The Indiana Hoosiers will not bring back coach Tom Allen next year for an eighth season, two people familiar with the decision told The Associated Press on Sunday.
The people spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity because the school did not announce the decision.
Allen spent his first four seasons leading the Hoosiers up the Big Ten standings, a rise that culminated in back-to-back bowl games in 2020 and their highest ranking (No. 12) in the final AP Top 25 poll since finishing fourth in 1967. Indiana finished 6-2 in 2020, the pandemic-shortened season when stadiums were empty, and Allen was named Big Ten and AFCA national coach of the year.
Since then, though, Allen’s progress has been derailed.
Indiana went 2-10 in 2021 with a winless mark in league play, then followed that with a 4-8 record last season and 3-9 this year as Allen’s teams went 3-24 against Big Ten teams.
Allen agreed to a seven-year contract extension following the 2019 season, and the deal added a one-year extension for each additional postseason appearance. He received a pay increase in the amended deal following the 2020 season, which put this year’s buyout at nearly $21 million.
He went 33-49 in his only head coaching job, including 0-3 in bowl games after being promoted from defensive coordinator as Kevin Wilson’s replacement following the 2016 regular season.
Allen lost his first game to Utah in the 2016 Foster Farms Bowl.
He grew up in New Castle, Indiana, the son of a high school football coach and started his own coaching career at the prep level in Florida and Indiana. His made college stops at Wabash, Lambuth, Drake, Arkansas State, Mississippi and South Florida before returning to his home state.
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