Allen tries to figure out transfer portal while managing roster
As he enters his fifth season at the helm, Indiana head football coach Tom Allen has a problem.
No, it isn't trying to get his team ready for the rigors of what promises to be a very challenging schedule when the Hoosiers open Sept. 4 at Iowa.
Instead, Allen's problems center around the future and maintaining a roster within the guidelines of NCAA specifications while also dealing the onslaught of changes the NCAA Transfer Portal has brought to college programs.
In an interview with TheHoosier.com, Allen said if there is one thing that keeps him up at night, it is roster management.
"Roster management is one of my biggest concerns right now. Lot of unknowns right now, that I am not used to dealing with," Allen said.
The issues are the result of the ongoing Covid-19 global pandemic, in which the NCAA granted students an additional year of eligibility. In addition, the NCAA made it easier for student-athletes to transfer schools, waiving the requirement to sit out a year.
As a result, Allen enters the summer unsure of how many players he will need to recruit in the Class of 2022.
"I don’t even know how many we are going to sign, because I don’t know how many spots I’m going to have," Allen said.
Since falling to Ole Miss in the Outback Bowl in January, Indiana has turned to the transfer portal to add some players, as Indiana has brought grad transfers D.J. Matthews and Ryder Anderson from Florida State and Ole Miss, respectively, as well as Michigan transfer Zach Carpenter and Northern Illinois transfer Weston Kramer.
In addition, the Hoosiers have lost some players as Damarjhe Lewis and Jeramy Passmore recently entered the portal and have found new schools.
For Allen, the transfer portal is an "interesting dynamic" that he never gave much thought to.
"I knew as soon as they started talking about it, I immediately thought about what it may become and it has become what I thought," Allen said. "It is a difficult conversation. I am old school in the perspective in that you go somewhere and stay there and fight through adversities of injuries and not getting to play as much as you'd like. That is how I would treat the situation in my mind, but I also get it and this is the part I am trying to understand.
"If a young man has been at a place for a few years and hasn't gotten to play...if I was a young kid, I'd want to play, and I get that. We have used the portal. Just because you don't agree with everything, doesn't mean you don't use it. It is part of the rules now, so we better maximize it. My approach is I am not going to say I don't agree with it and won't use it. We are going to use it for certain reasons, I don't see us using it wholesale, but to meet a need."
Allen said he has had players from Indiana enter the portal, and he has a philosophy surrounding that.
"I tell our players if they have an issue, come see me. Let's sit down and talk it through, man to man, face to face. There is a right way to do everything, and there is a wrong way to do everything and I want you to learn the right way to handle things, and if there is something here...maybe we have a situation where a player wants to get closer to home for a variety of reasons and I respect that... but let's sit down and talk it through," Allen said. "I don't like they can make a decision and never get to get to talk to one of us and just enter the portal and run away from things. I don't want them to run away from anything. I want them to sit down and talk.
"I'm not going to try to shame them or anything, and I will treat them with respect and talk it through. As long as we do that, we may agree to disagree, and I want them to do it the right way. If they want to go somewhere else, I'll support that and I will help them in trying to find a better fit for them."
And when there is an opening, Allen and has staff have a question to answer -- how do you best replace that player.
"Do you replace him with a high school player or older guy? Well, usually, if he is older and leaves earlier than he was supposed, you probably better replace him with an older guy so you go through and say is there someone out there who fits with us and can give us a need? We are going to use it and I don't think we will ever go back. I think it is a permanent part of Division I sports and I don't see it changing where they say you have to sit out. You have the one-time transfer and I think it is here to stay so we better learn how to best use it to improve your roster and football team," Allen said.
That is where the roster management issues arise, according to Allen.
"It's an issue and the NCAA is going to have to address that, to be quite honest. As the rules are written right now, they aren't clearly written to have a transfer portal in the equation," Allen added. "If we sign 25 guys to initials, we don't have any more spots so if we sign a full class, we can't take anyone. If you have guys leave after spring football, you can have spots you can't replace. They will have to do something to catch up with the transfer portal number."
Allen says that the other side to is how will high school recruiting be impacted.
"You have to make a decision as a coach, do you bring in a guy with multiple years left and if you do, you basically are not taking high school players or do you take high school players," he said.
In addition, there is the added variable of the extra year players due to the pandemic.
"We have three classes of guys with extra years with no scholarship relief. This year's senior class is super seniors, so we will have 92 guys on our team on scholarship this year because you could go above whatever you decided to keep if you have super seniors who have their eligibility prior to 2020 and have the extra year due to the pandemic," Allen said. "The freshmen, sophomores and juniors from last year got that extra year, but it doesn't look like the NCAA will give that super senior tag again, so it looks like this will be the only year you have more than 85. If we go back to 85 a year from now, that will really affect your numbers because all those guys have another year left and if they don't go pro or decide to graduate and move on, what do you do because if you keep them, you can't sign a high school kid."
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