When it finally came time for Thomas Allen to pick a school, he and his family faced a pivotal decision: Play for dad or play for another school.
Playing for another school meant dad - that would be then-IU defensive coordinator and now IU head coach Tom Allen - likely wouldn't see him play very often due to the various responsibilities and time commitments that come with such positions. The overlap would've presented a challenge, no doubt.
So Thomas ultimately decided playing for his dad would be best, the two working together and balancing father-son/player-coach relationships for the second consecutive spring.
"It's different," Thomas said. "It's a cool experience. It's one that I got to pick. At first I was like, 'heck no, I'm not playing for my dad.' Then I talked to some guys that did it. At the end of the day, it was, he'll always see you play or he'll never see you play. I'm real close to my dad, real close to my mom, real close to my family, so I wanted them to see me play. My grandparents are an hour and a half, two hours up the road, my grandpa's my best friend. I wanted him to see me play all the time (too)."
Family has impacted the experience beyond Thomas' school choice.
For one, the tradition now extends two generations.
Tom played for his father, Tom Sr., while playing for New Castle (Ind.) High School in the mid-80s.
"It's 'coach' on the field," said Thomas, a member of Indiana's 2017 signing class and early enrollee. "Off the field, we have a rule that you can't go back to mom and complain."
That's probably a good philosophy, considering Tom's memories of the occasional criticism he faced from his father on the field.
"The butt-chewings from your dad in practice, it's different," Allen said. "I know how it feels."
Leading up to Thomas' decision to play for Indiana, both he and his dad sought advice from other men who went through the same experience themselves.
Thomas said he consulted the coach on Rutgers' staff who had offered him a scholarship out of high school and also played for his dad. For Thomas, the main takeaway was the aforementioned mantra of leaving everything on the field and not taking it back home and complaining to mom.
Tom, meanwhile, learned the best way to make the father-son/player-coach relationship work was to avoid serving as his son's position coach.
As a former linebacker himself, though, that at times can be challenging for Tom.
The two never had to worry about it much in practice last fall because the scout team, which Thomas primarily worked with, and the first team defense, which Tom primarily worked with, were at opposite ends of the practice field.
"The challenge is this: You find yourself being so hard on him," Tom said. "I was told by several guys, 'Don't be your son's position coach. That's almost an impossible thing do.' But I'm a linebacker guy, so that's the first place where my eyes go."
Although balancing both sides of the relationship is a delicate act, neither Thomas nor his dad would want it any other way.
Tom said if someone's never done it, it's difficult to understand how different the situation truly is. Recalling the same two extremes which Thomas spoke of beforehand, Tom realizes how special the opportunity is.
"We're very thrilled and blessed to have this opportunity, for sure," Tom said. "But I'm going to be all over his tail."
"You're just treated different from everybody," Thomas said. "At the end of the day, I'm here because I want to play for my dad, but I'm (also) here because I was born in Indiana, I'm from here, I want to play here, I want to do great things here, and it's just a cool experience that I get to play for my dad."
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