Tom Allen now has 2 staff positions to fill

Tom Allen’s offseason to-do list just got longer.

The University of Michigan announced Wednesday night that it has hired IU running backs coach Mike Hart to fill the same role in Ann Arbor. It ends a four-year run in Bloomington for Hart, a Michigan alum, who joined IU’s staff ahead of Allen’s first season in 2017 and was elevated to associate head coach a year ago.

At Indiana, Hart was a Broyles Award nominee in 2018 and received recognition as one of the 25 best recruiters in the nation by Rivals in 2019. Perhaps most notably, Hart was the lead recruiter for running back Stevie Scott during the 2018 cycle.

“Michigan has always held a special place in my heart,” Hart said in a statement. “It is a place that always believed in me and a place that I have always believed in. I am excited to join Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan staff, and can’t wait to get to work with a talented running back group.”

Meanwhile, in Bloomington ...

As he grows Indiana into an Actually Good football program in the Big Ten, Allen is getting used to offseason staff turnover. Hart is the sixth significant staff departure since the end of the 2018 season.

After Kane Wommack was hired as head coach at South Alabama last month, IU is also still in the market for a defensive coordinator/linebackers coach. Allen said on Tuesday that it’d be ideal if he could find a coordinator who could also coach linebackers, but he’s considering all available options.

“The No. 1 objective,” Allen said, “is to find the best fit.”