Tom Allen: 'I Feel Like We Will Start Our Season On Time'
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — To say that Indiana coach Tom Allen is an optimist by nature would be a massive understatement. He's definitely a glass half-full guy.
So as we mosey into mid-July and lots of people in the college football world are sending up flares of gloom and doom, it's Allen who still carries that torch that the football season is just right around the corner.
"To me, I'm optimistic about us starting our season. I am. I know that there's a lot of question marks still out there, but I believe that we will start our season on time,'' Allen said during a conference call with the media on Tuesday.
"I do feel like there will be challenges to be able to maintain the season without interruption, and I think many people have commented and have many concerns about the possibility of interruptions. I don't think anybody really knows what they're going to look like, so I think you just do what we always do here. That is, you focus on what you know. Right now, we know that we're preparing our football team for the 2020 season.''
Allen's players first starting arriving a month ago, with all of them being tested for COVID-19 before getting back to voluntary workouts on campus. They've come in waves, but all of his players are in Bloomington now, "and it's great to see them all again,'' Allen said.
Nearly 300 players, coaches and staff members have been tested thus far, and there have been four positive tests. Allen, who declined to comment on whether any of the four positives were among his players, said he and his staff have worked hard to keep everyone as safe as possible.
"We're just trying to adapt, and I think it's the progression you move through with your players,'' Allen said. "The cohorts — (groups of players who work out together) — continue to grow in size every two weeks. That's been a consistent progression. You have different obstacles along the way. You figure out how to handle those obstacles and you move forward. That, to me, is really what this is about. ''
Organized team activities are just around the corner, and once practice actually starts with everyone together, social distancing will be a thing of the past on the football field. And as several hotspots explode around the country, there's starting to be real concern about whether the 2020 season will happen or not. The Big Ten has already cancelled all nonconference games, and what happens next is still the great unknown.
"It's July 14 and we still don't have a lot of questions answered,'' Allen said. "I think we thought that when this process was in its early stages that, by this time, we would have a lot more answers. But we don't, unfortunately.
"I know there's a national concern. I see everything just like everybody else does. I know the numbers and the direction they're going at this point isn't as positive as we'd like for it to be. We're continuing to take that information and with player safety and their well-being at the top of the priority list. It is going to be and it's not going to change no matter what, no matter how bad we want to play. And we are.''
There's no question that Allen wants to play football this year, but not at any cost. It's the same with the players, who desperately want to do their thing. But their health and safety come first, no matter what.
"Our players want to play,'' Allen said. "We all want to play, but we're not going to put them at risk of something that would be a bad thing. That's where we got to trust in our leadership and we are. I feel good about that.
"I think it's just a progression. I know that there's probably answers that you wish you had and we don't have all of those at this point. We control what we can control. We don't blink. We don't get sidetracked on things we don't have any control over. We're also in a very responsible way preparing our football team for the 2020 season.''
Allen said the schedule changes are unfortunate, but he's in agreement with them. He likes the idea that the Big Ten wants to work in concert with its members. Keeping it in the family makes sense, even if those three scheduled nonconference games — against Western Kentucky, Ball State and Connecticut — would have been good preparation for the conference season and likely end with three victories.
"The way our schedule works here, they're usually the first three games or three of the first four games each season. So those opportunities to get ready for conference play have been very, very important for us,' and you won't have those now,'' Allen said. "I support the decision that the Big Ten made with that. I understand. Bottom line is, once again it's about what's best for the players, their well-being and trying to create the best scenario possible for us to have a season, and the control that it gives us, with in protocols that we want to follow as a conference and understanding that those will be followed by the conference schools..''
The 10-game schedule — yet to be released by the league — likely will be played over a 13-week window, so there are enough bye weeks to move games if teams are having COVID-19 breakouts.
"The flexibility within the schedule gives us a situation where maybe two teams can't play so now you move that game to a different spot,'' Allen said. "The flexibility that it gives us is very important, and for so many unknowns that we have ahead of us, I think that was a very positive thing to be able to do.''
"It definitely makes it challenging. You're playing 10 Big Ten games in a season, which is pretty difficult to do. We play in a great conference, a lot of physical football teams, it's going to be hard for everybody. We'll all be in the same boat.''
