By Adam Hensley | [email protected]

• Tom Allen grateful to be named head coach at Indiana: “Strong strong ties to my home state.”
• “We’ve been challenged as players and coaches to break through. We’ve been close.”
• Allen wrote the numbers 50, 26, and 10 and asked his team what these figures represented. “It’s been 50 years since we won the Big Ten, 26 years since we’ve won a  bowl game, and 10 year since a winning season. We’re gonna accomplish all three of these. If you don;t think we’ll accomplish these, you can leave.”
• Allen also write the letters LEO: “Love Each Other. It was about changing the mindset and the culture. It was about getting our focus off ourselves and building trust. Developing a culture that’s not about “me,” but about “we”
• “We want to be a top-25 defense. That’s our goal.”
• On Ohio State playing in Bloomington for the first game of the season, an 8 p.m. kickoff and Indiana’s first conference opponent to start the season since 1982: “The biggest home opener in the history of Indiana football.” Ohio State, 8 pm kickoff, first conference opener since 1982.
• Allen said he revisited Hoosier history, specifically the Rose Bowl squad 50 years ago. The team won three games the season before taking home the trophy, and Allen wants to emulate that sort of turnaround.
• Having spent 15 years as a high school coach, Allen isn’t fond of playing college games on Friday nights. “I don’t like playing games on a Friday night. That’s a high school night. I’d like to keep that night special for high school football. That means a lot to me.
• On Richard Lagow’s biggest leap this offseason: “Leadership. Everything rises and falls on leadership.”
• Takeaways are the name of the game for Indiana’s defense. “We made such a huge issue of taking the ball away [last season].”