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According to SB Nation’s Steven Godfrey and Alex Kirshner, defensive coordinator Tom Allen will be the interim head coach for Indiana football, meaning that he will be the man in charge at least for the upcoming bowl game – and possibly after that.
Allen is in his first year at IU, and completely turned around what has for a while been Indiana’s biggest weakness. The Hoosier defense ranked 37th in S&P+ this year, after sitting at 105th last year and losing Nick Mangieri, Darius Latham, and Zack Shaw after the season.
Tom Allen has no college head coaching experience before now, but he was head coach at Indianapolis’ Ben Davis High School for three seasons and at Temple Heights High School in Florida from 1992 to 1994.
Presumably athletic director Fred Glass will assess the coaching situation after the bowl game, but honestly at this point it’s hard to know what that process will look like. One thing is for certain: Allen did a hell of a job running this defense, and he’s going to get at least one shot with the whole shebang.
UPDATE: Fred Glass says Tom Allen will take over as Indiana’s new permanent head coach.