Indiana University Athletics
Tom Allen Foster Farms Bowl Press Conference Transcript
12/12/2016 6:48:00 PM | Football
On recruiting and scouting since the regular season ended…
We have been focused on recruiting to this point. I had a few home visits last night and got on the plane this morning. I have had a chance throughout these trips to watch some film on Utah to get a feel with them, but I have not done any extensive study yet. Our guys back in the office have been doing a little more of that legwork to allow us to focus on recruiting. Heading into the dead period we will focus on Utah.Â
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Season Recap…
It has been an interesting development, obviously, with my situation being the defensive coordinator during the season and then this past week with my new role as the head football coach. Our kids competed really hard. We played a tough schedule, including four top ten teams. We found ourselves in a position to finish often, but were not able to do that in many of those games. We fought to get bowl eligible for the second straight year, which has not happened a lot in Indiana's history. We are trying to get our program to the level where bowl games are the norm and where we compete for conference championships. Our defense improved dramatically this year, our offense has been the strength of our program over the last several years. Coach Wilson did a tremendous job of changing the culture on the offensive side of the ball. I was put in charge of the defensive side of the ball this past season. Similar to what Coach Whittingham said, we struggled to score the ball inside the red zone, to finish drives, and to protect the football. It cost us in a lot of those close games. We were in a lot of one-possession games that we fell short of because of it. We could not capitalize defensively when we had leads in the fourth quarter. We have to learn to finish those off. We are excited to be out here in this bowl game. You have seen the video of our players and how they responded when we told them we were coming out here, they were extremely excited and fired up. We are extremely blessed to be given this opportunity, and we will make the most of it.Â
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On the last two weeks…
It has been a whirlwind. It's been crazy. You get thrusted into a lot of things. You have to decide scheduling, being in charge of recruiting now, going from being a recruiter to being a guy that is trying to finish some of those situations with home visits and guys on campus, practice plans, bowl week plans, scholarship numbers, and a lot of stuff that you aren't dealing with when you are just calling the defense. We've had a great team effort, a lot of great coaches on our staff, a lot of people in our great organization that have stepped up and allowed us to effectively transition. As I told our players, we are all in this together. Coach Wilson brought me here and believed in me and believed in them, he brought them to Indiana. So we're locking arm and arm and trying to finish what he started.
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On the ranked opponents IU has faced and if any of them are similar to Utah…
Well I think their brand of offense, which obviously I focus on the most when I watch teams throughout the season as a DC, they are very similar from the standpoint of in the Big Ten there is very good offensive line play like they have, a big running back like they have, big receivers, an athletic quarterback like Nebraska comes to mind, in terms of the talent we see, they have a strong armed quarterback, big running back and long receivers. So I'd say similar to (Nebraska). Very talented team that we see in being able to watch them. Their special teams is what impresses me. I was a special teams coordinator at Ole Miss for several years. So that's an area that I really bring my eyes to and I'm very impressed with what they do in that area which is a huge part of our game that often times doesn't get talked about enough. Their defense is extremely sound and their defensive line is impressive. We are used to seeing some good defense, so it's going to a tremendous challenge for us because they are extremely talented and very well coached.
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On managing the time between the regular season finale and the bowl game…
I would say for me is to keep your guys sharp and not do too much or too little. The balance between the two, how hard you go, the reps you get, you want to keep them fresh and you don't want them to get stale for that length of time. We both have exams coming up here this week so just balancing that with players' schedule. I just think to know how much to do because you want to benefit the developmental guys, who can get quality reps. But you want to make sure your guys are sharp and at their best when kickoff occurs on the 28th.
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On the biggest and challenge and benefits since taking over…
Well I think the challenges are just trying to manage three things at once which is the current team that you have, keeping those guys on track during the transition period. Then keep recruiting rolling. This time of year it's pretty intense with the home visits and the contact period. And then getting ready for a bowl game. So you are trying to multi-task with those three components all at the same time. But I think the time has helped. The fact that we are playing later is a positive and it has allowed us to break things down into segments. You kind of work on some of the things behind the scenes but you focus really on recruiting right now. And then trying to get your guys ready with the workouts we've had. The biggest plus has been the staff we've got. We have been able to keep everyone in tact here. We brought Shawn (Watson) on board to coach quarterbacks but the rest has been the same. The players have been able to have a lot of consistency with that. Even administratively, guys back at home allowing us to stay on top of everything and working together to accomplish the goal of us being ready to be our best on game day.
