Thomas E. Allen (born March 14, 1970) is an American college football coach serving as the head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers football team. He was named the 2020 Big Ten Coach of the Year and AFCA Coach of the Year. Allen previously served as the defensive coordinator at Indiana and South Florida. He spent time as an assistant at Ole Miss, Arkansas State, and Drake, among other programs. A native of New Castle, Indiana, Allen also spent six seasons as defensive coordinator and three seasons as the head football coach at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis.
Early life and education
Allen played high school football at New Castle High School in New Castle, Indiana, where his father (also named Tom Allen) was the head football coach. While in high school, Allen also competed in shot put and wrestling. After high school, he attended Maranatha Baptist University, where he participated in football and wrestling.
Coaching career
High school (1992–2006) Following their college graduation from Maranatha Baptist University, Allen and his wife moved to Florida, where both began teaching. Allen's first coaching job was with Temple Heights Christian School in Tampa, Florida, as defensive coordinator. Allen started in 1992; he took over as head coach during the 1993 season after the resignation of Steve Lewis, who remained the athletic director. In 1994, his only full season as Temple Heights head coach, Allen went 8–3 and lead his team to their first playoff appearance since 1976. Allen was a finalist for the Hillsborough County coach of the year award. The following year, Allen left to become defensive coordinator at Armwood High School in nearby Seffner, Florida.
In 1997, following two years at Armwood, Allen moved back to his native Indiana to become defensive coordinator at Marion High School in Marion, Indiana. Under Allen, Marion's allowed points-per-game dropped from 29 to 16.6. After just one year at Marion, Allen took the defensive coordinator job at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis. The head coach at Ben Davis was Dick Dullaghan, whom Allen had come to know through the former's football camps in Lakeland, Florida. Dullaghan retired after the 2003 season and Allen succeeded him as head coach. Allen coached Ben Davis from 2004 to 2006. In those three seasons, his teams were 25–12 overall. Following the 2006 season, Allen moved up to the college coaching ranks, accepting an assistant coach job at Wabash College.
Assistant coaching (2007–2015) At Wabash in 2007, Allen coached defensive backs and special teams. Wabash competed in the North Coast Athletic Conference of NCAA Division III. Its head coach, Chris Creighton, was in the final year of a successful seven-year tenure. Following the 2007 season, Creighton left to become head coach at Drake University.
From 2008 through 2009, Allen joined the coaching staff of incoming head coach Hugh Freeze at Lambuth University in Jackson, Tennessee, as defensive coordinator. Freeze would be there for two years before leaving to become offensive coordinator at San Jose State University (and later Arkansas State University), departing after the 2009 season. Allen and defensive backs coach Ron Dickerson were internal candidates to succeed Freeze. Lambuth, which would shut down within a year, hired Dickerson, and Allen departed to become defensive coordinator at Drake. At Drake in 2010, he was reunited with Creighton, now entering his third year there. Allen succeeded Neal Neathery, who had left to become defensive coordinator at the University of Texas at San Antonio. Allen left after the season to rejoin Hugh Freeze, who had been promoted to head coach at Arkansas State.
In 2011, Allen served as the assistant head coach at Arkansas State, his first position with a Division I FBS program. The head coach during this time was Hugh Freeze, who Allen had previously coached with at Lambuth University. After the end of the regular season, Allen followed Freeze to Ole Miss after Freeze was hired to be the head coach of the Rebels. In his sole season with the Red Wolves, they went 10–2. From 2012 to 2014, Allen spent three seasons as the linebackers coach and special teams coordinator at Ole Miss under head coach Hugh Freeze. During his time in Oxford, the Rebels went 24–15 and consistently ranked near the top of the FBS in terms of tackles for loss and sacks. Prior to his arrival, Ole Miss had ranked last in the SEC in total defense.