Tom Allen Zoom Press Conference Transcript and Video

Opening statement…
ALLEN: I hope everyone has stayed healthy and safe. That's our number one objective with our players as well and everybody we deal with. Definitely unchartered territory for everyone. Feel like we're adapting well. Very encouraged by the way our staff has responded and the way our players have responded to the situation we find ourselves in to be able to communicate effectively and at a high level and have a very productive spring. Modified for sure. Changes that we didn't expect to have. Been able to I think in a lot of ways maximize technology, maximize ability to communicate with our guys. It's put a lot more on them for sure but at the same time I think it's a chance for all of us to grow. The core of everything is to make sure our players are healthy, they're safe, they're able to take care of themselves physically and then the academic piece has been a priority as well to finish strong as we get near the end of the semester and moving into the summer months. Really encouraged by the way our team and the staff has responded and look forward to moving into the season in the next couple months.

Q: On not being able to evaluate players in the spring…
ALLEN: I think you can go through and everybody listens to different coaches comment about where they're at, what they're doing. I've talked to a lot of coaches behind the scenes inside our conference and outside of our conference, so it's a universal challenge. Nobody really knows for sure where your players are at right now. You have a basis for that based on your communication and what you're doing with them. We feel like we're doing everything we can do within the rules and within the realm of making it positive for our guys and not making it too much of this or too much of that. I think that we had four spring practices and I will say we thoroughly evaluated those four practices and went back and looked at them over and over and over. We wrote notes for different things, all the drills and just everything several different times to get a good feel for where we are at that point. The good news is we did get two padded practices in. The last one, practice number four, was full. Practice number three was shells and one and two were helmets only. The last two especially, got a lot of evaluation of where we're at with our guys and used that as a major point of evaluation with our players as a staff, but these last several weeks you really don't know. Once we all get back together, whenever that may be, then you have to assess where you're at and move forward from there. That's the part that will probably create the most unknowns is where are your guys at right now from a physical perspective. I think mentally, I feel good about what we're doing with them. I think that we communicate at a higher level than you maybe would've if you're face-to-face. May sound unique, but I think that's what's happening because of the situation but it's the physical part with not being able to practice, not being able to get those reps. You can't replace those. There are 11 practices we did not get to have that we would've had. Those are going to have to be made up eventually but not necessarily replaced. Just going to have to find ways to creatively fill in the gaps. We're doing everything we can do and our strength staff is doing a great job of trying, too. Number one, they're new. Number two, they're connecting and number three, just trying to get guys to stay moving forward and staying productive.

Q: On recruits staying close to home…
ALLEN: I think recruiting has definitely been affected, obviously. I think that we were fortunate. We had a really, really aggressive plan with the 2021 class and even the '22 class to get guys on campus before this all happened not knowing this was going to happen. Just being proactive. We knew the 2021 class in the state of Indiana was a very strong class. I will say even in the last couple of days, I confirm what you're saying. I see more guys committing or committing closer to home. It really doesn't matter what part of the country you're dealing with. It's been a very consistent theme. I think all the unknowns about future visits or lack thereof, even just the idea of being close to home when something like this were to happen or rear its ugly head again in the future. Guys have just gone that route. Wouldn't be across the board to say that but definitely a trend for sure that we're seeing right now. There are just a lot of unknowns in a lot of areas and recruiting is no different. No one knows how June and July are going to play themselves out in recruiting. We have an idea and we have some projections, but no one knows for sure. I just think as you talk to parents and as you talk to recruits, I will say we've had a tremendously effective communication system with recruits that we've been able to establish because of the situation, because of parents working from home, players being home, doing coursework from home and working out at home. So, to be able to get them on the phone and build those relationships with them has been a very, very improved area because of the accessibility that everybody has. That's been something that's actually helped us a lot because we're a relationship-driven staff. We feed off of those relationships and that's who we are. That's one of our strengths. Building those relationships on the phone, haven't been able to be face-to-face, that's unique. With technology and FaceTime and Zoom and different things you can use within the rules, that's allowed us to build our relationships. I think a lot of guys are going to choose to wait if they can't take visits in the summer months until after or during the season when they can take some visits whenever that may be. I think you get one response out of one guy saying hey, I'm going to go with what's comfortable and familiar and commit or I'm just going to hold my decision off until I can go see certain places. You kind of just have to communicate with the recruits and their families to see what they choose to do.

