2022 Defensive Scheme & Coaching Staff

[daddyhoosier]

The consensus is that defense should be the strength of this Indiana team in 2022. There is good reason to believe that the Hoosier Defensive Coaching Staff led by Tom Allen can have good success this season. As most will know CTA (the 2020 AFCA National Coach of the Year) is a defensive guy and had a good track record for solid / disruptive defenses prior to arriving at Indiana in 2016. The Hoosiers fielded one of the nation's most improved defenses that 2016 season. In fact, from the beginning of 2016 to the end of 2017 Indiana was the most improved team nationally in terms of total defense and pass defense. Before last season's rather unexpected 2-10 result Indiana was 24-21 overall in CTA's first three full seasons (excluding the Foster Farm's Bowl in 2016), including the 14-7 stretch from 2019 to 2020. Indiana was nationally ranked during both of those seasons and as high as 7th in 2020. The Hoosiers appeared in the Gator and Outback Bowls respectively during that period.

The lazy take is to say that 2021 marked a 'return to normal' for this Indiana program but the truth is that going all the way back to arguably 2013 IU had been performing at a consistently higher level. It is not being a homer to say that until proven otherwise the aberration was 2021, not the longer period of increased success. Keep in mind that in both 2017 and 2018 Indiana went into the Bucket Game a win away from Bowl Eligibility before ultimately ending up 5-7. (Zach Osterman did a good job of expanding on this on Crimson Cast last week.)

Allen gave up calling defensive plays in 2019 so that he could devote more time to overseeing the entire football operation but will return to calling the shots this season. Allen's defensive scheme is solid. I am somewhat flexible on scheme as long as it is coached well and players buy into it. That said I do believe Allen's scheme to be an exceedingly good one. The hybrid Bull and Husky positions are a needed response to modern offenses and allow gifted players to serve multiple purposes as needed without having to change personnel packages.

Hoosier Huddle reported in a recent podcasts that Indiana is returning to the vision zone concept on defense. (I'm fairly certain he was referring to vision match.) I first heard about this concept while watching a 2019 Ohio State game called by Kirk Herbstreit.

The popular approach to zone coverage in football has long been zone match, which merges zone principles and man to man techniques. In zone match players are taught to 'break on the ball' and defenders' backs are often turned away from the quarterback / ball. The problem with this is that quarterbacks have gotten so polished and routes so precisely timed that a potent offense will pick these conventional zones apart and beat them more often than not. (Good offense beats good defense.)

The idea behind vision-match is to keep everything in front of you, have your eyes on the quarterback at all times and react according to the QB's eyes. (This actually ties into the don't think just react concept I saw a couple people discussing elsewhere on this forum.) The strength of this system is that it limits explosive plays when executed properly. As far as offenses are concerned explosive plays are the name of the game right now.

I actually brought this specific concept up with Kane Wommack on Twitter in the Summer of 2020, though at the time I didn't know the proper terminology. To my surprise Wommack not only responded but seemed excited to talk about it. I remember he also mentioned not covering the route tree alone but being more efficient by covering where the ball was most likely to go. The point to all of this is that Herbstreit (rightly) predicted that this vision match concept would be the direction a lot of defenses would be going. Evidently Allen and Wommack were on top of it.

This is a long-winded way of demonstrating that the IU defense is ahead of the curve and in good hands. I did some digging this afternoon and by my count Indiana's Defensive Staff have coached in a combined 58 Bowl Games.

Out
Defensive Coordinator / LB - Charlton Warren (Co-Defensive Coordinator / DB, North Carolina)
Defensive Line - Kevin Peoples (DL, Missouri)

In
Defensive Coordinator / LB - Chad Wilt
Defensive Line - Paul Randolph

Returning
CTA - Head Coach, Defensive Play-calling
Brandon Shelby - Assistant Head Coach / Cornerbacks
Jason Jones - Safeties

Chad Wilt is a coaches kid who considers himself to be a teacher. Wilt's previous three stops before Indiana were Minnesota (20-21), Cincinnati (19) and Army (16-18). During these three stints Wilt's teams went a combined 52-21. The 2019 Cincinnati Bearcats finished the season ranked 21st in the AP Poll.

Paul Randolph comes to Bloomington by way of Texas Tech. Randolph has coached in 17 career Bowl Games and has previously coached at Memphis, Arizona State, Pittsburgh, Rice, Alabama, and West Virginia.

Brandon Shelby enters his 12th season with Indiana and has coached the likes of All-American Tiawan Mullen and two-time All-Conference Rashard Fant. Shelby also played at Oklahoma.

