Glass Details Investments in Indiana Football, Improvements to Game-Day Experience, and Excitement for Team and Program

Bloomington, Ind. – Indiana University Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass today detailed the latest substantial investments in Indiana Football, continuing improvements to the game-day experience, and the excitement for this year's team and the overall program.

"Our students on the football team make a tremendous commitment to Indiana University, and my commitment to them is to keep investing in the program to help them be successful," Glass said. "We will invest in them academically, athletically, and personally; and we'll invest in first-class coaches and facilities. Also part of establishing a winning football program for our team and our fans is continuing to improve our great game-day experience. These investments and improvements will help to make this a very exciting and rewarding fall for Indiana Football."

INVESTMENTS IN INDIANA FOOTBALL

Glass has repeatedly stated that the best way for Indiana Football to become an excellent football program is through constant investments and continuity of leadership in the program. That approach has resulted in transformative investments in facilities and personnel, including substantial investments just since the close of the 2018 season:

Terry Tallen Indiana Football Complex: This $8.5 million in-stadium team area solely dedicated to the Indiana Football program is the most recent of IU Athletics' ongoing and consistent investments in its football program facilities. Located in Memorial Stadium adjacent to the field of play, this football-only complex includes a dramatic and extensive expansion and renovation of the Trent and Julie Green Locker Room; a new spacious team and recruiting lounge that includes a nutrition center, big screen TVs, video play stations, over-sized leather chairs, ping pong tables, and a pool table; equipment room; coaches' locker room; hydrotherapy center; the renovated and expanded Dr. John M. Miller Training Room; and new branding, pictures, and graphics throughout the Complex. The team moved into its new space Aug. 13. The Terry Tallen Indiana Football Complex is just the latest example of major investments to Indiana Football facilities over the last several years most significantly starting with the $49 million Memorial Stadium North End Zone Facility and more recently including the $48 million South End Zone Facility, creating a dramatic new front door to Memorial Stadium and enclosing it into a bowl venue.
Hiring Offensive Coordinator Kalen DeBoer: First-year Associate Head Coach/Offensive Coordinator Kalen DeBoer is widely recognized as one of the nation's best offensive minds. He has a history of success as both an offensive coordinator and as a three-time national champion head coach. Indiana lured him away from a 12-win Fresno State team, in part, by making him the third-highest paid offensive coordinator in the Big Ten Conference, with a guaranteed annual compensation package of $800,000. In DeBoer, IU welcomes a coach who:

                - won three national championships as the head coach at the University of Sioux Falls (2006, 2008-09);
                - helped Fresno State go 22-6 in the last two years after going 4-20 in the two years prior to his arrival; and;
                - resurrected the last offenses he has overseen as offensive coordinator (Fresno State improved from 120^th in total offense to 47^th under DeBoer from 2017-18, while Eastern Michigan improved from 111^th to 35^th from 2014-16 under his leadership).

Promoting Defensive Coordinator Kane Wommack: With the promotion of Wommack to defensive coordinator in December, Indiana not only turned the IU defense over to one of the top young defensive coaches in the country, but also relieved Head Coach Tom Allen of those responsibilities so that he could focus his attention on being the CEO of the entire Hoosier football program. Prior to being recruited by Tom Allen to IU as the linebackers coach in 2018, Wommack spent two highly-successful seasons as the defensive coordinator at South Alabama from 2016-17. Wommack engineered one the nation's biggest defensive turnarounds, as the Jaguars defense was the 13th-most improved nationally in scoring defense (-10.8 points/game) and rushing defense (-69.2 yards/game) during his two years, and his 2016 unit ranked in the top 10 nationally in passing defense. Wommack's promotion came with an additional investment by IU Athletics in him and the program, doubling his salary.
Retaining Strength and Conditioning Coaches David Ballou, and Dr. Matt Rhea: Under the leadership of former IU fullback Dave Ballou and the "speed doctor" Matt Rhea, the Indiana Football strength and conditioning staff is nationally-recognized for its innovative approach to strength and speed training. With a data-driven approach to training grounded in science, Ballou and Rhea have produced dramatic improvements for IU Football. Those successes attracted the attention of other college and professional football programs, who made efforts to lure the pair from Bloomington during the off-season. IU Athletics made substantial financial commitments to keep the pair in Bloomington, doubling their salaries and making the duo among the highest paid senior strength and conditioning coaches in the Big Ten. In addition, the new Terry Tallen Indiana Football Complex creates a new football-only office suite for the program's strength and conditioning staff.

IMPROVEMENTS TO THE GAME-DAY EXPERIENCE

With its affordable ticket prices, young alumni and other discounts, special youth seating, and Knothole Park, Memorial Stadium is one of the most welcoming, family-friendly venues in which to attend a football game in the Big Ten Conference. This off-season IU Athletics has made a series of improvements to make Indiana Football an even more enjoyable experience for our fans.

