Walt Bell Wants to Bring a Two-Step Process to Fix Hoosier Offense in 2022

Image: Sammy Jacobs, Hoosier Huddle

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

The Indiana Hoosiers introduced Walt Bell as their new offensive coordinator on Sunday morning in Bloomington. Bell comes to IU after a three-year stint at the head coach of the UMass Minutemen and has started to paint the picture of how he is going to reignite the Hoosier offense and it begins with the running game.

“Number one, no matter what level of football you are in, be it middle school football, high school football, college football or NFL football, you've got to be able to effectively run the football.” Bell said Sunday.

The Hoosiers struggled to run the football all season as poor play across the offensive line, injuries and attrition at the running back position as well as a nonexistent passing attack had the Hoosier ground attack stuck in the mud.

So how does Bell think that can be fixed?

“How you get that done is some quarterback driven, some systematically driven and, honestly, your offensive line and the personnel. Then, how can you win, where are your better players, how can you create matchups, where can we dent the defense.” Bell explained.

The second step to becoming an explosive offense is creating a quick, efficient passing game, something IU was missing all of the 2021 season.

“Number two” Bell said, “you have to be able to create, no matter who your quarterback is and how your skill is, somehow, some way you have to create a quick, efficient, well-protected pass game that can create explosives.”

Bell added that “between those two things, overall from a philosophy standpoint, I think those are the things that have to be done to have any positive impact on the impact on the offensive whatsoever. The second question, in terms of pace and tempo, again, that has been a part [of what we have done], but different things for different places. More than anything else, that, to me, is a reflection of what Coach Allen wants and what he wants this program ultimately to look like. That could be a week-to-week thing. That could be an all the time thing, so I am going to defer to Coach Allen on that. Obviously, we have had some very in-detailed conversations about what he wants this to look like, but at the same time, I'd like to keep as much as close to the vest as humanly possible as long as possible.”

Bell and the rest of the Hoosier staff are trying to finish off recruiting prior to the Early Signing Period starting on Wednesday, but after that he will get to work on crafting an offensive scheme that will get them back to winning football games.