Indiana University Athletics
Hagen Back to Make a Difference
5/26/2016 12:40:00 PM | Football
By: Tori Ziege | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – In the years since he graduated from the Kelley School of Business with a B.S. in marketing in 1991, assistant defensive coordinator Mark Hagen jokes that he hasn't used his degree once.
But that's not really true.
Once an IU football player himself, Hagen immediately joined the Indiana coaching staff following his graduation, serving as a graduate and administrative assistant under the Hoosiers all-time winningest head coach Billy Mallory from 1992-95. He's spent the last 25 years on the sideline, including two years on head coach Kevin Wilson's staff from 2011-12.
In that time, Hagen has sold players on programs, on systems and on himself as a coach, who has twice been recognized as one of the nation's top recruiters by Rivals.com.
Now, he's come back to Bloomington to market something he believes in: a program that has returned to bowl eligibility under Wilson, and a defense — under the new leadership of Tom Allen — that has the chance to return to the prominence it once had during Hagen's days as an IU linebacker.
Together, they sold Hagen on an opportunity he says was too good to pass up.
"I'm selling Indiana University and Indiana Football 365 days a year to potential recruits and parents," Hagen said. "That's something I've always enjoyed doing."
Hagen always kept one eye on his alma mater during his time at Texas A&M, where he spent the last three seasons between his stints at Indiana. He learned a lot coaching in the SEC.
And for the Hoosiers to contend in the Big Ten East, it's going to take another apparatus from Hagen's undergraduate tool belt: the philosophy of championship style defense.
During Hagen's senior year in 1991, Indiana was No. 18 in the FBS in total defense. The Hoosiers were 6-4-1 and went on to face Baylor in the Copper Bowl, where they shut out the Bears 24-0.
Hagen was named the game's most valuable defensive player.
"It's been a long time, really back to the early 90s, since Indiana consistently played what I would call championship level defense," he said. "But I can stand up in front of those kids that I coach and talk about those defenses. It's not a wish and a hope. It's been done before. That's what I tell them."
Hagen wants to resurrect the defense of his playing days, and he believes that he and Allen will be the ones to do it. The coaches have known each other for over a decade, dating back to when Allen served as the head football coach of Ben Davis High School from 2004-06.
It was Hagen who Allen turned to when he began to contemplate the leap to college football, and it was Hagen who told Allen that he had every confidence that he would one day be a great college football coach.
Theirs is a relationship of mutual admiration, shared for the past 10 years from opposing sidelines, most recently with Hagen as the defensive coordinator at Texas A&M and Allen as the linebackers coach at Ole Miss from 2013-14.
Now, the chips have aligned for the longtime friends to put their minds together to revamp the IU defense into an attack-style unit that dictates the line of scrimmage rather than waiting to read and react.
If Hagen has his way, he'll soon be selling a team that wins with a championship defense.
"It's exciting to be back home at my alma mater," he said.
"I'm here to make a difference."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – In the years since he graduated from the Kelley School of Business with a B.S. in marketing in 1991, assistant defensive coordinator Mark Hagen jokes that he hasn't used his degree once.
But that's not really true.
Once an IU football player himself, Hagen immediately joined the Indiana coaching staff following his graduation, serving as a graduate and administrative assistant under the Hoosiers all-time winningest head coach Billy Mallory from 1992-95. He's spent the last 25 years on the sideline, including two years on head coach Kevin Wilson's staff from 2011-12.
In that time, Hagen has sold players on programs, on systems and on himself as a coach, who has twice been recognized as one of the nation's top recruiters by Rivals.com.
Now, he's come back to Bloomington to market something he believes in: a program that has returned to bowl eligibility under Wilson, and a defense — under the new leadership of Tom Allen — that has the chance to return to the prominence it once had during Hagen's days as an IU linebacker.
Together, they sold Hagen on an opportunity he says was too good to pass up.
"I'm selling Indiana University and Indiana Football 365 days a year to potential recruits and parents," Hagen said. "That's something I've always enjoyed doing."
Hagen always kept one eye on his alma mater during his time at Texas A&M, where he spent the last three seasons between his stints at Indiana. He learned a lot coaching in the SEC.
And for the Hoosiers to contend in the Big Ten East, it's going to take another apparatus from Hagen's undergraduate tool belt: the philosophy of championship style defense.
During Hagen's senior year in 1991, Indiana was No. 18 in the FBS in total defense. The Hoosiers were 6-4-1 and went on to face Baylor in the Copper Bowl, where they shut out the Bears 24-0.
Hagen was named the game's most valuable defensive player.
"It's been a long time, really back to the early 90s, since Indiana consistently played what I would call championship level defense," he said. "But I can stand up in front of those kids that I coach and talk about those defenses. It's not a wish and a hope. It's been done before. That's what I tell them."
Hagen wants to resurrect the defense of his playing days, and he believes that he and Allen will be the ones to do it. The coaches have known each other for over a decade, dating back to when Allen served as the head football coach of Ben Davis High School from 2004-06.
It was Hagen who Allen turned to when he began to contemplate the leap to college football, and it was Hagen who told Allen that he had every confidence that he would one day be a great college football coach.
Theirs is a relationship of mutual admiration, shared for the past 10 years from opposing sidelines, most recently with Hagen as the defensive coordinator at Texas A&M and Allen as the linebackers coach at Ole Miss from 2013-14.
Now, the chips have aligned for the longtime friends to put their minds together to revamp the IU defense into an attack-style unit that dictates the line of scrimmage rather than waiting to read and react.
If Hagen has his way, he'll soon be selling a team that wins with a championship defense.
"It's exciting to be back home at my alma mater," he said.
"I'm here to make a difference."
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