Although its athletic department is navigating challenging financial times during the pandemic, Indiana found a way to further solidify its relationship with football coach Tom Allen.
Indiana University and Allen have agreed to an amendment to his current seven-year contract that will increase Allen’s annual average compensation to $4.9 million through the 2027 season the school said in a release.
The increase reflects a roughly $1.1 million per year bump for Allen. According to the USA Today college football coaches salary database, Allen will be in the neighborhood of 20th nationally in annual compensation, in the same vicinity as Nebraska’s Scott Frost and Iowa’s Kirk Ferentz.
“Tom Allen has proven himself to be not only the right person for our student-athletes and our program, but one of the best football coaches in the country,” said IU Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Scott Dolson in the release. “The enthusiasm and outlook for our program is at an all-time high, and the future of Indiana Football is in great hands. I look forward to Tom leading our program for many years to come.
“I thank President McRobbie and the Board of Trustees for their support throughout this process, and I thank Tom for his commitment to building something very special in Bloomington. I could not be more excited about the future of Indiana Football.”
Allen was named the American Football Coaches Association’s National Coach of the Year as well as the Big Ten Coach of the Year after guiding the Hoosiers to a 6-1 record in the Big Ten and second-straight January bowl game berth. He became the program’s first national coach of the year in 53 years, and its first Big Ten Coach of the Year in 33 years.
Among the highlights during the 2020 season was the program’s first Top-10 national ranking in 51 years. IU spent six weeks inside the Top 10 in 2020 and climbed as high as No. 7. Those successes came on the heels of a breakthrough 2019 season that saw IU go 8-5 overall, post its first winning Big Ten season in 26 seasons, and earn its first Top-25 national ranking since 1994.
“I would like to thank Scott Dolson, President McRobbie and the Board of Trustees for their support and investment into our football program and our staff,” Allen said in the release. “I’m excited about what we are building here and how we are building it. Having said that, we have unfinished business that we will continue to chase after every single day. LEO!”
The latest agreement is Allen’s second new deal in the last 15 months. His Dec. 2019 agreement lifted Allen from the floor of Big Ten salaries, increasing his annual earnings from $1.8 million to $3.77 million.
Per the terms of the original contract signed in December of 2019, Allen will continue to have a year added to the back end of his deal each season the IU Football program qualifies for a postseason bowl game.
According to the USA Today database, Allen is now tied with Ferentz at $4.9 million per year. Among Big Ten coaches they trail Michigan’s Jim Harbaugh ($8.05 million), Ohio State’s Ryan Day ($5.75 million), Northwestern’s Pat Fitzgerald ($5.22 million), Michigan State’s Mel Tucker ($5.06 million), and Frost ($5 million).
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