3 strong Tom Allen replacements who can get Indiana back to playing in bowl games
By John Buhler
We were not sure if Indiana had the stomach to eat a $20 million buyout, but apparently, the Hoosiers are hungry enough. They have been starved for wins on the college football field ever since the unforgettable 2020 COVID season that is shortly being forgotten. Indiana decided to pull the plug on the Tom Allen era in Bloomington and have fired him the morning after losing to arch-rival Purdue.
Allen went 33-49 over parts of eight seasons. He may have coached in the way tougher division, but Allen's teams only went 18-43 in Big Ten play over that span. Indiana finished the season with a dismal 3-9 (1-8) record, but it was still a shocker when Zach Osterman of the Indianapolis Star first reported that Allen was out on Sunday morning. His team was not good, but his guys were not poorly-coached.
Indiana could have held steady and stuck it out with Allen for one more year, but the Hoosiers felt like they needed to make a change. $20 million is chump change for big-pocketed boosters IU has like Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban. Regardless, Indiana needed some juice to gear up for Big Ten conference expansion with Oregon, UCLA, USC and Washington all joining their league next season.
Without further ado, here are three candidates that would be great fits to lead the Hoosiers in 2024.
3. Justin Frye played at IU and could help establish an offensive identity
After losing The Game for the third year in a row, big changes could be coming to the Ohio State Buckeyes program. Not to say that Ohio State would be foolish enough to actually fire head coach Ryan Day, but he could conceivably leave for another job this offseason. If that were to happen, or not, we could be seeing wholesale changes to his coaching staff. Keep an eye on Justin Frye here...
Frye has been the Buckeyes' associate head coach and offensive line coach the last two seasons. We have seen the Ohio State offense look absolutely electrifying at times, especially a year ago with Heisman Trophy finalist quarterback C.J. Stroud at the helm of it. Frye has worked for coaching stars like Chip Kelly and Urban Meyer previously, having gotten his start out as a graduate assistant at IU.
See, Frye played his college ball in Bloomington from 2002 to 2006. The former offensive tackle is adept at helping his offenses run the ball with conviction. Every team he has been a part of has seen great things happen with the rushing attack. Given that Indiana's offense can be rather listless at times, Frye could come back to his alma mater to help cultivate a new offensive identity for Indiana.
He may not have any head-coaching experience, but this is a job Frye would not turn down if offered.