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On keeping continuity…
I think some of the leaders – Dan Feeney, Mitchel Paige on offense. Richard Lagow at quarterback. Those are the ones that jump out to me to be able to get their support. Obviously it was tough, when I think back to that first meeting the day it all happened and we told our team and just tried to speak from the heart to them about what was going on and what we were going to do together. Obviously, the defensive guys stepped up – Marcus Oliver, Rashard Fant, Tegray Scales – guys like that that really help bring everybody together on both sides. The neat thing is we're a close group already. You don't work as much with the offensive guys when you're the DC as you do your defensive team, but we spend a lot of time together. Coach had me address at times for some other things so they kind of saw some of what we're all about. I think as much as they were hurting with the situation going on, I think they're excited to have me be in that role to kind of bring us together, keep that continuity as you mentioned and be able to see what we were able to do on the defensive side of the ball and say 'hey we're going to move forward together and keep that same mindset throughout the whole team.' So, it's turned out to be very positive and I attribute the players' response and the way the coaches have banded together to be united, it's been pretty special.
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On the local reaction to the team earning a bid to a bowl game in California…
There's a tremendous amount of excitement about going to back-to-back bowls. I think the idea of going to a location that's going to be warmer than where we are located is very positive. I know there are some other options out there that weren't going to be quite as warm so I think that was a huge appeal. I know our players were extremely excited. I think we'll have a good group come out and follow – I know it is a long distance to travel for sure but the perception is very, very positive because of the location here in California and I know there is a lot of excitement. We presented the opportunity to our fans at the basketball game and our players got a standing ovation for what they accomplished and where we're headed. So I know there's a ton of support and excitement back home.
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On his initial reaction to Dan Feeney and how special he is…
Once you start practice – and you watch film and he sticks out – but when you start practicing, I will just never forget the effort that he gave every day – it did not matter. He blocks downfield, just tremendous, tremendous effort on every drill. We did a special teams drill one day where you involve the O-linemen and that's the one where we as a staff noted to the whole team that's the one time the scouts probably commented the most of anything he did the entire day was the effort he gave and what he was able to do in that special teams drill just to show that side of his play. To me, he's a tremendous leader, tremendous hard-worker, he kind of embodies the toughness and the mentality of our program. We're so proud of him, he's worked so hard. It was unfortunate he missed several games this year, it kind of hurt him in some other opportunities, but, at the same time, he's a two-time All-American for a reason and will go down as one of the greatest players in the history of our program.
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We have been focused on recruiting to this point. I had a few home visits last night and got on the plane this morning. I have had a chance throughout these trips to watch some film on Utah to get a feel with them, but I have not done any extensive study yet. Our guys back in the office have been doing a little more of that legwork to allow us to focus on recruiting. Heading into the dead period we will focus on Utah.Â
Â
Season Recap…
It has been an interesting development, obviously, with my situation being the defensive coordinator during the season and then this past week with my new role as the head football coach. Our kids competed really hard. We played a tough schedule, including four top ten teams. We found ourselves in a position to finish often, but were not able to do that in many of those games. We fought to get bowl eligible for the second straight year, which has not happened a lot in Indiana's history. We are trying to get our program to the level where bowl games are the norm and where we compete for conference championships. Our defense improved dramatically this year, our offense has been the strength of our program over the last several years. Coach Wilson did a tremendous job of changing the culture on the offensive side of the ball. I was put in charge of the defensive side of the ball this past season. Similar to what Coach Whittingham said, we struggled to score the ball inside the red zone, to finish drives, and to protect the football. It cost us in a lot of those close games. We were in a lot of one-possession games that we fell short of because of it. We could not capitalize defensively when we had leads in the fourth quarter. We have to learn to finish those off. We are excited to be out here in this bowl game. You have seen the video of our players and how they responded when we told them we were coming out here, they were extremely excited and fired up. We are extremely blessed to be given this opportunity, and we will make the most of it.Â
Â
On the last two weeks…
It has been a whirlwind. It's been crazy. You get thrusted into a lot of things. You have to decide scheduling, being in charge of recruiting now, going from being a recruiter to being a guy that is trying to finish some of those situations with home visits and guys on campus, practice plans, bowl week plans, scholarship numbers, and a lot of stuff that you aren't dealing with when you are just calling the defense. We've had a great team effort, a lot of great coaches on our staff, a lot of people in our great organization that have stepped up and allowed us to effectively transition. As I told our players, we are all in this together. Coach Wilson brought me here and believed in me and believed in them, he brought them to Indiana. So we're locking arm and arm and trying to finish what he started.
