Is Mike Tomlin the secret weapon to get Indiana football to a bowl? Here's why he might be

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football coach Tom Allen is always on the lookout for inspirational material from his contemporaries to share with his team.

He calls it the "power of the outside voice."

"You use other people's words to reinforce the very things you are trying to say," Allen told The Herald-Times, after Saturday’s 20-14 win over Wisconsin.

That outside voice in recent weeks has come in the form of Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin.

"He told his team that it's a reasonable expectation for you to be continually on the rise," Allen said.

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During the offseason, Allen saw a clip of Tomlin’s impactful speech. The video of Tomlin addressing his players in June was part of “The Standard,” a year-long behind-the-scenes video series produced by the team.

Before Saturday's game, the Hoosiers needed four straight victories to reach the postseason. Allen hasn't been shy about making that a rallying cry for his players, and that's where Tomlin’s quote comes into play.

He showed his team the Tomlin video during the preseason, and has brought it up in team meetings throughout the fall. He will even text the clip to players when he thinks they need a reminder.

Tomlin's voice carries added weight for Indiana’s coach.

While Tomlin's resume speaks for itself — "he's done nothing but win" — Allen has visited Pittsburgh's practices and met with his staff through their shared connections at Arkansas State. Tomlin was the team's wide receivers coach in 1997, while Allen broke into the FBS coaching ranks as the program’s assistant head coach in 2011.

“It resonates,” Allen said, of the video.

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Allen got proof of that when Indiana traveled to Happy Valley last week and nearly upset a top-15 Penn State team.

He saw it again Saturday when the Hoosiers closed out a victory over Wisconsin. The victory stopped a four-game losing streak and was only the program’s fourth conference win since 2021.

No player has embodied the quote more than linebacker Aaron Casey, who had nine tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble against Wisconsin. The sixth-year linebacker spent his first three seasons in Bloomington as a reserve with his only extended playing time coming on special teams.

The soft-spoken linebacker has developed into IU’s best player and received the game ball on Saturday from Allen, who proudly noted how the defender has made the strides Tomlin talked about on a daily basis.

“I internalized that (Tomlin’s quote),” Casey told The Herald-Times. “It’s the motivation for us to go out and do it. We just all need to take it step by step. That’s all we have to do.”

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on Twitter @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.

This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Mike Tomlin may be driving force behind Indiana football's bowl push