Indiana likely to hire Texas Tech coach for defensive line role

Indiana head coach Tom Allen is expected to bring in a defensive line coach with more than 20 years of experience to replace former coach Kevin Peoples, who headed to Missouri last week. On3’s Matt Zenitz reported the news on Wednesday.

Paul Randolph will coach the position in Bloomington after three years at Texas Tech, three years at Memphis and four years at Arizona State. While with the Red Raiders, Randolph coached multiple players that ultimately headed to the NFL including defensive linemen Eli Howard and Broderick Washington. Howard earned All-Big 12 second-team honors in 2019, the first Texas Tech defensive lineman to do so since 2013.

At the Power Five level, Randolph has also spent time at West Virginia, Alabama and Pittsburgh. He is originally from Georgia and played linebacker at UT Martin before a 10-year professional career in the Canadian football League.

In other Hoosiers defensive coaching news, Indiana hired former Minnesota defensive line coach Chad Wilt to be the Hoosiers new defensive coordinator on Monday. He is replacing former coordinator Charlton Warren, who departed to be the co-defensive coordinator at North Carolina.

Wilt and Randolph will take over a defensive unit that allowed 33.3 points per game in 2021, which was the worst in the Big Ten, and finished 2021 with just two wins. It was a rather surprising fall from grace after Indiana’s dream season in 2020. They allowed just 20.3 points per contest and finished the year 6-2 and ranked No. 12 in the nation.

Texas Tech ends tumultuous year with an impressive win

Despite losing a head coach after just eight games (and a 5-3 record), Texas Tech ended their 2021 campaign with a 7-6 record and a blowout win in the Liberty Bowl over Mississippi State.

The Red Raiders held the Bulldogs to just one touchdown in a 34-7 victory, and the defense of which Randolph was a part held them to 344 total yards and forced three turnovers.

The Texas Tech defense spent a lot of time in the backfield chasing after Mississippi State quarterback Will Rogers during the game. They notched four sacks, seven tackles for loss and two quarterback hurries.

Clearly, Randolph coached his guys well until the very end despite massive uncertainty throughout the year.