Tom Allen Continues to Build on Culture as Season Rolls On

Written by: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)

It is a bit of a breath of fresh air when compared to the often-transactional landscape we see in college football today, but eight grueling weeks into the season, Tom Allen and his staff continue to focus much of their energy on the culture that defines this program. The Hoosiers must win their final four games to accomplish their goal of bowl eligibility, but that does not mean Allen is changing his endearing approach.

“I think you just want to capture the hearts and minds of your players,” said Allen to the media on Monday. “That's my goal from day one with this team when guys come here. It's the character of our players.”

You hear it every time when a player commits to Indiana, be it through the transfer portal or from the high school level: culture matters, and it is often a top reason why players choose to become a Hoosier.

“I think you just have to appeal to the heart of a young man, his mindset,” Allen continued. “I'm such a big believer of how powerful our minds are and that we don't allow circumstances to dictate the way we approach every day. It's so easy to do that. We all do it.”

It would have been easy for this Indiana team to have given up after falling to 2-5 with a matchup against top-ten Penn State looming. But what we saw last Saturday was far from a team that had given up. 

“I think young people really struggle with it. When we get older, we start to have a little different perspective on things. Just teaching young people your effort, your attention to detail, the way you approach every day should not be based on outside circumstances, how you feel, whether we won or lost, whether the last play was in your favor or against you, and to teach them just to focus on that.”

Often, Allen’s approach in connecting to his players has as much to do with who they are off the field, as it does on.

“I talk so much about what their identity is outside of being a football player, because that's the core of who you are as a person, and I build off of that. As I tell our guys many times, life is really hard, and sometimes it's really unfair. Football is an amazing teacher of life. So, I draw on that, I really do.”

Football life has been tough on the team through two thirds of the season. Looking ahead, however, winnable opportunities await: Wisconsin (5-3), Illinois (3-5), Michigan State (2-6), and Purdue (2-6). If there was ever a time for culture to prevail, it is now, as the brutality of the Big Ten East schedule seems to mostly be behind them.

“It really goes back to the culture you create, and the guys have bought into it. They believe in it. Man, we've got to keep battling. And this is another opportunity to continue to shape that and form that. As hard as it is right now, we're going to keep locking arms and stay the course and not grow weary in doing the little things right, and I believe we're going to be able to get a different outcome if we just stay the course.”

Indiana will take on Wisconsin in Bloomington this Saturday at noon.