Notre Dame Fighting Irish News: Coach down the road maybe done, more
While the Notre Dame Fighting Irish wrapped up a successful regular season with a 9-3 record, a coach down the road, Tom Allen is probably fired.
Notre Dame football ended its regular season with a 56-23 win over Stanford. Meanwhile, another in-state team wrapped up another disappointing season as Indiana Hoosiers head coach Tom Allen finished 2023 with a 3-9 record.
One has to think that Allen is on his way out. The question seems to be when.
When it comes to major college football in the state of Indiana, it comes down to Notre Dame, Indiana and Purdue. Only one of those three teams managed to post a winning record this year.
Purdue’s coach is safe because it was his first with the Boilermakers. The question is whether Allen is going to be fired or not.
The Hoosiers have a 9-27 record over the last three seasons — second worst in the Power Five — and are 3-24 in the Big Ten after Saturday’s loss. That would certainly be a good enough reason to show Tom Allen the door.
It’s the fact that there was a time when Indiana thought it had a winner in Allen. After 2020 Allen won Big Ten Coach of the Year honors and led the Hoosiers to back-to-back bowl games. He had a 24-22 record at the time.
Those facts got him a new deal that will see him get an Indiana record payout. Indiana would have to pay out a $20.8 million buyout if it fires Allen before Dec. 1, 2024. Considering that the Hoosiers have struggled to win under anyone, one has to wonder if the team will give him one more season.
None of the other big football programs have managed to find the recipe for success that the Notre Dame Fighting Irish have managed to do.
Other Notre Dame Fighting Irish news
Notre Dame football tight end Eli Raridon had his best game of the season against Wake Forest. Not long after it, he talked about his comeback to Rivals. “The second ACL is always harder mentally, and also with my surgery it was a little more traumatic on my knee with the patellar tendon,” he said. “I was getting a lot more pain than the first time. There were a lot of mental barriers coming back later on in the season, especially Louisville. I wasn’t 100% yet. I would say about the USC game [on Oct. 14] was when I gained my confidence and started feeling normal again. It took me some game play and some practices to get through that mental barrier.”
While one Notre Dame Fighting Irish player is working his way back, another is still dealing with a concussion. There was talk that Zeke Correll could return for the Stanford game. He in fact, did not play. Now it’s about waiting and seeing if he can get better for the bowl game.