Tom Allen's Biggest Challenge: Handling Multiple Unique Events Simultaneously

Indiana has its best recruiting class ever, but Tom Allen also has lost four coaches in the past few months. And after a big step back in 2021, this is a critical spring for the Hoosiers, with a lot of things — good and bad — all happening at once.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — The overused ''best of times, worst of times'' line certainly applies to Indiana football these days, with all roads intersecting right through Tom Allen's office 

That's the joy — and the stresses — of being the boss. 

There is a lot to be happy about these days, most notably the top-20ish recruiting class, the best in school history, and the 10-person transfer portal group that's considered one of the best in the nation, too. The talent reload is a huge thing, because it is desperately needed.

But then there is the bad, and lots of it. 

There's the stench of the recent 2-10 season for one, a major backtrack after several years of impressive growth in the program. And then there's the major overhaul of the coaching staff, with one firing (offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan) and three late  defections — defensive coordinator Charlton Warren, defensive line coach Kevin Peoples and, as of this week in a stunning move, running backs coach Deland McCullough.

There's a lot of starting over going on here.

They are back to work again now, hitting the weight room hard and looking forward to spring practice starting in early March. There are 19 mid-year enrollees between the recruits and the transfers, and that's a lot of fresh faces to get to know — players and coaches alike.

In other words, there's a whole lot going on. And it's all different right now. Very, very different

"In some ways I think, yeah, that would be accurate,'' Allen said Wednesday when asked about all the changes swirling around. "I think that the common denominator, though, would be me. And when you talk to the guys as (coaching) changes have unfolded, we talk to them about the change that might have affected them in their position room, that kind of thing. I hear from them, 'Coach, you're still there and that's a big reason why I'm here.' That's a big part of all this.

"I get it. It's part of it, to have other people involved. The new guys coming in can start with the guys, and that's where the relationships are being built with the new coaches that have joined our staff after they had already either signed here, or committed here, or a little bit of both.''

Allen said that ''staff recruiting'' helps in the transition with the coaching staff, because commits aren't attached to just one recruiter. They get to know Allen well, of course, but they also see a lot of the other coaches, as well. 

That means a lot, and that's why only one commit chose not to sign in December.

"That's why we staff recruit here, to be able to create those relationships without just more than one person that's recruiting your position or that side of the football. And, obviously myself, I'm involved, very involved, with these guys, getting to know them and their families and spending time with them.

"There's been some change, no question about it. One thing that we do really well here is build those relationships, and growing them once they get here. Obviously, they start throughout the recruiting process. That's a new challenge as well, but it also is right in our wheelhouse of what I think is what makes us who we are.''

Almost all of this 2022 class was firmly committed before Indiana struggled through last season, an eight-game losing streak fueled by a slew of injuries at key positions. And they stayed firmly committed, thanks to those well-built relationships. 

"I don't know that (the losing) caused us to spend more time, because we've always spent a lot of time with them throughout the season,'' Allen said. "Throughout any week of the year, no matter whether things are going your way or not, you're getting guys on phone throughout the season, especially early in the week on Sunday night, Monday night, Tuesday night, just being able to spend time with guys, and just stay in constant communication with them and their families.

"I think there's definitely a conscious effort to make sure that they understood the foundation. It was interesting because I felt like as I talked to guys, there wasn't a lot of guys who were really waffling a lot. I know that may seem surprising maybe, and I get it. Maybe I was maybe encouraged by that as well that it couldn't have been more of an issue. But the relationships were pretty strong. And the belief is strong in what we're doing and how we're doing it and how we're building this place. There's no question last season was extremely difficult and not close to what any of us wanted or expected, so I think the strength of those relationships held us together. These guys, they were all in. They were bought in, and they believed in what we were doing.''

This recent move by running back Deland McCullough was stunning, for many reasons. He had just done a great job rebuilding that room with recruiting and transfers, but he's on his way to Notre Dame now to do the same job there. it's just one more adjustment that Allen and his players will have to make.

That's why this spring is hugely important for Allen and his entire program, from top to bottom. There's going to be a lot to accomplish, both physically and mentally, starting on March 5.

"There's no question, when you have this many new players and some new coaches — more new coaches than we had in the last couple of years here, collectively — so I think it's just about being able to develop our guys within our system,'' Allen said. "To me, there are fundamental things we know we need to get better at. There's no question, I talk about running the football better. To me that's a big focus, and the fundamentals of that, being able to increase our ability to be effective in that way. Right now to me it's throwing the football better. We've been a team that's thrown the ball well the last several years, and that did not take place last year.

"Those are two key base things that we have to be able to do with new receivers, new running backs and continue to build and develop our offensive line. To me, that's  going to be huge for us.''

There were many issues on defense, too, and a lot of work to do there. Allen is taking over calling the defense after Warren left in a hurry to return to North Carolina after just one year with the Hoosiers. Chad Wilt is the new defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, but he'll ease into that role with Allen calling the defense.

"Defensively, we went from being the No. 1 team in the Big Ten taking the ball away in 2020 to the worst team in the Big Ten at taking the ball away, which is inexcusable,'' Allen said. "Some other categories on defense we went from the top to the bottom in one season. Those are things that we're going to be addressing, without question, and we'll need to be able to reestablish some of those things.''

After 8-4 and 6-1 regular seasons in 2019 and 2020, it's imperative that the Hoosiers bounce back quickly from that 2-10 disaster. It's time to get back to work.

"There's just a sense of urgency to be able to get back out there and get the bad taste of 2021 out of our mouths,'' Allen said. "Obviously, you don't dwell on the past, but it's a huge motivator because I know that it's not who we are, or what we want to be.

"To me, spring is a great time for us to be able to work through those things, get back on the football field and get back to playing football the way I know we can. I expect it soon, and I believe we will.''