Beer and Wine Pilot Program: IU Athletics has retained Upland Brewery for a pilot program to sell beer and wine in the public areas of Memorial Stadium during the 2019 season. The main goals for this program are to enhance the game-day experience for our fans and reduce alcohol-related incidents in and around the stadium. The details regarding this program were announced earlier this week.
Restroom Renovations: Not coincidentally to the new beer and wine sales, the restrooms in Memorial Stadium's main concourse have all been renovated in preparation for the 2019 season. The improvements in the 14 restroom facilities include new roofs, new lighting, and fresh paint.
Improved Wayfinding and Welcome Signage: The wayfinding and directional signage in and around Memorial Stadium have been increased and improved, highlighted by the new, friendlier "Welcome to Memorial Stadium" sign. (Copy attached.) We have doubled the directional and wayfinding signs inside Memorial Stadium All parking lot entry signage have been updated. We have added five eight-foot "YOU ARE HERE" signs in parking lots to help direct fans to gates and provide helpful information. We have also added signage stressing the ability to call or text 812-369-6948 (MYIU).
Tiered Ticket Pricing: Listening to our fans, IU Athletics is enhancing what is already the most affordable game-day experience in the Big Ten. Hoosier fans can take advantage of new tiered single-game ticket pricing for home games at Memorial Stadium this fall. The new single-game pricing structure includes four options for each of IU's six home football games, with a single-game, general public ticket available for as little as $20. For those looking to attend multiple IU home football games the season ticket package continues to offer the best value, with a great combination of savings and premium seat location.
Names Return to the Back of IU Football Jerseys: Again, listening to our fans, IU Athletics is returning the names of IU's football players to the back of their jerseys. In so doing, IU Athletics recognized the unique nature of football in terms of the size of the competition venue, the distance between players and fans as well as the size of the roster and use of the duplicate numbers.
"Orange" Parking Lot Renovation: Thanks to a project funded by the university, the IU Athletics "Orange" Parking Lot, located between Memorial Stadium and Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall, underwent a $1.71 million reconstruction and re-alignment over the summer. The project included the improvement and addition of green space similar to what can be found in the recent, university-funded renovation of the "Purple" Lot. The reconfigured Orange Lot, accessible through Gate 4 at the intersection of Woodlawn and 17^th Street, will dramatically improve game-day vehicular and pedestrian traffic flow, as well as enhance the tailgating experience.
Town Engagement: In an effort to continue to raise the profile of Indiana home football games in and around Bloomington, IU Athletics is working with city officials and local merchants to "paint the town red" on home football game weekends. Examples of this initiative include:
- A new large window display at the Graduate Hotel, located at 210 East Kirkwood Avenue in the heart of downtown Bloomington. The eight-window display highlights our six home football games and will remain in place for the duration of the 2019 season.
- IU Athletics is distributing 2,500 Indiana Football yard signs in the local community, bringing additional awareness to the 2019 season and IU's slate of six home games.
- IU Athletics will host Game Week Spirit Stations throughout campus and the city during the week of home football games. In addition to prominent and heavily-traveled campus locations such as the Sample Gates, Arboretum, Showalter Foundation and the Woodburn Clock Tower, we will also be at the Courthouse Square and People's Park. These stations will feature, among other things, free swag, the SAB Hype Crew, IU Cheerleaders and the IU Pep Band, and are designed to create community-wide – not just campus-wide – awareness about upcoming IU Football games and to have fun.

EXCITEMENT FOR THE TEAM AND PROGRAM

In addition to the investments in football facilities and coaches, as well as improvements to the game-day experience, there are many other reasons to be excited about the Indiana Football program and this team, including:

The High Quality of Our Players: This year's freshmen class is the highest ranked in program history, coming on the heels of last year's freshmen class, which until this year was the highest ranked ever. Thus, Tom Allen's first two recruiting classes are the two best in IU history. This class includes the two highest individual recruits in program history. We signed four of the top six players from Indiana.
The Cohesion, Spirit and Confidence of this Team: Glass said he had never before seen such impressive cohesion, spirit, and confidence as he sees in this year's team. He attributed that to Coach Allen's coaching ability and philosophy and that the majority of the team is now comprised of players he recruited [80 of 113]. All of his players love him. According to the independent website InsideTheTeam.com, where players can anonymously rate their experiences with their head coaches, Tom Allen received overall five stars out of five, which was the highest overall ranking in the Big Ten. He received five star ratings from his players in every category: integrity, leadership, recruiting honesty, football knowledge, player/coach relationship, and fairness and consistency. In the player comment section, he received glowing reports from his players about their experience. Among the comments:

8/19/19 - Player at Indiana
"Coach Allen is a great coach that I truly see as a father figure. He leads us and motivates us to being the best we can be as football players and young men. Best head coach in college football."

6/17/19 - Player at Indiana
"Coach Allen is an incredible coach and mentor. He is always honest with his players and practices what he preaches. He is like a second father to his players and someone that we can count on whenever we need his help or advice."

6/14/19 - Player at Indiana
"Coach Allen is one of the best coaches I've ever played for. He really cares about his players and doesn't see us as machines but as young men."

6/14/19 - Player at Indiana
"Coach Allen is a great coach and even better man. Couldn't ask for a better coach."

5/22/19 - Player at Indiana
"Coach Allen is about as good of a man as there is in college football. The man has true compassion and care for all his players as men rather than just football players. Couldn't say enough good things about the man."

5/20/19 - Player at Indiana
"Easily one of the best coaches I've had the privilege to play for. After hearing him talk, you'll want to run through a wall for him and your teammates."

Glass Details Investments in Indiana Football, Improvements to Game-Day Experience, and Excitement for Team and Program

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