Jason Jones begins his 3rd season at IU. His recent pupil Jamar Johnson was First Team All-Big Ten in 2020 and was drafted by the Denver Broncos (5th Round) in the 2021 NFL Draft. Jones has coached on 5 conference championship teams and in 14 Bowl Games, including 2 New Year's Six games and a Fiesta Bowl championship.

 

[Walt542]

Nice write up. Hope you are going to start writing again this year?

 

[IUNorth]

Awesome stuff! Thanks for the write up!

One question I'd have...how good do you/they feel we are up the middle? DT's, MLB...?? I think one of the reasons our 19 and 20 teams were as good as they were was we were actually pretty solid up the middle. McFadden was obviously really good, but we had some good DT's too. I'm not a football expert, but it isn't too far of a reach to say that being solid against the run, and disruptive up the middle, dramatically helps the players playing the "Vision Match" style. When you're not strong up the middle, there tends to be a gravity that pulls peripheral defenders in to the middle...which can have a lasting impact as well on their abilities to cover their areas on the outside.

I'm very excited about our back 4 and Cam Jones...but admittedly don't know much about the rest of the LBs and our DL? Any thoughts?

 

[bbh_42]

I do believe the Defense will be better this year but in order for that to show we need the offense to also step up and have sustained drives and eat up clock. The best defense wear down when the offense goes 3 and out over and over or turns the ball over repeatedly.

I do think we will be better and deeper but getting some help from the offense can certainly help take off some of the pressure and keep them fresher over 4 quarters.

 

[Hoosier Clarion]

The consensus is that defense should be the strength of this Indiana team in 2022. There is good reason to believe that the Hoosier Defensive Coaching Staff led by Tom Allen can have good success this season. As most will know CTA (the 2020 AFCA National Coach of the Year) is a defensive guy and had a good track record for solid / disruptive defenses prior to arriving at Indiana in 2016. The Hoosiers fielded one of the nation's most improved defenses that 2016 season. In fact, from the beginning of 2016 to the end of 2017 Indiana was the most improved team nationally in terms of total defense and pass defense. Before last season's rather unexpected 2-10 result Indiana was 24-21 overall in CTA's first three full seasons (excluding the Foster Farm's Bowl in 2016), including the 14-7 stretch from 2019 to 2020. Indiana was nationally ranked during both of those seasons and as high as 7th in 2020. The Hoosiers appeared in the Gator and Outback Bowls respectively during that period.

The lazy take is to say that 2021 marked a 'return to normal' for this Indiana program but the truth is that going all the way back to arguably 2013 IU had been performing at a consistently higher level. It is not being a homer to say that until proven otherwise the aberration was 2021, not the longer period of increased success. Keep in mind that in both 2017 and 2018 Indiana went into the Bucket Game a win away from Bowl Eligibility before ultimately ending up 5-7. (Zach Osterman did a good job of expanding on this on Crimson Cast last week.)

Allen gave up calling defensive plays in 2019 so that he could devote more time to overseeing the entire football operation but will return to calling the shots this season. Allen's defensive scheme is solid. I am somewhat flexible on scheme as long as it is coached well and players buy into it. That said I do believe Allen's scheme to be an exceedingly good one. The hybrid Bull and Husky positions are a needed response to modern offenses and allow gifted players to serve multiple purposes as needed without having to change personnel packages.

Hoosier Huddle reported in a recent podcasts that Indiana is returning to the vision zone concept on defense. (I'm fairly certain he was referring to vision match.) I first heard about this concept while watching a 2019 Ohio State game called by Kirk Herbstreit.

The popular approach to zone coverage in football has long been zone match, which merges zone principles and man to man techniques. In zone match players are taught to 'break on the ball' and defenders' backs are often turned away from the quarterback / ball. The problem with this is that quarterbacks have gotten so polished and routes so precisely timed that a potent offense will pick these conventional zones apart and beat them more often than not. (Good offense beats good defense.)

The idea behind vision-match is to keep everything in front of you, have your eyes on the quarterback at all times and react according to the QB's eyes. (This actually ties into the don't think just react concept I saw a couple people discussing elsewhere on this forum.) The strength of this system is that it limits explosive plays when executed properly. As far as offenses are concerned explosive plays are the name of the game right now.

I actually brought this specific concept up with Kane Wommack on Twitter in the Summer of 2020, though at the time I didn't know the proper terminology. To my surprise Wommack not only responded but seemed excited to talk about it. I remember he also mentioned not covering the route tree but being more efficient by covering where the ball was most likely to go. The point to all of this is that Herbstreit (rightly) predicted that this vision match concept would be the direction a lot of defenses would be going. Evidently Allen and Wommack were on top of it.

