Tom Allen had just concluded his comments to appreciative Bloomington Rotarians at their Tuesday luncheon and, when the applause abated, an audible observation arose from the audience:
"There is a lot of Bill Mallory in him."
That dovetailed with something Indiana's first-year head football coach had said during an interview at his office the previous week.
"I've had several people say, between Coach Mallory and Coach Hoeppner, there is a little bit of me in both," Allen said then. "There are similarities in personality with those two guys."
If Indiana fans are pegging Allen somewhere between Bill Mallory and Terry Hoeppner -- well, from an IU football perspective, that's a pretty doggone good place to be.