Loved Coach Allen, but …
His forte is as a fixer, not a long term HC. “Rah rah” and LEO will not resonate with every player, and it wears out quick and becomes background noise, then something disliked and ignored. But he can come in and use it - and use the 4-2-5 - to re-energize an underperforming defense. (Its easier to get a great back 7 up to speed than a great front 4 - but opponents can adjust too.) I would think him pairing with Dabo should work once they buy some DUDES.
@tmft I always thought Allen was a HS coach. I thought it was an awful hire and said so on the boards. When he had his COVID year I was like holy hell maybe I don’t know anything about college football. Then he proved me real right by flopping without deboer. He also had Leo on shoes and ended interviews with it. Same as Russell Wilson, who also sucked without the best D of all time behind him. I hate ra ra football guys.
I don't disagree with your opinions. I like Tom but he definitely wasn't able to put it together on any kind of consistent basis. Personally, I think he was too loyal to certain players & coaches and that hamstrung him. I also think he tried too hard to chase star ratings that hardly ever panned out.
Quick correction though, DeBoer was only here the 2019 season. Nick Sheridan called plays in 2020 when things went really well & in 2021 when the wheels fell off.
Oddly enough, 2019 was also Kane Wommack's first season as DC and the vast majority of complaints were that he was over his head, a nepotism kind of hire, etc. When the defense had a great year in 2020 and kept the offense in a lot more games than they deserved all of a sudden he was a hot item and when 2021 happened one of the conventional excuses was because he no longer had Kane running the defense (even though the defense was overall pretty good in 2021 until the team had its spirit broken vs. MSU at homecoming.
I would think him pairing with Dabo should work once they buy some DUDES.
Clemson had slow LBs this year, but they also had 2 first round DL picks, another DE who likely goes mid round, and a first round corner. They had plenty of dudes. Their defense probably had the 2nd most NFL talent after OSU this year and they still were bad
Nick Sheridan called plays in 2020 when things went really well
We won games in 2020 because of our defense and because of Penix. When Penix went down the offense was horrible, as in worst Ive ever seen from IU. We had 200 yards of offense against Wisconsin (4 yards per play) and 350 yards against Ole Miss (4.3 yards per play) and 200 of our yards against Ole Miss came in the 4th quarter
Tom Allen, considering what IU had done/not done prior to his arrival, was a net positive for IU. Among other things, Tom had the misfortune of the Fresno State job opening up only one season after Kalen came to IU. Additionally, Penix injuries certainly hindered what IU might have accomplished in the post season (no offense to Peyton R.). He also had to deal with a major learning curb; which typically IU would have afforded him but his success during Covid set up expectations to which his recruiting couldn't produce. I'll always remember IU going into Nebraska and defeating that black shirt defense in front of 90,000 screaming NEB fans. I'm not sure I remember IU earning bowl eligibility that early in a season in my lifetime.
LEO resonated, until it started to look like the team focused on emotional things, instead of foundational, repeatable, reliable things like blocking, tackling, game planning, execution. When those things break down, slogans like LEO turn pretty quickly. The Cincinatti game comes to mind as a good example... we started that game on fire... when McFadden got booted, it was like a balloon popped in the stadium, and on the sidelines. Completely different team after that singular play. Because his teams relied more on energy and emotion, than actual foundational skills like blocking and tackling.
Right now, Fast, Physical, Relentless... 1 through 150... Humble and Hungry... all the various things Cig rapid fires with resonate, because his teams tackle, block, execute, really well.
I think Coach Allen was/is probably a decent football coach. But he was not a very good program manager. He and his staffs, even the good teams, either didn't focus on the little foundational details well... or they weren't very good at coaching them.
By the end... one of my go to phrases after most games was... "At least they LEO."
And they have a coach who is the Big Swinging D...uh Boy Part, in all of football.
Coach Allen is OK. Not the worst coach. He does care about his guys and tries to walk it. It was more than time to move on. On investment, Indiana had made a lot of investment in the previous 10-12 years B.C. So Allen must mean NIL.
Allen DID NOT have the resources to compete made available to him. FULL STOP!
Even so, look at the Allen holdovers and their contribution these past two years.
Bryant Haines (iirc) just got a salary bump to $3M...AFCA assistant coach of the year. He would be long gone under the old budgetary constraints, along with everyone else.
This would not have happened if Pam Whitten had not survived the faculty witch hunt and finally brought some institutional control over The IDS.
And they have a coach who is the Big Swinging D...uh Boy Part, in all of football.
Coach Allen is OK. Not the worst coach. He does care about his guys and tries to walk it. It was more than time to move on. On investment, Indiana had made a lot of investment in the previous 10-12 years B.C. So Allen must mean NIL.
Allen DID NOT have the resources to compete made available to him. FULL STOP!
Even so, look at the Allen holdovers and their contribution these past two years.