This is a long-winded way of demonstrating that the IU defense is ahead of the curve and in good hands. I did some digging this afternoon and by my count Indiana's Defensive Staff have coached in a combined 58 Bowl Games.

Out
Defensive Coordinator / LB - Charlton Warren (Co-Defensive Coordinator / DB, North Carolina)
Defensive Line - Kevin Peoples (DL, Missouri)

In
Defensive Coordinator / LB - Chad Wilt
Defensive Line - Paul Randolph

Returning
CTA - Head Coach, Defensive Play-calling
Brandon Shelby - Assistant Head Coach / Cornerbacks
Jason Jones - Safeties

Chad Wilt is a coaches kid who considers himself to be a teacher. Wilt's previous three stops before Indiana were Minnesota (20-21), Cincinnati (19) and Army (16-18). During these three stints Wilt's teams went a combined 52-21. The 2019 Cincinnati Bearcats finished the season ranked 21st in the AP Poll.

Paul Randolph comes to Bloomington by way of Texas Tech. Randolph has coached in 17 career Bowl Games and has previously coached at Memphis, Arizona State, Pittsburgh, Rice, Alabama, and West Virginia.

Brandon Shelby enters his 12th season with Indiana and has coached the likes of All-American Tiawan Mullen and two-time All-Conference Rashard Fant. Shelby also played at Oklahoma.

Jason Jones begins his 3rd season at IU. His recent pupil Jamar Johnson was First Team All-Big Ten in 2020 and was drafted by the Denver Broncos (5th Round) in the 2021 NFL Draft. Jones has coached on 5 conference championship teams and in 14 Bowl Games, including 2 New Year's Six games and a Fiesta Bowl championship.

Fine read with real recognition and opinions that fit together well. I found little I'd doubt.

 

[daddyhoosier]

Nice write up. Hope you are going to start writing again this year?

Thank you...Yes but I'm doing it here, I don't have a separate blog anymore.

 

[vesuvius13]

Starting in 1992 I developed what I called a pattern of read zone defense which is very similar to the matchup zone talked about by the OP. I always thought zone allowed my players to react to the play instead of the receiver. It was clear in early zone defenses that areas were left week and I needed to find a way to eliminate softness in coverages. Reading the routes allowed my DBs to adjust the zones to cover receivers tighter.

It sounds like IU's match zone solves the soft parts of zone defenses in their own way and it was very effective in 2020 and I hope it is as effective in 2022. Our DB coaches already know how to coach it and it could make a big difference for the defense.

 

[Shadesof Crimson]

Thank you...Yes but I'm doing it here, I don't have a separate blog anymore.

From a die hard fan that posts very little, I'd like to thank you for your blog thru the years and am so pleased you are here.

I sincerely appreciate how you clearly are a long term committed fan - but speak your mind good or bad.

Well done - & thanks for heading this way.

 

[daddyhoosier]

Awesome stuff! Thanks for the write up!

One question I'd have...how good do you/they feel we are up the middle? DT's, MLB...?? I think one of the reasons our 19 and 20 teams were as good as they were was we were actually pretty solid up the middle. McFadden was obviously really good, but we had some good DT's too. I'm not a football expert, but it isn't too far of a reach to say that being solid against the run, and disruptive up the middle, dramatically helps the players playing the "Vision Match" style. When you're not strong up the middle, there tends to be a gravity that pulls peripheral defenders in to the middle...which can have a lasting impact as well on their abilities to cover their areas on the outside.

I'm very excited about our back 4 and Cam Jones...but admittedly don't know much about the rest of the LBs and our DL? Any thoughts?

Thank you for the kind words. So I'm going to do a more in depth position preview but I feel pretty good about the middle on both levels. Cam Jones is a play-maker and a leader in the locker room. DeMarcus Elliot was All-Big Ten Honorable Mention in 2019 but not in 20 or 21. TBH there has been a drop off in production, I'm not sure how much of it is number of snaps, injury or just not performing at the same level. Sometimes doing your job in the interior doesn't show up in the stat sheet. Depending on scheme sometimes your job is to take up space so that the next level can come in and clean things up. Sio, again I'm just being honest I thought he'd take a bigger jump forward last year. I think Elliot and Sio have the potential to be pretty solid but I'm anxious to see how it plays out. Then there is that transfer from Cal, Tevis who was All-Conference Honorable Mention I believe. LeDarrius Cox transferred from Ole Miss and switched from OL to DL a couple years ago. This group feels fairly solid but idk if they can take the next step and become an above average B1G interior group. At the other LB I think Aaron Casey showed some promise last year so he's another guy they are counting on to step up to the plate. I hope these guys are all bought in, working their tails off, and that the coaches are doing a great job teaching and developing them to be the best they can be...anxious to see how it unfolds.

