Countdown to 2020 IUFB Kickoff: 100 Days (HC Tom Allen)

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

Hoosier Huddle Countdown - #100

Written by: Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

We switched it up a little bit this year and added an extra day to the countdown. We started at day 101 with an overview of what we are excited about for the 2020 Indiana football season. Day 100 will focus on Indiana’s head coach Tom Allen!

Name – Tom Allen

Position – Head Coach

Year/Hometown – 4th full season/ New Castle, Indiana

Tom Allen was brought to Bloomington by former Hoosier head coach Kevin Wilson prior to the 2016 season to turn around a dreadful IU defense. As the Hoosiers defensive coordinator, Allen had one of the most improved defenses in 2016 and was a Broyles Award Nominee for the nation’s top assistant coach.

Allen was named Indiana’s 29th head coach on December 1, 2016 after Kevin Wilson resigned amid allegations of player mistreatment. Allen enters his fourth full year as the Hoosiers head coach with an 18-20 record, the most ever by an IU coach in their first three seasons.

2019 was a banner year for Allen and the Hoosiers as they posted their first winning record (8-5) since 2007, cracked the AP (24) and Coaches (25) Polls Top 25 for the first time since 1994 and earned a berth in the TaxSlayer Gator Bowl. It was IU’s third bowl since 2015, but it’s first under the full-time direction of Tom Allen.

Allen has emphasized the LEO (Love Each Other) Culture at IU and it has paid off with two of the best recruiting halls in program history. He values the relationships he builds with his players. “We feed off of those relationships and that's who we are. That's one of our strengths,” said Allen via teleconference on earlier this spring. “We're a relationship-driven staff.”

Allen signed a new seven-year contract, valued at $27.3 million back in December. He thanked IU President Michael McRobbie and then Athletic Director Fred Glass for their belief in him.

“We have a tremendous group of players” Allen said in December. “I am proud to be their head coach, and I am 100-percent committed to their success on the field, in the classroom and in life. It's no secret Indiana University is a special place to me. I was born a Hoosier, raised a Hoosier and I am thrilled with the opportunity to remain a Hoosier for a long, long time to come."

During his three seasons as head coach, Allen has had 32 players earn All-Big Ten honors, four NFL draft picks and 66 Academic All-Big Ten selections.

Currently, Allen is tied with Cam Cameron (18) in all-time wins, but can pass Bill Lynch (19), Ewald Stiehm (20), Phil Dickens (20), Kevin Wilson (26) and John Pont (31) this season.