allen has spoken out about the need for Indiana to step up and embrace NIL (Name, Image and Likeness) and he did so both on Monday prior to the Bucket Game and after the game as well.

“I think there’s a real reality that you have to adapt to the changes as a program, as a university, and sometimes those adaptations are slower than they need to be.” Allen said on Monday. “You can see the trajectory of where we were going prior to the changes, and as things are right now.”

College football is a results oriented business and all that matters are the wins and losses, especially in rivalry games. However, in order to win those games and close the talent gap, NIL has to be embraced and used.

“We got to do a great job of adapting to the new world that we're in because it's totally different.” Allen explained after the loss on Saturday. “It's changed dramatically in the last couple of years. So, gotta be able to be at the forefront of that aggressively going after the reality what it has become. It's a different world now, without question.”

Allen may be on his way out of Bloomington, but he has left a clear warning sign and a little advice for the next person to take up the head coach position of Indiana Football.

“I feel like I want to be as aggressive as I can be with our alumni and boosters, and just being able to get in front of them and help them see the direction that these things are going and what we need to do to be able to help us make these changes because the bottom line is it's all in front of us.” Allen said Monday.

“We have to be able to adapt, and it's hard. There's no question, because it's different than it's been in the past, and sometimes it's a different way of doing things, and some people even like or agree with.” He continued.

The warning signals are there. Allen is not holding a grudge, but giving Indiana Athletics, the fans and the next head coach of Indiana football some cautionary advice to get it turned around.