 

[daddyhoosier]

From a die hard fan that posts very little, I'd like to thank you for your blog thru the years and am so pleased you are here.

I sincerely appreciate how you clearly are a long term committed fan - but speak your mind good or bad.

Well done - & thanks for heading this way.

Wow thank you, that means a lot, for real.

 

[Radio Zero]

Wow thank you, that means a lot, for real.

The other thing I appreciate about what you write is your humility and willingness to admit when you’ve been wrong - something which, strangely enough, strengthens credibility.

 

[Rags to Roses]

Can you imagine how good (theoretically) we could have been with Kevin Wilson running the offense and Tom Allen running the defense for multiple years?

 

[Baller23Boogie]

Thank you for the kind words. So I'm going to do a more in depth position preview but I feel pretty good about the middle on both levels. Cam Jones is a play-maker and a leader in the locker room. DeMarcus Elliot was All-Big Ten Honorable Mention in 2019 but not in 20 or 21. TBH there has been a drop off in production, I'm not sure how much of it is number of snaps, injury or just not performing at the same level. Sometimes doing your job in the interior doesn't show up in the stat sheet. Depending on scheme sometimes your job is to take up space so that the next level can come in and clean things up. Sio, again I'm just being honest I thought he'd take a bigger jump forward last year. I think Elliot and Sio have the potential to be pretty solid but I'm anxious to see how it plays out. Then there is that transfer from Cal, Tevis who was All-Conference Honorable Mention I believe. LeDarrius Cox transferred from Ole Miss and switched from OL to DL a couple years ago. This group feels fairly solid but idk if they can take the next step and become an above average B1G interior group. At the other LB I think Aaron Casey showed some promise last year so he's another guy they are counting on to step up to the plate. I hope these guys are all bought in, working their tails off, and that the coaches are doing a great job teaching and developing them to be the best they can be...anxious to see how it unfolds.

Good stuff here.

I think we'll be solid up middle. The key, as is every year for us, is to keep the injuries down to our key guys.

Jones is established and will obviously start at Stinger. The other backer will either be Jennings, or one of the two Casey kids. All four players will see snaps this year.

You're absolutely correct that tackles don't get the recognition because unless they make a big hit or sack, they really aren't noticed. Sio and DMac have been solid players over the years. Tevis was really good at Cal, so he'll be a welcome addition and should be able to move around. Cox, the kid from Ole Miss should see snaps as well as his old teammate, Patrick Lucas. You generally don't being in transfers to sit.

Where we need a real boost in production is the ends. Word from fall is that Dasan is going to be hard to keep off the field. He'll line up at backer (Stinger) but also will see snaps at BULL on passing downs. If we can get a rush established somewhere on the line, that'll be a huge bonus and a real plus for our defense. I don't think it's a coincidence that our rush went away last year (our entire defensive line had 4.5 sacks last year - Anderson with 2.5 and Kramer with 2) and so did our takeaways.

 

[vesuvius13]

The other thing I appreciate about what you write is your humility and willingness to admit when you’ve been wrong - something which, strangely enough, strengthens credibility.

Yes, it does strengthen credibility and I appreciate when someone does that.

 

[kmathum]

Can you imagine how good (theoretically) we could have been with Kevin Wilson running the offense and Tom Allen running the defense for multiple years?

absolutely. i've been preaching that for years. another missed opportunity by our adm.

 

[Baller23Boogie]

absolutely. i've been preaching that for years. another missed opportunity by our adm.

Who's the head coach in that equation?

 

[vesuvius13]

absolutely. i've been preaching that for years. another missed opportunity by our adm.

So you are okay with an alcoholic coach that abused injured players also telling our Jewish player "Hitler was great leader". Wilson was not a man to run a football program and I doubt he has reformed a lot at OSU. Wilson was a very good OC that still blundered calls IE the swing pass against MN when IU had the win with a chip shot FG. He went for 4th down and failed many times. His best offenses were with Seth Littrel as his OC who brought Nate with him from Arizona. He also couldn't recruit QBs to come to IU except Ramsey as an afterthought. He got pulled as OSU OC and doesn't call plays after the debacle of 4 INT against Iowa.

Wilson was given a second chance in writing and he failed it because he couldn't shake whatever demons drove him.

 

[Crossblock]

So you are okay with an alcoholic coach that abused injured players also telling our Jewish player "Hitler was great leader". Wilson was not a man to run a football program and I doubt he has reformed a lot at OSU. Wilson was a very good OC that still blundered calls IE the swing pass against MN when IU had the win with a chip shot FG. He went for 4th down and failed many times. His best offenses were with Seth Littrel as his OC who brought Nate with him from Arizona. He also couldn't recruit QBs to come to IU except Ramsey as an afterthought. He got pulled as OSU OC and doesn't call plays after the debacle of 4 INT against Iowa.

