Tom Allen's Message to Indiana Football Fans as Memorial Stadium Reopens: "Man, We Need You"

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

The Hoosiers 2020 season, in which they went 6-2, was played in front of family and friends for the most part. While it was a tremendous season from the Hoosiers, it was kind of unfortunate that the fans couldn’t be there in person. One felt for the loyal fans who showed up every week in those rough seasons to only be able to watch the Hoosiers knock off Penn State, Michigan and Wisconsin on TV. So, when it was announced earlier in June that Memorial Stadium would open to 100% capacity for the 2021 season, fans rejoiced and head coach Tom Allen has a simple message for those fans. “Man, we need you.”

In an interview with Hoosier Huddle in May Allen said that he missed having the fans there, but because of COVID there really was nothing they can do about it. 2021 will be different and Allen is excited to have the Hoosier faithful back in the stands on game days.

“It gives us a tremendous home field advantage to have a packed house” Allen explained, “and that's what sends a strong message to our recruits, to our players here. That everybody has been building this thing and even our fan base. That gives us and not just the support on game day and the obvious things that affect the game and the energy that we feed off of from our fans, is huge.”

Allen wants to thank a fan base that, as he admitted, hasn’t had many things to cheer about in the past.

“It's a testament to be able to have the support from the people that care about them, that have a vested interest in Indiana football and have had for a long long time. I know we haven't always had something to rally around every single year in the past, so I really want to do a great job of thanking them for everything they've given to us for all these years. All the faithful support. It means a lot. And I want to get this place back down as long as we're allowed to wherever they land and say we're gonna have I want to maximize that.” Allen said.

The Hoosiers have seen an increase in season ticket sales and when the Hoosiers play Idaho in September 11th at Memorial Stadium, the hope is that the fan base will show up to cheer on their Hoosiers since last year most people were stuck cheering at their TVs or radios.