Indiana University head football coach Tom Allen is a big family man. Allen is an Indiana native with “32 aunts and uncles” who are also Hoosiers. Allen’s father was one of ten children, Hoosiers all. Allen once said that when he was hired as the defensive coordinator at Indiana — before assuming the head coaching spot — then-head coach Kevin Wilson joked that his hiring meant a doubling of season ticket sales. Allen’s relatives would presumably buy up all the tickets.
Now, IU’s Memorial Stadium is a monster — it has 52,000 seats — so Allen’s relatives could only really account for a small section. But expect them to be there this year — a lot of them, a lot of the time. Because not only does Allen make his debut as IU head coach this year, but there’s another Allen who doesn’t have to buy a ticket to the Indiana games. That’s coach Tom Allen’s 18-year-old son Thomas Allen, who is a true freshman linebacker at IU and who can expect some serious aunt and uncle cheering whenever he gets on the field. The 6’3″, 230-pound Thomas played high school football at Plant High School in Tampa Bay, Florida where he was 2016 Tampa Bay Defensive Player of the Year.
Tom Allen’s son, a Florida linebacker, commits to IU to kick off the month of June: https://t.co/gHrYCIuwuW #iufb pic.twitter.com/cYhbTlAsRr
— Inside Indiana (@InsideIndiana) June 1, 2016
Watch the effort by Plant LB #IU commit THOMAS Allen #9Route7v7 https://t.co/IZjFY69NZl
— BIG COUNTY PREPS (@BigCountyPreps1) July 12, 2016
