IU coach Allen taking ownership in reflective offseason

May 17—BLOOMINGTON — Each offseason, Indiana coach Tom Allen chooses different books as required reading for himself and his coaching staff.

This year's selections were "Extreme Ownership, How U.S. Navy Seals Lead and Win" by Jacko Willink and Leif Babin and "Built to Last, Successful Habits of Visionary Companies" by James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras.

Ownership and sustainability are two appropriate themes after Indiana football endured its first winless conference football season since 2011. IU had visions of contending for a Big Ten title at this time last year after back-to-back January bowl appearances, but a string of injuries and ineffective play from key players caused the season to derail quickly. The Hoosiers failed to win a game in October and November, losing eight straight to wind up 2-10 and 0-9 in Big Ten play.

"It's so powerful just to own, which is fitting for the season we had," Allen said. "Hey, you've got to own it. So the leadership positions — you may not like certain things or even the reality of certain things, but you've got to face up to it."

The 52-year-old Allen, who is 26-32 entering his sixth season at IU, took from Built to Last that successful companies stick to their core principles.

"Accountability, toughness and love, those are our anchors. That's our pillars," Allen said. "We believe in those things. You evaluate everything, and sometimes when you have a really hard season you question everything — which you should — but you can't go away from who you are, what you believe and what got you where you are."

It's been an offseason of change for IU football, beginning the day after IU's 44-7 loss to rival Purdue, when Allen fired offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan after IU finished last in the Big Ten in total offense. Former Massachusetts coach and Florida State and Maryland offensive coordinator Walt Bell was hired to replace him.

More staff changes followed. Defensive coordinator Charlton Warren left for North Carolina and was replaced by Minnesota defensive line coach Chad Wilt, defensive line coach Kevin Peoples left for Missouri and was replaced by Texas Tech defensive line coach Paul Randolph, running backs coach Deland McCullough left for Notre Dame and was replaced by Maryland offensive analyst Craig Johnson and wide receivers coach Grant Heard left for UCF and was replaced by Dallas Cowboys wide receiver coach Adam Henry.

Henry and Johnson, a former running backs coach with the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings, bring NFL backgrounds to the staff.

"They've been to the level all these guys want to be at — especially those two positions, running backs and receivers," Allen said. "We've had some good ones in those two spots the last several years."

During the offseason, IU recruited the transfer portal hard, especially on offense. Transfers could end up starting at quarterback (Missouri's Connor Bazelak), running back (Auburn's Shaun Shivers) and at two of the three wide receiver spots (North Carolina's Emery Simmons and Trinity Valley College's Cam Camper).

Bazelak and returning senior Jack Tuttle separated themselves in the quarterback competition this spring and will go into the fall battling for the starting job.

"They've got to have a great summer for everything that we do from the month of May, June, July, getting into fall camp," Allen said. "Obviously once we get to fall camp then we will kind of get rolling, and we'll kind of know who shows at that point that they are ready to lead our football team."

Another area of scrutiny for IU during its 2-10 season was the offensive line, which struggled protecting the quarterback and opening holes in the run game. The unit allowed 29 sacks in 12 games, tied for fourth-most in the league. In the run game, IU's 3.2 yards per carry ranked 13th out of 14 teams, ahead of only Purdue.

"They probably got the brunt of it, fair or not. That's just reality, but they took it personal and they should have and I did, too. So did (offensive line) Coach (Darren) Hiller," Allen said. "We've got some guys back there that need to step up, and I think they have."

Allen said senior right tackle Matt Bedford had the best spring of his career moving back to his natural position, and Zach Carpenter — in slimming down to 304 pounds — was the most improved offensive lineman. After starting three games at right guard last season, Carpenter lined up mostly at center this spring.

"He really came back after the break, he knew he needed to be in a different place physically and just did it," Allen said.

On defense, a big key is the health of senior cornerback Tiawan Mullen, a 2020 All-Big Ten and All-American standout who struggled with leg injuries last season that limited him from early October through the rest of the season. Mullen, arguably IU's most talented player, was held out this spring for precautionary reasons.

"It was a big blow, and it affects a lot of the things we can do schematically by his skillset, and he's really, really good," Allen said. "He has a special charisma about him. He didn't lose that. He's still trying to do everything. It's just different when you are not playing. But I will say I feel very confident that he's 100% now. We know what he can do, so the goal was to get to that point."

Another area where Allen is taking ownership is calling the defense, after letting defensive coordinators Kane Wommack and Warren call the defensive plays the past three seasons.

Allen called the defense plays his first two seasons as IU's head coach and often wound up staying overnight in his office during game weeks. But he expects to have a better handle on it this time around because Wilt, as the defensive coordinator, will run all the meetings and manage the schemes.

Allen tried to handle all of those responsibilities in his first two seasons at IU.

"What I've learned from that is I don't want to be sleeping on my couch," Allen said. "It's healthier for me to be sharp, to be at my best."