Tom Allen coached Indiana to a disappointing season last year as the Hoosiers stumbled to 2-10 finish after they began the season ranked No. 17 in the preseason Associated Press poll.

Allen recently reflected on that season with Dustin Dopirak and Zach Osterman of the Indianapolis Star.

“It was probably the most difficult season I’ve ever been through in all my 30 years (of coaching),” he said. “What we expected to happen was the opposite of what happened. To have that big of an extreme difference was tough. Personally, it was hard.”

It was by far the worst record for the Hoosiers since Allen took over, as he came into the 2021 season with an overall record in Bloomington of 24-22. The Hoosiers were coming off back-to-back winning seasons, and during the 2020 season were ranked as high as No. 7 in the AP Poll.

As part of the offseason shakeup, Allen turned back to the NFL with hires of Craig Johnson to coach running backs and Adam Henry to coach wide receivers.

The Hoosiers open the season on Friday, Sept. 2 against Illinois in Bloomington.