Bryant Haines (iirc) just got a salary bump to $3M...AFCA assistant coach of the year. He would be long gone under the old budgetary constraints, along with everyone else.
This would not have happened if Pam Whitten had not survived the faculty witch hunt and finally brought some institutional control over The IDS.
The trash Pam Whitten had very little to do with anything other than not getting in the way. Trying to silence people isn't institutional control lmao.
Tom Allen didn't deserve the massive coach and NIL budget. He had a great QB. It was his doing though, to get him. If he'd kept winning he'd have earned it. His nil was 2 mil? Well, Cig asked for 5 the next year. NIL hadn't yet exploded. So 2 mil should've bought some guys and did.
All I need to remember about Coach Allen, was when we called TIMEOUT, on the FIRST PLAY.
He didn't embarrass us, but he was just in over his head.
Online with fellow Hoosier fans for Cig's first game (I was not there) the Ooh's and Ahh's over 'we look ORGANIZED' was night and day.
But so what, Tom Allen isn't Cig... Neither is anybody else. Coach Allen still seems well regarded as a DC .
(And Pam Whitten rocks!)
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And they have a coach who is the Big Swinging D...uh Boy Part, in all of football.
Coach Allen is OK. Not the worst coach. He does care about his guys and tries to walk it. It was more than time to move on. On investment, Indiana had made a lot of investment in the previous 10-12 years B.C. So Allen must mean NIL.
Allen DID NOT have the resources to compete made available to him. FULL STOP!
Even so, look at the Allen holdovers and their contribution these past two years.
Bryant Haines (iirc) just got a salary bump to $3M...AFCA assistant coach of the year. He would be long gone under the old budgetary constraints, along with everyone else.
This would not have happened if Pam Whitten had not survived the faculty witch hunt and finally brought some institutional control over The IDS.
LOL. The admins issue with the student newspaper have nothing to do with the football team. The student newspaper does not prevent the football team from winning games.
And even if Whitten was gone, it's possible that the next president would have been just as big of a supporter.
Your conservative fever dream of suppressing free speech and pwning the liberal elite College professors did not contribute to the football going 13-0.
It was money, mostly, which was properly spent on hiring and retaining capable people.
@whatthefrik guys, let’s stay on topic and not dwell on Pam Witten or the newspaper issue. This thread is turning into an off topic debate that is for the water cooler.
Tom Allen loved IU and for that I’m appreciative of him. Regardless of the reasons he was not successful at IU it was the right decision for both to get a fresh start. He brought us some great memories in the 19 & 20 seasons. So, even if the rest were forgettable seasons or at least seasons we’d like to forget I believe he did his best and poured everything he had in him to be successful. He just made some bad decisions that cost him and having hired in from a coordinator position he didn’t have an established history with his coordinators. I appreciate Tom though and wish him well and am glad he is happy for the success of his former players and the IU football program.
99.99% of motivated people rise to a point that is above their capabilities. Doesn't make them bad people. They're just limited out at that level. Allen isn't built to be a HC. Doesn't mean he's a bad DC. We should all be so lucky as he is. Doing something he loves, paid handsomely for it and got a shot at the top rung of his professional ladder.
All the NIL and assistant salary pool money in the world wasn't going to make him a good P4 HC. I'm glad he's continuing to find success as a DC. Great guy with a great family who wants to make a positive impact on the lives of his players.
Diligence is the mother of good luck. Plough deep while sluggards sleep and you shall have corn to sell and keep. Work as if you were to live 100 years. Pray as if you were to die tomorrow. All progress springs from work. Work has laid the foundation of every fortune in America. – Benjamin Franklin
POTFB
@iunorth Gimmicky stuff like LEO will work... as long as they are winning. Cig's catchphrases are football/success based, so they'll never be seen as goofy, but detractors would still love to knock him off his high horse if he loses. I remember when Tom Allen was on Coach K's radio/podcast and K talking about what a great guy he was and how he'd like Coach Allen to coach his own kids. But, once that higher level of success runs out... it just sounds goofy.
@whatthefrik guys, let’s stay on topic and not dwell on Pam Witten or the newspaper issue. This thread is turning into an off topic debate that is for the water cooler.
Tom Allen loved IU and for that I’m appreciative of him. Regardless of the reasons he was not successful at IU it was the right decision for both to get a fresh start. He brought us some great memories in the 19 & 20 seasons. So, even if the rest were forgettable seasons or at least seasons we’d like to forget I believe he did his best and poured everything he had in him to be successful. He just made some bad decisions that cost him and having hired in from a coordinator position he didn’t have an established history with his coordinators. I appreciate Tom though and wish him well and am glad he is happy for the success of his former players and the IU football program.
Not every good assistant or coordinator is meant to be a head coach, and that describes Tom Allen. Nice man, genuine supporter of his players, decent tactician. Just not a guy well suited to be the CEO.
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