Q: On guys coming back to Bloomington now and how much you could see them in person…
ALLEN: They can (come back to Bloomington). We do not encourage that. Our whole philosophy from the beginning has been where do you need to be? Where are you the safest and have the highest chance to be healthy? Where are your parents comfortable with you being? That's where we want you to be whether that's home or wherever. We do have some that have chosen to stay in their apartments in Bloomington. We have zero contact with them face-to-face. They can still be in an apartment in Bloomington or in their apartment or home in Florida or California or Texas. They'll be in the Zoom meeting. Whatever workout they do is whatever workout they can do wherever they live. There's no gyms open in most states now. That's pretty consistent. Those that chose to stay in Bloomington, which is a handful of guys or those that leave are really dealt with the same way. Now one thing that has helped is some guys may be able to have a resource to the Internet or the social media access and outlets that allow them to be able to communicate with the teachers and their professors and our academic staff. That's a big priority, so that may force them to want to come back here because that happens easier in this setting but not because it's face-to-face. It's really no face-to-face going on with any of our players.

Q: On the video staff's effort to help with recruiting…
ALLEN: Their role has been very important. It's probably been intensified in some ways because that's the means of communication for recruits and what we can send to them and the ability to create videos for recruiting. The virtual tours become a very big component here. The rules have kind of had to be adapted to the situation and modified accordingly the last few weeks to kind of sell them on the way we can do things. So, utilizing those guys in a big way to somehow simulate what the campus feels like from far away. What it feels like to be in Bloomington as a city and just trying to show them the simple things of our facilities. They're roles have been expanded some ways in that area. It's part of it. It's the fact we don't even know if there will be any on campus visits here between now and the start of the season, whenever that may be. Just has allowed that component to be more important than ever. Having great people in those spots has been huge and our workers have done a great job and coordinate things we do for our recruits, whether it's the things we create for them from a graphic perspective or literally the on-campus simulations that we're trying to create. This is obviously the time of year when we'd have a lot of unofficial visits, even official visits at times as we get into the months where we're allowed to have those and those are not taking place. You got to see them. Normally you see them face-to-face. Now, we're having a Zoom meeting. It's like this right here. Those tours that are face-to-face, they're now becoming virtual. They're rolling and doing that is very important.

Q: On your excitement about the experience on the defense coming back…
ALLEN: I share in your excitement. I am very much looking forward to this season. Defensively, we were very young two years ago. We were still young last year and it showed a few times. It hurt us at times. We have to continue to grow through those mistakes we made. I know we will. That's why this spring was off to a really, really good start. I loved the way we were practicing. I loved the communication on defense. I loved the energy on defense. I loved the confidence, the intensity of those guys. They're all another year older. They've all played so much football. We have a lot of production coming back on defense, especially the linebacker room, which really drives your whole defense and how those kids play and how they communicate and how they just impact the whole side of the ball because of their confidence. The secondary and defensive line has got a lot of youth. That's a group I have high expectations for. We all know my involvement on defense and what it's been in the past and what it will continue to be in the future. Coach Wommack has done a tremendous job with that group. They've even used this time. I sit in on different meetings and different groups and be able to continue to grow and install the defense throughout this spring is the priority and we just got to keep those guys hungry and keep them sharp. I do feel like the fact that we will have limited reps no matter what happens moving forward we're definitely going to have less reps than you would have with spring ball being cut short. Having those guys back is a huge plus for sure, but they got to stay sharp, keep working hard and maximize the time we give them right now.

