Fired Indiana Football Coach Wants Program to "Embrace" NIL

Tom Allen suggests more NIL funding for Hoosier student-athletes

The Indiana Hoosiers football program announced the decision to fire head coach Tom Allen on Sunday. Allen finished his Indiana tenure with an overall record of 33-49 and just 18 Big Ten wins since he took the job in 2017. 

The Hoosiers are paying Allen a buyout of $15 million after an agreement by the two sides, and now Indiana joins the list of college programs searching for a new head coach. 

Shortly after the announcement was made, Allen released a lengthy statement thanking Indiana for his time there. In it, he also appeared to suggest that Indiana needs to "embrace" the NIL world that is quickly shaping the sport of college football (h/t Ross Dellenger of Yahoo Sports). 

Statement from fired Indiana coach Tom Allen, which notes that IU should “embrace” the changing environment around college football (ie: NIL). pic.twitter.com/WPOJpan0Pi

— Ross Dellenger (@RossDellenger) November 26, 2023

In the second screenshot of the statement, Allen wrote: "College football has changed dramatically over the past several years. Some of those changes have been a shock to the conscience of those who support IU football. The time has come to fully embrace those changes and I pray that IU does just that." 

It's been a tough time for Allen since coming to Indiana, and once NIL was welcomed to college sports in the summer of 2022, Indiana has been far behind the other Big Ten programs, and the results show. 

UConn head coach Jim Mora also echoed similar remarks about the Huskies football program, and this has become a hot topic across college sports after the second full season of the NIL. 

Indiana's coaching search has begun officially, and it will be interesting to see if more NIL supporters decide to back the Indiana football program.