Wilson was given a second chance in writing and he failed it because he couldn't shake whatever demons drove him.

You seem to have more information about Wilson than I do,.. I recall that before he and his family moved to bloomington, He stayed in a Dorm for a period of time, and got into some altercation with a student that made the newspapers. It was one of those things that made You shake your head and ask if there were any potential problems beyond that. You just thought. if You are the new kid in town, and want support of students and fans. why would You put Yourself in that situation?

 

[Baller23Boogie]

You seem to have more information about Wilson than I do,.. I recall that before he and his family moved to bloomington, He stayed in a Dorm for a period of time, and got into some altercation with a student that made the newspapers. It was one of those things that made You shake your head and ask if there were any potential problems beyond that. You just thought. if You are the new kid in town, and want support of students and fans. why would You put Yourself in that situation?

He was drunk when he got in the altercation....

 

[Baller23Boogie]

So you are okay with an alcoholic coach that abused injured players also telling our Jewish player "Hitler was great leader". Wilson was not a man to run a football program and I doubt he has reformed a lot at OSU. Wilson was a very good OC that still blundered calls IE the swing pass against MN when IU had the win with a chip shot FG. He went for 4th down and failed many times. His best offenses were with Seth Littrel as his OC who brought Nate with him from Arizona. He also couldn't recruit QBs to come to IU except Ramsey as an afterthought. He got pulled as OSU OC and doesn't call plays after the debacle of 4 INT against Iowa.

Wilson was given a second chance in writing and he failed it because he couldn't shake whatever demons drove him.

To be fair, it was never confirmed (to my knowledge) that Wilson was the coach who made that statement

Former Indiana QB Zander Diamont says coach referenced Hitler

A damning revelation from a former Hoosiers quarterback.

247sports.com

 

[TomEric4756]

Playing man in the back end last year didn’t work out well … especially after injuries took out the starters at cornerback. That DC left. Returning to secondary concepts the current players and coaches succeeded with in 2020 will improve their confidence. It should also improve rotations, it’s easier to provide support for breakdowns with vision based concepts.

Aaron Casey, the #44 honoree, could be the surprise Mike starter. Casey was written up as one of IUs fastest defensive players, and will have sideline to sideline speed. McFadden will be missed, but it sounds like this year‘s LBs will be capable. Backup LBs will play a lot of snaps, I agree. Cam Jones, as the returning defensive captain, should lead the rotation concept by example.

 

[Hoosier Clarion]

Starting in 1992 I developed what I called a pattern of read zone defense which is very similar to the matchup zone talked about by the OP. I always thought zone allowed my players to react to the play instead of the receiver. It was clear in early zone defenses that areas were left week and I needed to find a way to eliminate softness in coverages. Reading the routes allowed my DBs to adjust the zones to cover receivers tighter.

It sounds like IU's match zone solves the soft parts of zone defenses in their own way and it was very effective in 2020 and I hope it is as effective in 2022. Our DB coaches already know how to coach it and it could make a big difference for the defense.

In a well focused nutshell Warren was disaster DC. With Bell as HC of the offense Coach Allen can do what he does. Call the D from the sidelines on game day. So glad UNC is paying Warren and WU is doing the same for NS this season. Good riddance.

 

[Courtsensetwo]

Can you imagine how good (theoretically) we could have been with Kevin Wilson running the offense and Tom Allen running the defense for multiple years?

Remember, KW was the guy the massively mismanaged both the QB and OL rooms. He also would never have worked for TA and vice versa. Completely different species.

 

[Jackskip23]

In a well focused nutshell Warren was disaster DC. With Bell as HC of the offense Coach Allen can do what he does. Call the D from the sidelines on game day. So glad UNC is paying Warren and WU is doing the same for NS this season. Good riddance.

Hopefully, Bell is the real deal. As you stated, he’s the head coach of the offense, something that Allen has consistently asked for from his OC’s given his attention and Comfort level with the defensive side of the ball.

 

[Hoosier Clarion]

So you are okay with an alcoholic coach that abused injured players also telling our Jewish player "Hitler was great leader". Wilson was not a man to run a football program and I doubt he has reformed a lot at OSU. Wilson was a very good OC that still blundered calls IE the swing pass against MN when IU had the win with a chip shot FG. He went for 4th down and failed many times. His best offenses were with Seth Littrel as his OC who brought Nate with him from Arizona. He also couldn't recruit QBs to come to IU except Ramsey as an afterthought. He got pulled as OSU OC and doesn't call plays after the debacle of 4 INT against Iowa.

