Indiana football coach Tom Allen’s success is entrenched in his passion and love for his players
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. (BVM) — In January of 2016, the Indiana Football program hired a relatively unknown coach from University of South Florida to fill their defensive coordinator position. While this hire may not have generated much excitement on a national level, in Indiana, Tom Allen is a familiar face.
Allen’s coaching career began in the early 1990s down in Tampa, Fla. where he accepted his first coaching job at Tampa Heights High School and began as the defensive coordinator. A few years later, Allen was named interim head coach and took the team to its first playoff berth in school history.
After a two–year stint as defensive coordinator at Armwood High School in Sefner, Fla., Allen accepted a defensive coordinator role at Marion High School in Marion, Ind. For Allen, this meant a return to his home state.
This was a short stop for him, however, as he quickly moved on to Indiana powerhouse Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis, where he spent six seasons as defensive coordinator under legendary coach, Dick Dullaghan. During his time as defensive coordinator, Allen won three state titles with the Giants. Allen was named as the successor to the winningest coach in school history, — Dullaghan — in 2004 and won 25 games with Ben Davis across the next three seasons.
After his high school success, Allen began his college coaching career. Allen began as a secondary coach and special teams coach at Wabash College in 2007. From there, he bounced around various small mid-major programs for five years, including stops at Drake University and Arkansas State, until landing a job on the Ole Miss staff in 2012.
In Allen’s final year as the linebackers and special teams coach, he helped Ole Miss have a top-20 defense nationally that held opponents to 13.8 points per game — the lowest in the country.
His success in Oxford, Miss. made him the perfect target to fill the defensive coordinator spot at the University of South Florida. In his only season as the lead man for the South Florida defense, Allen’s unit only allowed 118.7 yards per game passing compared to 182.9 the previous year. The same could be said for its run defense, which went from 85th in the country to 31st.
Just a year later, Indiana University hired him to complete the same goal with their own defense, and after just one season, Allen’s work was clear. The Hoosiers went from allowing 509.5 points per game to 372.6 in Allen’s first season. He completely changed the defensive unit and turned it into one that would allow an Indiana team to compete whether its offense was clicking or not. This dramatic turnaround earned him a nomination for the Broyles Award, given to the top assistant in the country and ultimately earned him the top spot at IU, which he received in December of 2016.
Since Allen became head coach at IU, the program has completely turned around. After two seasons finishing below .500, IU burst onto the scene in 2019, gaining an 8-5 record and reaching the 24th spot in the AP poll. This was only a preview of the following season, however, as the Hoosiers finished 6-2 in 2020, with a peak at the No. 7 spot in the AP poll. The 2019 and 2020 seasons were the first time IU had been ranked in the AP poll since 1994, and reaching the No. 7 spot in 2020 was the highest school ranking since the Rose Bowl team of 1967.
Allen has proven his ability as a coach throughout his career at both the high school and collegiate levels. However, one thing that has started to ooze from this IU football program is passion. Allen loves his players and his players love him. They are passionate about playing football and winning games, but more importantly, they are passionate about their teammates and each other.
There was no better example of this love and passion that Allen and his players have for each other than during the post game interview after beating Wisconsin for the first time in 18 years in December of 2020. During the two–minute interview, players running by were yelling “Best coach in the nation right here.” He received countless hugs from players with one even telling Allen how much he loved him. It is clear that he is not just a coach to them, his players see him as their fearless leader, who loves them and will do anything for them.
Allen has instilled his mantra of “Love Each Other” or “L.E.O” into this IU football team and it shows on the field. The Hoosiers do not have any superstars like top programs in Alabama, Ohio State or even Michigan. IU typically signs mostly three–star recruits, but what they are lacking in skill or athleticism is made up in how they play as a team.
In 2020, Indiana ranked 43rd in defense nationally. This is better than Ohio State, Auburn, Texas and Oregon. They also ranked 13th in forced turnovers as a unit. However, three players ranked in the top 35 for forced interceptions in Tiawan Mullen (32), Jaylin Williams (10) and Jamar Johnson (7).
After a successful 2020 campaign Allen and the Hoosiers are looking to build from last year as they get quarterback Michael Penix back from injury and return numerous key starters.
