No time was wasted when it came to fixing what had become a clearly broken offense.
Indiana head football coach Tom Allen announced on Sunday morning that Nick Sheridan will no longer serve as the program’s offensive coordinator.
“I want to thank Nick for his work and commitment to our football program,” Allen said. “He is a good football coach and a man of tremendous character, but we are in the need of a reset on the offensive side of the ball. We will begin our search for Nick’s replacement immediately.”
In order to make this change and help alleviate the financial burden, Allen restructured his current contract. His annual salary will decrease $200,000 each year from 2022-25. Allen’s contract will still run through the 2027 season.
“We did not meet the standard that I expect from our football program, and that starts with me,” Allen said. “This season was not acceptable and we will work to address it.”
Sheridan led the IU offense for two seasons.
Indiana ranked No. 124 out of 130 Division One FBS programs in total offense in 2021. A major contributing factor was injuries, as Indiana played much of the season with its third and fourth string quarterbacks, went further into the depth chart for running backs, and it lost top playmaker D.J. Matthews to a knee injury.
But it wasn’t just one disappointing season, and even when the starters were healthy they didn’t play well, especially at the quarterback, offensive line and wide receiver positions.
Despite a successful 2020 campaign that saw the Hoosiers go 6-1 during the regular season and defeat the likes of Penn State, Michigan, Michigan State and Wisconsin, the IU offense still ranked just No. 94 in total yards per game.
Sheridan became the offensive coordinator following the 2019 season when one-year OC Kalen DeBoer left to become the head coach at Fresno State.
Sheridan came to Indiana for the 2017 season after he worked as an offensive graduate assistant at the University of Tennessee from 2014-16 under Tennessee and then IU OC Mike DeBord, who he followed to Bloomington. He served as quarterbacks coach in 2017 and 2018, and then the tight ends coach in 2019 before being promoted to OC.
Sheridan was named one of the nation’s Top 30 coaches under 30 years of age by 247Sports in 2017.
The Daily Hoosier –“Where Indiana fans assemble when they’re not at Assembly”
- Find us on Facebook: thedailyhoosier
- You can follow us on Twitter: @daily_hoosier
- Seven ways to support completely free IU coverage at no cost to you.