Wilson was given a second chance in writing and he failed it because he couldn't shake whatever demons drove him.

v, I just can't agree with some of what you state. I do believe KW to be a hard drinker, just like many old school coaches. Never saw anywhere proof he abused players. Lots of chatter, gossip and a couple allegations, no proof. Even a law firm investigation was a dry hole. I do believe he was damn tough, as he should be in my judgement. He showed me his offensive chops when he didn't have a good enough QB for B1G competition. But it is irrefutable he developed toughness in Hoosier FB. He was hired as the OC in Columbus and still is OC. Shortly after the new HC was announced he exercised his prerogative to call plays. Not an unusual occurrence, ask Tom Allen. The Bucks offense has only gotten stronger with KW focused on matchups, schemes and game planning. He and Day are a potent duo. When the D bucks up to the same level of results OSU is most dangerous. Just the way I evaluate it.

 

[Hoosier Clarion]

Remember, KW was the guy the massively mismanaged both the QB and OL rooms. He also would never have worked for TA and vice versa. Completely different species.

...vice versa?...Allen was hired by Wilson and coached under him for a season...

 

[Jackskip23]

v, I just can't agree with some of what you state. I do believe KW to be a hard drinker, just like many old school coaches. Never saw anywhere proof he abused players. Lots of chatter, gossip and a couple allegations, no proof. Even a law firm investigation was a dry hole. I do believe he was damn tough, as he should be in my judgement. He showed me his offensive chops when he didn't have a good enough QB for B1G competition. But it is irrefutable he developed toughness in Hoosier FB. He was hired as the OC in Columbus and still is OC. Shortly after the new HC was announced he exercised his prerogative to call plays. Not an unusual occurrence, ask Tom Allen. The Bucks offense has only gotten stronger with KW focused on matchups, schemes and game planning. He and Day are a potent duo. When the D bucks up to the same level of results OSU is most dangerous. Just the way I evaluate it.

There were actually two investigations from two law firms, neither of which unearthed any support for the allegations that KW abused players. Had there been verification of the allegations, IU could’ve terminated his new contract for cause. They had no proof, which is why there was a settlement. KW was poorly managed.

 

[Courtsensetwo]

...vice versa?...Allen was hired by Wilson and coached under him for a season...

Yes, but that would never have lasted given what we learned was going on in the locker room, the practice field and the bar rooms.

TA would have left but he had to have known that KW was being managed out at the time, I mean, the rest of us did. It was just a matter of time as IU was in a tough position with little evidence as you mention above. IU needed to go through the appropriate due diligence process to avoid expensive litigation, as all large organizations do...especially those that receive public funding.

 

[Euro]

Kevin came from Oklahoma where players were MF'd with frequency. That was the culture there. Used the same mantra when he came here. Worked with some players but not others

 

[Courtsensetwo]

The consensus is that defense should be the strength of this Indiana team in 2022. There is good reason to believe that the Hoosier Defensive Coaching Staff led by Tom Allen can have good success this season. As most will know CTA (the 2020 AFCA National Coach of the Year) is a defensive guy and had a good track record for solid / disruptive defenses prior to arriving at Indiana in 2016. The Hoosiers fielded one of the nation's most improved defenses that 2016 season. In fact, from the beginning of 2016 to the end of 2017 Indiana was the most improved team nationally in terms of total defense and pass defense. Before last season's rather unexpected 2-10 result Indiana was 24-21 overall in CTA's first three full seasons (excluding the Foster Farm's Bowl in 2016), including the 14-7 stretch from 2019 to 2020. Indiana was nationally ranked during both of those seasons and as high as 7th in 2020. The Hoosiers appeared in the Gator and Outback Bowls respectively during that period.

The lazy take is to say that 2021 marked a 'return to normal' for this Indiana program but the truth is that going all the way back to arguably 2013 IU had been performing at a consistently higher level. It is not being a homer to say that until proven otherwise the aberration was 2021, not the longer period of increased success. Keep in mind that in both 2017 and 2018 Indiana went into the Bucket Game a win away from Bowl Eligibility before ultimately ending up 5-7. (Zach Osterman did a good job of expanding on this on Crimson Cast last week.)

Allen gave up calling defensive plays in 2019 so that he could devote more time to overseeing the entire football operation but will return to calling the shots this season. Allen's defensive scheme is solid. I am somewhat flexible on scheme as long as it is coached well and players buy into it. That said I do believe Allen's scheme to be an exceedingly good one. The hybrid Bull and Husky positions are a needed response to modern offenses and allow gifted players to serve multiple purposes as needed without having to change personnel packages.

