Indiana head football coach Tom Allen was in a unique position during the 2017 recruiting cycle.
Of the 23 high school players who signed with the Hoosiers on National Signing Day Feb. 1, one was his son - Thomas, a linebacker from Plant High School in Tampa, Florida.
Thomas was the fourth player to commit to IU's 2017 class, doing so the summer before his senior season. Throughout the process, Tom wanted to make sure his son's recruitment remained as fair as possible, and that started with an offer from South Florida and its coaching staff early in the process.
"They came to me and they said, ‘We want to offer your son," Tom said. "And I’m like, 'Alright, go ahead. I don’t want to have anything to do with it. I don’t want to recruit him. I don’t want to evaluate him. I want you guys to treat him like anybody else, but take me out of the mix.'"
South Florida was the first school to offer Thomas while Tom was on staff there, and Tom made it clear he wanted his son to be recruited by his position coach. Tom continued to emphasize his role as a parent, not as a coach, so that Thomas could have a normal recruiting process.
Still, as much as Tom strived for normalcy in that process, it was one that didn't come without its challenges.
The window in the recruiting calendar Tom needed to seek out prospective players overlapped with the same window Thomas had for taking visits. Between that and running program camps, Tom said there was only a two-week period during the summer where he could take Thomas on those visits.
Similar problems could've potentially arose if Thomas went to a different school. Tom's responsibilities as a coach would've made it difficult to have the same number of opportunities as a regular parent to see their son play during the season.
"I played for my dad, but that was in high school which is different," Tom said. "The difference is if you play for your dad in college you're with him all the time. If you don't I'll never see him play. Ever. Maybe once a year at the most. So it's one extreme or the other."
But Thomas decided to follow his dad, eliminating that previous scenario as a possibility this fall.
“At the end of the day it is just hard to turn away from a Big Ten school in the area where I was born and spent time, and also the opportunity to play for my Dad,” Thomas said when he committed last summer.
Long before Thomas enrolled early at IU, Tom sought advice from Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz - who coached son James, an offensive lineman for the Hawkeyes - on the father-son coaching dynamic.
Tom also consulted other coaches, then prayed about it. Ultimately, the Allen family felt Thomas playing for his father was best for him. During his national signing day press conference, said the family felt "very, very blessed."
"I never dreamed I would be his head coach," Tom said. "That wasn't the plan. Obviously I was going to be the DC here and he was going to come here and God had a different plan. Obviously this is where we're at and he's going to be treated like everybody else and I say that to our players - he's a player over here. He's going to have to earn his way. He knows that, and that's part of the deal."
Earning his way will also mean separating the father-son relationship on the field, according to Tom. Which means he'll treat his son just like the rest of his players.
"He's in the dorms and a normal student like everybody else," Tom said. "Just happens to be my son."
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