Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowIndiana University Head Football Coach Tom Allen has agreed to terms on a seven-year contract that will pay him an average of $3.9 million per year, IU announced Friday.
Allen, 49, is 18-19 overall in his third full year as head coach at IU. The team is 8-4 this year, its first winning regular season in 12 years. It also finished 5-4 in the Big Ten Conference season, its first winning conference season in 26 years.
With a bowl game yet to play, IU could tie the school record of nine victories held by the 1945 and 1967 Big Ten championship teams.
IU said Allen already has more wins in his first three years as head coach than anyone in IU football history
“When I hired Tom to be our head football coach I said I was doing so because he is a leader of men who is demanding without being demeaning, and a proven, successful coach on a national scale with deep Indiana ties who cares about his players, and they care back,” said IU Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass in written comments. “In his three seasons he has proven to be all of that and more which is why I believe the future of Indiana Football is in great hands.
IU said the new contract has a total value of $27.3 million and guarantees 100% compensation for the first three years and 50% compensation for last four.
After the first year, the contract will add a year to the contract term for each year IU qualifies for a bowl game.
IU also said it was adding $500,000 to the total assistant coach/strength and conditioning/operations salary pool.
Under Allen, IU was nationally ranked this year for the first time in 25 years. A school-record 29 players earned Academic All-Big Ten honors last year.
“I am so appreciative of the young men who represent IU in such a first-class manner,” Allen said in prepared remarks. “We have a tremendous group of players, I am proud to be their head coach, and I am 100 percent committed to their success on the field, in the classroom and in life. It’s no secret Indiana University is a special place to me. I was born a Hoosier, raised a Hoosier and I am thrilled with the opportunity to remain a Hoosier for a long, long time to come.”
A native of New Castle, Indiana, Allen spent three seasons as the head football coach at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. He spent five years as an assistant coach at Arkansas State, Ole Miss and South Florida before joining IU in 2016 as defensive coordinator under Coach Kevin Wilson.
Allen made his head coaching debut in the 2016 Foster Farms Bowl after Wilson left at the end of the regular season, losing 26-24 to the Utah Utes.
Please enable JavaScript to view this content.
How do you lose 26-26??
Have always been saddened by the salaries paid for sports versus teachers.
I agree. They need to pay the sports guys more money.
Absolutely. Think about the student athletes being coached – they get nothing and do the actual work. I understand coaches put in long hours and recruiting is tough, but it’s getting crazy.