How Indiana ended up with a new head coach in its bowl game

One of the more surprising coaching changes of 2016 came when Indiana announced in December that head coach Kevin Wilson would be resigning after his sixth year. He’s been replaced from within by former defensive coordinator Tom Allen for the Foster Farms Bowl against Utah and beyond.

New head coaches usually don’t participate in transitional bowl games, but since Allen was already on staff, it makes sense for him to simply start his tenure now.

When Indiana announced Allen would be taking over as the permanent head coach, not much was said as to why the relatively successful Wilson handed in his resignation.

And there was this from a player, who was a freshman during Wilson’s last year as the offensive coordinator at Oklahoma:

Glass didn’t mention anything specifically about these instances. When asked if there was a specific cause was to prompt Wilson’s resignation, Glass stuck with mostly how Wilson and Glass had “philosophical differences” at the end of the day.

There’s no smoking gun or single precipitating event that led to where we are today. I think it’s really a realization by myself and Kevin that we’re not on the same page about what I view as key ways to how the program needs to be led.

We don’t have any outstanding claims of medical issues, I have complete confidence that the medical care has been outstanding by our really terrific athletic training staff.

I understand that the philosophical differences may be an unsatisfying meal full of empty calories, but I think from the institution’s perspective, and the football team’s perspective, and Kevin Wilson’s perspective and our ability to move forward to have an agreed, mutual separation based on his resignation is highly desirable, and frankly I’m pleased to get that accomplished today.

A source told SB Nation on Dec. 1 that Wilson had “repeated clashes with administration.”

Allen’s career started on the high school level in 1992. In 2007, he entered the college ranks, becoming a defensive coordinator.

He was hired by Hugh Freeze at Arkansas State in 2011 and followed Freeze to Ole Miss, where he coached the defense from 2012-14. In 2015, he was hired as USF’s coordinator, and his unit finished fourth in the country in total defense. Last January, he was hired as Indiana’s coordinator.

In Bloomington, Allen took a unit that finished 105th per S&P+ in 2015 to 37th overall at the conclusion of the regular season. From a school release:

Allen engineered one of the top defensive turnarounds in the country in 2016. IU’s defense improved in every major statistical category against a schedule featuring four top-10 opponents, a program first. IU is holding its opponents to 372.6 total yards, an improvement of 136.9 yards over 2015, the largest improvement in the country. The Hoosiers have limited their foes to 93.6 fewer passing yards, also first nationally, and 10.3 fewer points, which ranks sixth nationally. Indiana’s defense has given up 27 fewer touchdowns than one season ago.

Allen was named a finalist for the Broyles Award this season, which is given to the nation’s top assistant in college football.

“Once coach Wilson and I concluded to part ways, I turned to determining who the best person in the country would be to keep up our momentum and take us to another level with our football team,” Glass said. “I quickly concluded that person was in our midst in Tom Allen. He is a leader of men. He is demanding without being demeaning. He is a proven, successful coach on a national scale with deep Indiana ties. He cares about his players, and they care back.”