Ranking the top 20 college football coaches for 2021

18. Tom Allen, Indiana

Tom Allen’s rise to being the head coach in Bloomington didn’t take all that long. He was hired as the Hoosiers’ defensive coordinator and 2016 and, by season’s end, he was the interim head coach before being hired full time. And since that point, it’s been a precipitous rise for a program that hasn’t historically been known for football success, especially with consistency.

Though it’s only been four seasons to this point, Allen has won more than 50 percent of his games at the helm at Indiana with a 24-22 record, making him only the second coach in Indiana football history to achieve that feat, the last coming prior to 1950. And the good news is that the Hoosiers only look to be getting more dangerous.

As a defensive mind, Indiana’s talent development on that side of the ball under Allen has been incredible to watch as they’ve been churning out playmakers on that side of the ball and producing on the field as well. Furthermore, there has been new life in the offense, which is a big reason why the Hoosiers have gone an impressive 11-5 in the Big Ten over the past two seasons and 14-7 overall.

The big question that Allen will have to answer now is what the ceiling is at Indiana. Having said that, he’s already surpassed most reasonable expectations with the job he’s done thus far with the Hoosiers.