Q: On what the players are doing with workouts and how that works…
ALLEN: They're definitely given a workout plan from Aaron Wellman, our strength coach, and his staff. Sometimes those plans may involve just some videos to show them how to do certain activities. There's no live interaction whatsoever. That's not allowable. We're not allowed to monitor their workouts via FaceTime or Zoom nor are we allowed to have them report back and say I did this much, this weight or these reps or this speed in running, but they can be given a plan. Everybody's good with that. It's trusting them to be able to execute what they're given and go find a place to run, go find a place to do maybe just push-ups or sit-ups. Every single player was able to give feedback to our strength staff and say this is what I have access to at my house or I have this many dumbbells or barbells or I have bands or I have a medicine ball, whatever I may have at my house. Then, Aaron Wellman and his staff had to go through and create a system of individualized workout plans for each guy. The one thing that helps us is Wellman coming from the Giants. The NFL has a four-month period where they are not with their players in their offseason and due to their certain agreements and the rules that they have in the NFL, they can't be at their facilities. So, he's kind of used to doing this. Obviously, not in the primitive way where you don't have as many weights to work with, but our guys can just have a total body workout, which means totally based on no weights at all, just certain types of resistance things creatively. The running workout is probably the most critical part and that's something they just have to do on their own. We can't monitor that. We don't monitor that. It's a lot of trust. It's built in. Accountability is built in. The culture you have is so powerful right now more than ever because I feel accountable to my teammates. I know they love me. I love them. They're counting on me. I'm counting on them. That to me is what this is all about. The workouts fall right into that. That's where our guys have to take ownership of it, take accountability for it, personal responsibility for it, their preparation. We haven't made a super emphasis on workout parts, but it's definitely a priority to stay with it. Player safety has been number one right now and their mental wellness and their physical wellness is the key. I think as this progresses and we continue to be away those workouts will intensify in terms of what we expect them to do on their own. It's kind of back to what we did when I was at school. I played college football and I didn't train at the college I went to. Everything was done at home and ran on my own most of the time with all the script I was given to do physically. We do it by two-week increments. They get a two-week plan that we submit to them and give to them that they have access to and show them what to do. They have to be responsible and accountable to follow through. That's just part of creating a culture where guys want to work hard when we get back around them.

Q: On if he's found anything that he's liked during this time that he will try to incorporate going forward…
ALLEN: I have and I think that's part of growth. Certain things in our country's past have forced people to reevaluate what they do, and it created some innovative ways to do things. I think for me, this Zoom concept has a lot of merit in terms of maximizing some time in our schedules. I've talked about with our staff ways moving forward in the future where we can maybe utilize a Zoom call with our staff for a staff meeting, and maybe not all have to be in the office working at a certain time of the year. Time management is something I've really taken a step back to evaluate, because we're always trying to find more efficient ways to operate. I think there's some things that we've learned in dealing with our players and coaching staff that we can utilize in the future. The biggest being how we meet, and the time that we use, and how we can use the technology to the fullest so that our coaches can be extremely effective in their jobs, but also be the husbands and fathers that I know I want us to be in this program. It creates the balance that allows us individuals to be our very, very best.

Q: On how his young coordinators Kane Wommack and Nick Sheridan are handling this situation…
ALLEN: Well first of all, definitely young in age, but not in their ability to communicate. Even when you think about technology, you get young guys that are used to utilizing technology to the fullest, I think those two guys are really sharp with that on our staff. I think that's helped with during this time to be able to communicate with both our players and our staff. We've not had any staff meeting where we've been together. We've got coaches in different states because of where their home currently is because they haven't moved here yet. So, I think having two young guys that are extremely bright and are able to maximize technology has really allowed us to flourish during this time. Our staff has been able to prepare and evaluate our players, install the spring installation schedule and also evaluate future opponents. They have a jump start on our week one, week two, week three opponents of the season. So, I think both of those guys have done a great job communicating with their sides of the football and also in recruiting. I give them the charge, and they're to take ownership of each side of the ball that they're over in recruiting and making sure that we're getting those guys communicated with, hearing from the entire staff on that side of the ball, anyway we can maximize at all possible. Those guys are both maximizing technology and maximizing the time we have here to help us grow and develop during this challenging time.

