7/22/2019 football Edit

Indiana Hoosiers Football: Tom Allen Shows Growth Heading Into Year 3

Stu Jackson • TheHoosier

Staff Writer

Stu Jackson covers Indiana University basketball, football and recruiting for TheHoosier.com. He also hosts Heard on The Hoosier, the site's official podcast.

CHICAGO – Tom Allen is set to begin his third season at the helm of Indiana Hoosiers football. Reflecting on the previous two years has helped shape the approach already underway for the 2019 season.

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IU football head coach Tom Allen has a greater understanding of what he needs to do within his role in order for the program to be successful. (Stu Jackson / TheHoosier.com)

"It's been a great opportunity to learn, and you have to learn from the mistakes that you make," Allen said during his podium session at Big Ten Media Day last week.

One of the areas where Allen feels he has grown the most is his in-game decision-making.

It was a big step for him to relinquish the defensive coordinator duties he had held in addition to being the Hoosiers head coach, choosing to promote linebackers coach Kane Wommack to the role.

"I've felt very strongly about staying in that role the first two years, but I think it was time for me to be able to step aside from that and be able to become a better coach of the team and not just the head coach of the defense," Allen said.

Along those same lines, one of his biggest adjustments as part of his development will be spending more time with the offense after being so heavily involved with the defense.

Prior to hiring Kalen DeBoer as the retired Mike DeBord's replacement at offensive coordinator, Allen said whomever he hired would be the head coach of the offense. That will still be the case – Allen has no plans to interfere with DeBoer's playcalling – but he may sit in on meetings similar to when he was focused on the defense.

"I think that's going to be big for me to be able to be more involved with the offense," Allen said. "I'm not going to tell Kalen what to call. I don't believe that in that. You hire great people and you let them do their job. But I also feel like that's an area that I feel more and more comfortable in, as well, so I'm excited about that adjustment."

Additionally, time Allen previously spent on film study and scouting an opponent's offense is now being devoted to honing his leadership skills.

"Be more in tune with that as the head coach and not trying to sit behind the film reel and watch so much film to get ready to call the defense, I think that's an area that really even this spring I felt like I've really tried to emphasize and read more books," Allen said. "Get my mind filled with more leadership component aspects to being the head coach rather than what we're going to do on defense to out-scheme our opponents."

Growing in his game-day decision making as well as his motivational skills, plus recruiting, will be an ongoing process.

"I think those were two key areas. And then obviously the whole recruiting piece. I'm trying to become a better recruiter, more involved with that. I've been very involved already, but I also feel like it's an area that you can never put too much time into," Allen said. "As the head coach, I want to continue to grow in those areas to do a great job of attracting guys that fit with us and want to be Indiana Hoosiers."