Â
On the ranked opponents IU has faced and if any of them are similar to Utah…
Well I think their brand of offense, which obviously I focus on the most when I watch teams throughout the season as a DC, they are very similar from the standpoint of in the Big Ten there is very good offensive line play like they have, a big running back like they have, big receivers, an athletic quarterback like Nebraska comes to mind, in terms of the talent we see, they have a strong armed quarterback, big running back and long receivers. So I'd say similar to (Nebraska). Very talented team that we see in being able to watch them. Their special teams is what impresses me. I was a special teams coordinator at Ole Miss for several years. So that's an area that I really bring my eyes to and I'm very impressed with what they do in that area which is a huge part of our game that often times doesn't get talked about enough. Their defense is extremely sound and their defensive line is impressive. We are used to seeing some good defense, so it's going to a tremendous challenge for us because they are extremely talented and very well coached.
Â
On managing the time between the regular season finale and the bowl game…
I would say for me is to keep your guys sharp and not do too much or too little. The balance between the two, how hard you go, the reps you get, you want to keep them fresh and you don't want them to get stale for that length of time. We both have exams coming up here this week so just balancing that with players' schedule. I just think to know how much to do because you want to benefit the developmental guys, who can get quality reps. But you want to make sure your guys are sharp and at their best when kickoff occurs on the 28th.
Â
On the biggest and challenge and benefits since taking over…
Well I think the challenges are just trying to manage three things at once which is the current team that you have, keeping those guys on track during the transition period. Then keep recruiting rolling. This time of year it's pretty intense with the home visits and the contact period. And then getting ready for a bowl game. So you are trying to multi-task with those three components all at the same time. But I think the time has helped. The fact that we are playing later is a positive and it has allowed us to break things down into segments. You kind of work on some of the things behind the scenes but you focus really on recruiting right now. And then trying to get your guys ready with the workouts we've had. The biggest plus has been the staff we've got. We have been able to keep everyone in tact here. We brought Shawn (Watson) on board to coach quarterbacks but the rest has been the same. The players have been able to have a lot of consistency with that. Even administratively, guys back at home allowing us to stay on top of everything and working together to accomplish the goal of us being ready to be our best on game day.
Â
On keeping continuity…
I think some of the leaders – Dan Feeney, Mitchel Paige on offense. Richard Lagow at quarterback. Those are the ones that jump out to me to be able to get their support. Obviously it was tough, when I think back to that first meeting the day it all happened and we told our team and just tried to speak from the heart to them about what was going on and what we were going to do together. Obviously, the defensive guys stepped up – Marcus Oliver, Rashard Fant, Tegray Scales – guys like that that really help bring everybody together on both sides. The neat thing is we're a close group already. You don't work as much with the offensive guys when you're the DC as you do your defensive team, but we spend a lot of time together. Coach had me address at times for some other things so they kind of saw some of what we're all about. I think as much as they were hurting with the situation going on, I think they're excited to have me be in that role to kind of bring us together, keep that continuity as you mentioned and be able to see what we were able to do on the defensive side of the ball and say 'hey we're going to move forward together and keep that same mindset throughout the whole team.' So, it's turned out to be very positive and I attribute the players' response and the way the coaches have banded together to be united, it's been pretty special.
Â
On the local reaction to the team earning a bid to a bowl game in California…
There's a tremendous amount of excitement about going to back-to-back bowls. I think the idea of going to a location that's going to be warmer than where we are located is very positive. I know there are some other options out there that weren't going to be quite as warm so I think that was a huge appeal. I know our players were extremely excited. I think we'll have a good group come out and follow – I know it is a long distance to travel for sure but the perception is very, very positive because of the location here in California and I know there is a lot of excitement. We presented the opportunity to our fans at the basketball game and our players got a standing ovation for what they accomplished and where we're headed. So I know there's a ton of support and excitement back home.
Â
On his initial reaction to Dan Feeney and how special he is…
Once you start practice – and you watch film and he sticks out – but when you start practicing, I will just never forget the effort that he gave every day – it did not matter. He blocks downfield, just tremendous, tremendous effort on every drill. We did a special teams drill one day where you involve the O-linemen and that's the one where we as a staff noted to the whole team that's the one time the scouts probably commented the most of anything he did the entire day was the effort he gave and what he was able to do in that special teams drill just to show that side of his play. To me, he's a tremendous leader, tremendous hard-worker, he kind of embodies the toughness and the mentality of our program. We're so proud of him, he's worked so hard. It was unfortunate he missed several games this year, it kind of hurt him in some other opportunities, but, at the same time, he's a two-time All-American for a reason and will go down as one of the greatest players in the history of our program.
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Players Mentioned
Thursday, August 13
Thursday, August 13
Tuesday, August 11
Tuesday, August 11