Q: On Peyton Hendershot's situation…
ALLEN: Yes. In a modified standpoint, he's been involved with some position meetings and team meetings, so we've brought him back in a modified way. He's been involved with that. It's modified situation as he works through some things that we have no control over. He has at this point been brought back in a modified way with the team. He's been a part of getting his rehab in and getting his body right, and moving forward. So definitely progress and we continue to monitor that.

Q: On fans in the stands and a September kickoff…
ALLEN: First of all, I think it's important that we continue to have lots of meetings about these topics. We will continue to have them each week. We seem to have more information as each week passes. The health and safety of our players is the number one priority, period. That's going to drive our decisions, and we are going to listen to the medical experts, and the government officials, and the leadership of our university. Those people will make these decisions, and when they tell us it's safe to come back, then we'll come back. We're trying to plan. I told our staff today it's kind of like planning in the sand, because you can draw things up and have these things all planned out but no one really knows. There's a lot of question marks that are still out there. A lot of questions but not a lot of answers for a lot of things, looking at all options. All the meetings I sit in on, they're just trying to find creative ways to be able to do this in a way that's safe for everybody. I think the schools came out and said pretty clearly recently that we're trying to do whatever we can do to have a season, however that may look. Whether its delayed, modified, pushed back, I don't know. I know we all want to have a season, but we all want to do it in a way that's safe for everybody involved. To me, I'm just going to take the approach that people get paid to make these decisions and evaluate from a health perspective. We've going to trust them and we're going to trust the leadership of our state, and our federal government, and the NCAA, and our Big Ten Conference. As a group we'll come together and make the best decision possible, and once they tell us when and where we can come back, we'll have a great plan. I feel like we have a flexible response right now that's ready to take advantage of whatever we're told to do.

Q: On managing the early enrollees…
ALLEN: That's a fair question. They would have to say their disappointed, because they came here with the intent of getting a full spring in, but that did not happen. I will say that they will also agree that they did get more than they would have had before. They had a chance to get an eight-week cycle of lifting with our strength staff that they would not have had before. They got four full practices in with our team that they would not have had before. So, it's definitely still an advantageous situation for them compared to those who did not. I still feel like they would say it was a positive thing, but we were hoping it would be a longer tenure to take advantage of. They're just now thrust into this whole period of unknown future that we all have. I think they would say there were a lot of positives, not as many as they would have hoped, but you can't control it, don't dwell on it, not going to blink.

Q: On having a player taken in six-straight NFL Drafts and what he wants to do to keep that streak going…
ALLEN: Definitely something that we're proud of. It involves way more people than myself. Previous coaches, and previous staffs, and a lot of hard work by a lot of people going into that result. This year will definitely create some challenges. I know last year Wes Martin was one who directly benefited from our Pro Day. He was not invited to the Combine, but had a great Pro Day and showed everybody what he was able to do. I do know that film is really the ultimate evaluation for guys. This year we have a lot of guys that that have made it, they've proven to people as they've been able to come to campus and worked with them, and do these extra workouts that it would help their stock go up. But those guys are just like everybody else in this country. Caught in a tough situation that has definitely affected their future, and are going to just have to display tremendous grit, perseverance and passion toward their long-term goals. I have full confidence that we have guys in this class that are going to get opportunities to go play in the NFL whenever they get drafted or taken as a free agent. As I told them, you just need one team to believe in you, one team to give you a chance. And when they do, you show you belong. I feel confident we'll have some guys that'll have that opportunity. It's an exciting time still, even though it's a different format than we've had in the past, in the many things that were cut short in the process of the Draft. The way you keep it moving forward is that you do a great job recruiting and a great job developing. That's where I feel like we have to be the greatest evaluators in the country here at Indiana, to project players to come here to IU, then once we get them here, we have to be better than anyone else in the country at developing them physically, mentally and spiritually. That's the formula we want to use, and I believe that we will.

