Could Saturday be Tom Allen’s swan song at Indiana Football?

Indiana Football Coordinator Hires

In October, Allen fired offensive coordinator Walt Bell, and the offense has looked better. He promoted Rod Carey to offensive coordinator alongside Anthony Tucker. It does seem that Carey has the lion’s share of in-game calls.

Unfortunately for Carey, Indiana played three of the best defenses in the division (Penn State, Michigan, and Rutgers) since he became offensive coordinator. They also had their best offensive output of the season against Illinois.

Allen might look to replace Carey with a coordinator with a unique offensive scheme because the Hoosiers don’t recruit at a high level, and a special prep offense might be the answer.

Indiana’s defense has looked solid at times. It played well against Ohio State and Penn State. On the other hand, it gave up 48 points to Illinois and 52 points to Michigan.

Speaking of Recruiting

If there is any reason to part ways with Allen, this season is recruiting. The Hoosiers’ average recruiting ranking is 46th nationally, and they are also in the bottom fourth of the Big Ten in recruiting. What’s worse is Purdue is out-recruiting Indiana for in-state recruits.

Indiana signed four of the top 20 in-state recruits in the 2024 cycle. Only one of those recruits is in the top 1,000. The Hoosiers got just one of the top 20 in 2023. The expectation was that Allen would recruit the state better because of his ties, especially to the Indianapolis/Marion County area. That has not happened.

Is Dolan comfortable with moral victories?

Indiana has looked better over the past month; however, it has only yielded one win. Even with a win against Purdue, that would be two wins in two months. Dolan and the Indiana administration could view this last month as an improvement and keep Allen.

Big Ten goes divisionless in 2024, and Indiana avoids one of the big three (Penn State). Dolan could give Allen one more season to see if he can turn the corner next season.