Names to know in Indiana's ongoing head coaching search

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BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Sunday, Indiana parted ways with Tom Allen after seven years at the helm of the Hoosiers' football program.

After winning 14 games and leading Indiana to back-to-back bowl games in 2019 and 2020, Allen and the Hoosiers won just nine games across the following three seasons.

Seven up-and-down seasons with the Hoosiers ultimately culminated in Allen's firing following a 35-31 loss to Purdue in Indiana's third consecutive defeat in the Old Oaken Bucket game.

With Indiana expected to cast a wide net in search of its next head coach, here's a couple of names to keep an eye on, in no particular order.

Frye, an native of Elwood, Indiana, playing for Indiana on the offensive line from 2002 to 2006. Beginning his coaching career as a graduate assistant in Bloomington, Frye has experience as an assistant coach at multiple Power 5 schools.

Frye has worked at Florida, Temple, Boston College, UCLA and is currently at Ohio State. At his two most recent stops -- UCLA and Ohio State -- Frye worked under Chip Kelly and Ryan Day, two head coaches with great offensive track records.

In his eighth full season as the head coach at Toledo, Candle has the rockets sitting at 11-1 ahead of the MAC Championship Game on Dec. 2. This season mark the sixth time during his tenure with Toledo that Candle has led his team to a bowl appearance.

Candle, an offensive-minded head coach, has won over 60 games and multiple conference championships with Toledo during his time with the Rockets. The lone knock against Candle is that he doesn't have any experience coaching at the Power 5 level.

Coaching at one of the toughest places to succeed in the country, Creighton led Eastern Michigan to five bowl games in the last seven seasons entering the 2023 season.

Creighton has north of 25 years of head coaching experience. The biggest challenge to overcome with Creighton is his strong friendship with now former head coach Tom Allen. While Creighton was the head coach at Wabash in 2007, he hired Allen to his staff from Ben Davis High School.

Wommack is as familiar with the Indiana football program as anyone on this list, having served as Indiana's linebackers coach in 2018 before being promoted to defensive coordinator for the 2019 and 2020 seasons. His work as one of the key minds behind Indiana's 2020 defense earned him his current job as the head coach of South Alabama.

As the head coach of the Jaguars, Wommack has his team at 6-6 with a shot at the program's second bowl appearance in the last two seasons.

In his short time with the program, Dickert -- a relatively inexperienced head coach -- has led Washington State to bowl appearances in back-to-back seasons. Despite that, the Courgars have a sub-.500 record (15-16) under Dickert.

Similar to Tom Allen, Dickert has a defensive background. With Washington State left behind in the ashes that was the Pac-12, could Dickert be in search of a new opportunity outside of the Pac-2?

A legendary name within the Indiana football program, Randle El spent four seasons with the Hoosiers from 1998-2001. After winning Big Ten Player of the Year in 2001, Randle El moved on to have a successful, nine year career in the NFL.

Randle El is currently in his third season with the NFC North leading Detroit Lions, serving as the team's wide receivers coach. Randle El has just five years of coaching experience.

Would he be willing to take the leap from the NFL to the college ranks for his first head coaching job? Randle El would certainly be a hire that Indiana fans would have no difficulty getting behind.

Hart was a member of the Indiana coaching staff from 2017-2020, serving as the Hoosiers' running backs coach and as the associate head coach during the 2020 season. Hart was instrumental in the development of Stevie Scott into an All-Big Ten caliber running back and the overall development of the rushing attack at Indiana.

Now with Michigan, the Wolverines have consistently had a top-3 rushing offense in the Big Ten under the direction of Hart. He may not have extensive experience as a coordinator, but Hart -- who has strong connections within the Indiana athletic department -- is a name that will continue to be brought up in the Hoosiers' ongoing coaching search.

Fritz may have more head coaching experience than anyone else on this list of potential candidates. A head coach since 1993, Fritz had his Sam Houston State teams annually competing for FCS championships. More recently, Fritz held the head coaching title at Georgia Southern before moving to Tulane, where he is currently.

Across his 10 seasons between Georgia Southern and Tulane, Fritz led the Eagles and the Green Wave to six bowl appearances. Fritz is no stranger to being linked to Power 5 coaching vacancies, but at 63 years of age, he may elect to stay in the south where he's spent his entire career.

Over the last couple of days, more names have come up in conversation surrounding Indiana's head coaching vacancy.

Again, these are just names to keep an eye on as the Hoosiers continue their head coaching search.

Carey assumed play-calling duties with the Hoosiers as the offensive coordinator, taking over for Walt Bell who was fired on Oct. 1. Under the direction of Carey, Indiana's offense averaged 23.1 points per game across the final seven games of the season. That's a noticeable jump from the 15.8 points per game Indiana averaged in the four games against FBS opponents under Bell.

Carey has some experience as a head coach at both Northern Illinois and Temple. In his nine seasons between the two programs, Carey went 64-50 and led his teams to seven bowl games.

Silverfield hasn't been at Memphis for very long, he was hired in December of 2019, but he has led the Tigers to two bowl games in his four years with the program. Under Silverfield, Memphis has not finished a season under .500.

The knock on Silverfield, is that he has no head coaching experience at the college level outside of his four years with Memphis. Additionally, Silverfield has never held an offensive or defensive coordinator position.

Before spending this season on the staff at Texas, Chrryst was the head coach at Wisconsin. He spent eight seasons in Madison, going 67-26 and adding three Big Ten West Championships. Chryst is a two-time Big Ten Coach of the Year and is well-known for his offensive minded coaching style.

Chryst served as the head coach at Pitt for a few years before going to Wisconsin. Chryst checks a handful of boxes for the Hoosiers as they continue their coaching search: he's got experience, experience winning in the Big Ten and he's got an offensive mindset.

In his first season at Florida Atlantic, Herman has struggled. His Owls finished the season with a 4-8 record. That's the program's fewest wins in a season -- even less than the abbreviated 2020 -- since Florida Atlantic won three games for three consecutive seasons from 2013-2016.

Before being named the head coach of the Owls less than 12 months ago, Herman was the head coach at Houston for two seasons and then at Texas for four seasons.

Shepherd has no head coaching experience. That may be reason enough for him to be off of Indiana's radar.

However if the Hoosiers can get past that, Shepherd's resume is strong. He spent five years at Purdue, before joining Kalen DeBoer's staff at Washington. DeBoer of course spent some time at Indiana as the Hoosiers' offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach. Shepherd may not have any head coaching experience, but he has the husky passing attack -- led by former Indiana QB Michael Penix Jr. -- first in the country in passing yards per game and second in total yards per game.

Grubb, like Shepherd, works on coaching staff at Washington under former Indiana offensive coordinator/quarterbacks coach Kalen DeBoer.

After turning down an offer from Nick Saban to be the offensive coordinator at Alabama a year ago, Grubb has been one of if not the biggest catalysts in Washington's offensive success this season. Grubb lacks the head coaching experience of some of the other guys on this list, but it's hard to argue with the offensive success he's had throughout his career.

Cignetti has been the head coach at James Madison since 2019, posting a 52-9 record during that time. In his first season with James Madsion, Cignetti led the Dukes to the FCS National Championship game. Now at the FBS level, Cignetti's success has continued. James Madison is 11-1 and this season.

Cignetti has prior experience at Elon and at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He's an offensive minded coach, with experience coaching at the Power 5 level. He has held coaching positions on the offensive of the ball at Alabama, NC State and Pitt throughout his career.

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