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February 18, 2023
Written
by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
The
Indiana Hoosiers will have a new defensive play caller in 2023 as head coach Tom
Allen said he will be handing the reins of the defense over to
new co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Matt Guerrieri
at his introductory press conference on Saturday morning.
“So excited to have him with us. Going
to be a -- the situation is the way that I would like for this to
be organized. Really, I want to follow the pattern we used in 2019.” Allen
explained. “I'm going to have -- Coach Guerrieri will be calling the defense,
much like Coach [Kane] Wommack did. And I will be heavily involved, but he will
be the play-caller on game day. That way it will allow me to be a better head
football coach to it this team. With everything that we have and the
dynamics of college football today, I really feel like that's the best
direction to go but had to have the right person for that particular role.”
Allen
took over the play calling for the 2022 season as defensive coordinator Chad
Wilt adjusted to his first year at the position. The Hoosier
defense finished 120th nationally in scoring and 119th in total defense in the
2022 season.
IMAGE: INDIANA UNIVERSITY
ATHLETICS
Allen
and the Hoosiers want to replicate the success they had in 2019 and 2020 when
Allen handed the reins over to then-defensive coordinator Kane Wommack (current
head coach at South Alabama).
“I can equate it to what we did in
'19, that it's going to be our system and someone that really believes in it.
And just from all that time together and then just obviously, you know, you
watch people play and the things that they do and there's certain philosophical
alignments that you have in, how you attack things, what are your answers in
situations, and you have to have that core belief that that's how do you it.”
Allen said.
Guerrieri has similar philosophies to
Allen and believes he will be able to take IU’s defense to the next level.
His philosophy “aligns directly with Coach Allen's. We've been a base 4-2-5 for a number of years. I've played in numerous different -- I played in the 3-4 defense. I've been in a 4-3 and a 3-3-5 and 4-2-5. I think it goes to from a philosophy standpoint, Coach Allen would say tackling, take-aways, and effort. Those are the three pillars of who we are. That's not going to change from that standpoint.” Guerrieri said on Saturday.
The Hoosiers are set to
open spring practice on March 4th culminating in a “Spring Football Event” on
Saturday, April 15th.
