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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

sports football

IU fires two defensive coaches

IU Coach Kevin Wilson announced Friday afternoon that Defensive Coordinator Doug Mallory and Defensive Line Coach Jon Fabris will not return to the coaching staff in 2014.

“Doug and Jon are solid coaches and good men,” Wilson said in a press release. “We appreciate everything they have done for IU Football and wish them both the very best moving forward. We are excited about the future as we continue to build our program in a positive way.”

The IU football team improved its win total from one victory in Wilson’s first season in Bloomington to five last season. However, the Hoosier defense regressed statistically in each of Wilson’s seasons at IU.

In 2011, the team allowed 458.7 yards per game, according to cfbstats.com. That number increased to 463.5 in 2012.

Last season, IU finished 123rd in total defense out of 125 FBS teams. On average, the Hoosiers allowed more than 527 yards and more than 38 points per game.

IU Vice President and Director of Intercollegiate Athletics Fred Glass said Wilson waited until after the season to evaluate the state of the program.

“It was an on-going conversation about making a variety of improvements and potential personnel changes were one of those,” Glass said.

Glass said the timing reflects the thoughtfulness and seriousness with which Wilson made the decisions. IU’s athletic director said there were pros and cons to a variety of times when coaching changes could have been made but he said he thought it was important that Wilson took his time before making changes.

“It was very thoughtful, it was very deliberative, it wasn’t emotional,” Glass said. “He gave some time between the end of the season and the decision-making, which I think was good.”

Glass said it was critical for Wilson to finalize personnel changes before the American Football Coaches Association Convention that will be held in Indianapolis next week. The timing gives Mallory and Fabris the chance to pursue other opportunities.

As Wilson seeks to replace Mallory and Fabris, Glass said it’s more important to hire the right coaches as opposed to making a quick decision for each of the openings.

“I know that Kevin will move out with all deliberate speed to get a replacement but I think it’s more important that he gets the right guy than that he rushes to it,” Glass said. “I also think he did not pursue a replacement until he had made a final decision with regards to Doug, which I think was the appropriate approach.”

Glass said he believes that Wilson will look outside of the IU football program to find his new defensive coordinator. This would indicate that it is unlikely that IU Co-Defensive Coordinator and Linebackers Coach Williams Inge will be promoted to defensive coordinator.

Glass, who said Wilson is in the early stages of finding replacements, is not aware of any early candidates and he said he wouldn’t share the names if he had heard of any coaches that Wilson is considering.  

Glass said IU football is Wilson’s program and if he started micromanaging it, it would be like the “President picking bombing targets from the Pentagon.”

“Then it’s people that don’t really know making those kinds of decisions so I think it’s important that the head coaches make those choices, whether it’s hiring or firing,” Glass said.

Even though Glass said he defers to IU’s head coaches when it comes to personnel decisions, he said he thinks Wilson made the right choice.

Despite Glass’ approval of Wilson’s changes, Friday is still an emotional day for those involved in the IU football program.

“It’s a hard day,” Glass said. “Nobody likes to fire anybody. I don’t think that’s ever been Kevin’s role before so I’m sure it was a hard day for him.”

He said Mallory and Fabris are good guys but at this time, he thinks IU football needed to go in a new direction.

“Nobody takes any glee in that, especially with two people who are as fine of people and fine of coaches as Jon Fabris and Doug Mallory,” Glass said.

Follow football reporter Andy Wittry on Twitter @AndyWittry

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