Q: On how seriously he's prepared for a pushed back or altered season…
ALLEN: When I talk about looking at all possible options, I can't sit here and tell you that one of those plans is no football. I have no say so in any of that, that's not my decision but it would be hard to accept that. It would be a tough situation for everybody for a lot of reasons. To me it's like anything else. You have to be flexible, you have to adapt, you have to plan. I'm more focused on that which I can control. Like I told our staff again today, we're going to work off those facts. There are things we're going to plan, and we're going to put those plans in pencil because they may have to be adjusted in the near future or in the next coming months. But we're going to plan like we are going to be playing. We don't know when, where or how, but in my mind, I just believe that there's a lot of time. We're sitting here, it's April. There's a lot time between now and when these final decisions have to be made. I'm an optimistic guy. I believe that the people that are working hard on this across the country and across the world to help us figure it out. But there are more important things at stake than playing a football game, and that's the health and safety of our guys and students across the country. That's at the forefront, and that will always be at the forefront for me and this program. That's the priority, and then from there we will adjust and adapt based on what we're given.

Q: On how's he's been passing the time personally…
ALLEN: My schedule is very similar, it's just done from home. I feel like I have actually expanded my time with recruits with the schedule we have and them being more available. The part that has been different, and I think very positive is just the time with my own family more throughout the day. Even though I'm in and out of meetings and doing things, I'm still able to physically see them when I usually don't this time of year. I would say the evenings, more time with my wife. We've been listening to an audio book together, it's been very, very important for us to be able to grow in our relationship. That part's been a definite perk to this situation, and I think just time in general around your family. We have such a crazy schedule that we try to keep. The off-season really isn't off. I usually spend a lot of time traveling, speaking and not at home like you maybe want to be when you're not in season. So that part's been good. Me and my wife have been able to go on some walks later in the evenings. That has been something I don't usually get to do. I've been put to work at the house a little bit with some honey-do list things that I usually am not here to do. I was caught on a ladder a few days ago, and that's a pretty rare sight. We do have a family joke because on one of our moves in the past I was trying to put some things together from an electrical perspective and blew up our washer and dryer because I hooked them up the wrong way. I kind of got banned from some of those husband jobs around the house. But I have done some more of those, and that's been different for sure. We laugh as a family but it has been time together, you can't ever get that back. I really want to make sure we take advantage of that, and take care of our responsibilities as a coach and leader of this program, but also have that time with my family, and I'm going to take advantage of it.

Q: On the addition of Jovan Swann…
ALLEN: Just such a huge addition to our team for a variety of reasons. A tremendous, high-character young man with strong leadership skills. A graduate from Stanford University from Center Grove High School, just thirty minutes up the road here. He's a young man that will help our defense, just a really good football player. He will make an impact right away. I very excited about his leadership. We have a very young room with a lot of talent. He'll have the courage and confidence to verbally lead that room. I think that's something that he will bring to us, and his production, you can never have enough good defensive linemen in this league. He's a grown man, mature body type for sure being a senior, he's coming in here ready to play. We really worked hard to recruit him once he made the decision to be a grad transfer, and getting an Indiana kid to come home and finish out here close to family is pretty awesome. I'm really excited about Jovan Swann, and his addition to our football program.

Indiana University Athletics

Tom Allen Zoom Press Conference Transcript and Video

Players Mentioned

Peyton Hendershot

Wes Martin

Jovan Swann

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