Hoosier Huddle reported in a recent podcasts that Indiana is returning to the vision zone concept on defense. (I'm fairly certain he was referring to vision match.) I first heard about this concept while watching a 2019 Ohio State game called by Kirk Herbstreit.

The popular approach to zone coverage in football has long been zone match, which merges zone principles and man to man techniques. In zone match players are taught to 'break on the ball' and defenders' backs are often turned away from the quarterback / ball. The problem with this is that quarterbacks have gotten so polished and routes so precisely timed that a potent offense will pick these conventional zones apart and beat them more often than not. (Good offense beats good defense.)

The idea behind vision-match is to keep everything in front of you, have your eyes on the quarterback at all times and react according to the QB's eyes. (This actually ties into the don't think just react concept I saw a couple people discussing elsewhere on this forum.) The strength of this system is that it limits explosive plays when executed properly. As far as offenses are concerned explosive plays are the name of the game right now.

I actually brought this specific concept up with Kane Wommack on Twitter in the Summer of 2020, though at the time I didn't know the proper terminology. To my surprise Wommack not only responded but seemed excited to talk about it. I remember he also mentioned not covering the route tree alone but being more efficient by covering where the ball was most likely to go. The point to all of this is that Herbstreit (rightly) predicted that this vision match concept would be the direction a lot of defenses would be going. Evidently Allen and Wommack were on top of it.

This is a long-winded way of demonstrating that the IU defense is ahead of the curve and in good hands. I did some digging this afternoon and by my count Indiana's Defensive Staff have coached in a combined 58 Bowl Games.

Out
Defensive Coordinator / LB - Charlton Warren (Co-Defensive Coordinator / DB, North Carolina)
Defensive Line - Kevin Peoples (DL, Missouri)

In
Defensive Coordinator / LB - Chad Wilt
Defensive Line - Paul Randolph

Returning
CTA - Head Coach, Defensive Play-calling
Brandon Shelby - Assistant Head Coach / Cornerbacks
Jason Jones - Safeties

Chad Wilt is a coaches kid who considers himself to be a teacher. Wilt's previous three stops before Indiana were Minnesota (20-21), Cincinnati (19) and Army (16-18). During these three stints Wilt's teams went a combined 52-21. The 2019 Cincinnati Bearcats finished the season ranked 21st in the AP Poll.

Paul Randolph comes to Bloomington by way of Texas Tech. Randolph has coached in 17 career Bowl Games and has previously coached at Memphis, Arizona State, Pittsburgh, Rice, Alabama, and West Virginia.

Brandon Shelby enters his 12th season with Indiana and has coached the likes of All-American Tiawan Mullen and two-time All-Conference Rashard Fant. Shelby also played at Oklahoma.

Jason Jones begins his 3rd season at IU. His recent pupil Jamar Johnson was First Team All-Big Ten in 2020 and was drafted by the Denver Broncos (5th Round) in the 2021 NFL Draft. Jones has coached on 5 conference championship teams and in 14 Bowl Games, including 2 New Year's Six games and a Fiesta Bowl championship.

Well done and thanks for the informative post. I am not an expert and was certainly not thinking about your "vision match" concept at the time but I was at Colts camp yesterday and this seems to be what I was seeing among both team's defenders. Is this a scheme utilized in the NFL as well?

 

[Victorbmyboy]

Well done and thanks for the informative post. I am not an expert and was certainly not thinking about your "vision match" concept at the time but I was at Colts camp yesterday and this seems to be what I was seeing among both team's defenders. Is this a scheme utilized in the NFL as well?

It’s a cover 3 match. So I’m sure it’s a similar concept. Here’s a good read on it. I think the 4-2-5 is the biggest difference.

Colts Scouting Journal: Time to stop calling the Colts a Cover 2 defense

Colts have a new base defense look and it’s not the cover two

www.stampedeblue.com

 

[Victorbmyboy]

This is the kind of thread we needed.

 

[daddyhoosier]

Ohio State does a lot of Cover 3 with it. As far as the trend goes a lot of time it flows from college to the pros not the other way around. But full disclosure I barely watch the NFL anymore so this comment could be dated lol.

 

[vesuvius13]

v, I just can't agree with some of what you state. I do believe KW to be a hard drinker, just like many old school coaches. Never saw anywhere proof he abused players. Lots of chatter, gossip and a couple allegations, no proof. Even a law firm investigation was a dry hole. I do believe he was damn tough, as he should be in my judgement. He showed me his offensive chops when he didn't have a good enough QB for B1G competition. But it is irrefutable he developed toughness in Hoosier FB. He was hired as the OC in Columbus and still is OC. Shortly after the new HC was announced he exercised his prerogative to call plays. Not an unusual occurrence, ask Tom Allen. The Bucks offense has only gotten stronger with KW focused on matchups, schemes and game planning. He and Day are a potent duo. When the D bucks up to the same level of results OSU is most dangerous. Just the way I evaluate it.

You may but there were articles about bars in Bloomington that barred him from coming back. Abuse, I probably should say it was verbal although one injured player said it was pushed to play despite have broken bones in his spine. KW was an old school coach that didn't change with the times. He couldn't follow the rules set up for him to be retained so I would say it was more than being a hard drinker giving trainers a hard time for getting players out of the injury tent. He was abrasive and he is listed as OC but doesn't call plays as coach

 

[Victorbmyboy]

You may but there were articles about bars in Bloomington that barred him from coming back. Abuse, I probably should say it was verbal although one injured player said it was pushed to play despite have broken bones in his spine. KW was an old school coach that didn't change with the times. He couldn't follow the rules set up for him to be retained so I would say it was more than being a hard drinker giving trainers a hard time for getting players out of the injury tent. He was abrasive and he is listed as OC but doesn't call plays as coach

The one that got him fired was the concussion protocol stuff I believe. You don’t mess with that.

 

[Hoosier Clarion]

You may but there were articles about bars in Bloomington that barred him from coming back. Abuse, I probably should say it was verbal although one injured player said it was pushed to play despite have broken bones in his spine. KW was an old school coach that didn't change with the times. He couldn't follow the rules set up for him to be retained so I would say it was more than being a hard drinker giving trainers a hard time for getting players out of the injury tent. He was abrasive and he is listed as OC but doesn't call plays as coach

I think I confirmed all.
Wilson was known as a no nonsense coach wherever he was at. Indiana after Bill Lynch needed a tough guy. Glass recognized that. Enter, his guy Wilson. Also believe he knew someday he would have to get rid of his guy. Things culminate, snowball and get stickier heading toward abrasive. Glass being an attorney knows how to pull the trigger without firing a shot. Poof the Buckeyes get the best of possessing Wilson.

 

[Jackskip23]

I think I confirmed all.
Wilson was known as a no nonsense coach wherever he was at. Indiana after Bill Lynch needed a tough guy. Glass recognized that. Enter, his guy Wilson. Also believe he knew someday he would have to get rid of his guy. Things culminate, snowball and get stickier heading toward abrasive. Glass being an attorney knows how to pull the trigger without firing a shot. Puff the Buckeyes get the best of possessing Wilson.

But Glass extended him and doubled his salary less than 11 months before he pushed him out. KW’s off field issues weren’t exactly a secret in the coaching world, which is why he never got hired elsewhere. He was poorly managed until the end at IU.

 

[Hoosier Clarion]

But Glass extended him and doubled his salary less than 11 months before he pushed him out. KW’s off field issues weren’t exactly a secret in the coaching world, which is why he never got hired elsewhere. He was poorly managed until the end at IU.

If it were a secret we wouldn't be lamenting here. He was hired by Ohio State. Earning much better than chump change at a better job than many HCing jobs. I suspect we never would know who has come calling as Wilson is not prone to be very revealing, instead keeping things close to the vest.

 

[Hoosier Clarion]

Yes, but that would never have lasted given what we learned was going on in the locker room, the practice field and the bar rooms.

TA would have left but he had to have known that KW was being managed out at the time, I mean, the rest of us did. It was just a matter of time as IU was in a tough position with little evidence as you mention above. IU needed to go through the appropriate due diligence process to avoid expensive litigation, as all large organizations do...especially those that receive public funding.

Coach Allen has played for flawed HC's before Bloomington. Hell the Bear was a notorious drinker. About every state could come up with a college coach who had failings.

 

[Courtsensetwo]

I think I confirmed all.
Wilson was known as a no nonsense coach wherever he was at. Indiana after Bill Lynch needed a tough guy. Glass recognized that. Enter, his guy Wilson. Also believe he knew someday he would have to get rid of his guy. Things culminate, snowball and get stickier heading toward abrasive. Glass being an attorney knows how to pull the trigger without firing a shot. Poof the Buckeyes get the best of possessing Wilson.

I think either Ahia is more tolerent of nonsense, or he knew this was his last opportunity. I don't follow them close enough to know what he is up to.

Glass errred in renewing his contract it appears, which caused him to have to carefully manage him out. Anyone that has owned or materially managed a large organization, particularly one that receives public funding, understands the risks and guideposts when managing people. Fred made his own bed but worked through it as well as anyone could. He is damned good attorney.