[2025] Coaches Chat Ep.2: Coach Piercewise1

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This article was originally published on plus.espn.com - featured audio has been transcribed for the reader's ease.

November 11, 2021 is a day which ought to go down in collegiate football history as a turning point for two historic programs; for the Indiana Hoosiers, it was the beginning of a new era in Bloomington.  Following a disastrous 2021 campaign, where the Hoosiers finished 4-8 (2-7) and rooted to the bottom of the Big Ten Eastern Division, it was clear that something needed to change.  That offseason, coaching candidates were brought in and interviewed for the unenviable task of rebuilding the Hoosier football program until one candidate stood out above the rest.  He introduced himself as a "36-year-old married father of two; lover of board & card games and all things strategy; current D&D DM; long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan," but for the equally-long-suffering Indiana Athletic Department, what impressed them the most was his meticulous approach, attention-to-detail, and familiarity with and desire to coach in the Big Ten.  So, on November 11, 2021, @Piercewise1 was unveiled as the Head Coach of the Indiana Hoosier football team - the rest, as they say, is history.

193 days later, on May 22, 2022, Coach @thatfunk announced that he would be leaving Ohio State to take the job at his alma mater, Alabama.  The departure must have hurt for the Buckeyes; not just because Coach thatfunk led the Crimson Tide to a National Championship in 2022; not just because Ohio State has since become a revolving-door for coaches - with no head coach lasting longer than a season from the 2022 season onwards; but because they could have had Piercewise.  Alongside being a married father of two; a lover of board/card games and all things strategy; a Dungeons & Dragons DM; and a long-suffering Cleveland Browns fan, Piercewise is an Ohioan through-and-through - an Ohio State fan.  Had the Buckeyes job opened up sooner or had the Hoosiers dawdled in offering their now four-year head coach the position, things might've turned out differently.  Hell, we'd probably be talking about how Ohio State has looked from the 2022 season through the 2024 campaign and how they're planning for the future.  But that's not how things turned out and instead, as Ohio State have hired their their fifth head coach since the departure of Coach thatfunk, we're going to be talking about how Coach Piercewise and his Hoosiers have gone from strength-to-strength in their quest for the Big Ten Championship and beyond.  A new era in Bloomington, indeed.

2022 Indiana Football Schedule

Week	Opponent	Score	Result
1	at. Oklahoma State	45-16	Loss
2	vs. Illinois	23-20	Conference Win
3	at. California	28-17	Loss
5	vs. Tulane	29-20	Win
6	at. Nebraska	38-24	Conference Loss
7	vs. Michigan	48-9	Divisional Win
8	vs. Maryland	24-17	Divisional Win
9	at. Rutgers	38-23	Divisional Loss
11	vs. Penn State	21-10	Divisional Win
12	at. Ohio State	35-5	Divisional Loss
13	at. Michigan State	61-3	Divisional Loss
14	vs. Purdue	13-10	Conference Win
16	vs. Temple	33-27	Bowl Win

2022 was a bit of a roller coaster of a season.  With a few years of retrospect, I think it's safe to say that Indiana football's 2022 season was an unquestionable success - the Hoosiers finished with a 7-6 (5-4) record and a 33-27 victory in the Beef O'Brady's Gasparilla Bowl against a Temple program who had just finished third in a competitive American Conference.  While Indiana's 0-6 record on the road left a lot to be desired, the fact of the matter is that they were able to turn Bloomington into a fortress; going 6-0 at home to neutralize their short-comings on the road.  All in all, when compared to their 2021 record of 4-8 (2-7), Indiana's 2022 was a marked improvement: the three more victories they'd attained in 2022 were all within conference play, propelling the Hoosiers to dead last to fourth in the Big Ten Eastern Division within a single season.  To top it all off, Indiana's recruiting class was widely considered to be within the nation's Top 30, hovering around the 20s depending on which poll or metric you trust.  With results on the field and prospects in the pipeline, Coach Piercewise appeared to be working his magic on the Hoosiers and the future seemed bright in Bloomington.
 

2023 Indiana Football Schedule

Week	Opponent	Score	Result
1	vs. Southern Methodist	28-10	Win
2	vs. Ohio State	24-10	Divisional Win
3	at. Tulane	13-0	Loss
4	vs. Indiana State	38-6	Win
5	at. Maryland	24-21	Divisional Loss
7	at. Michigan	31-3	Divisional Win
8	vs. Rutgers	8-7	Divisional Loss
9	at. Penn State	21-3	Divisional Loss
10	vs. Wisconsin	34-6	Conference Loss
11	at. Illinois	19-6	Conference Loss
12	vs. Michigan State	13-10	Divisional Loss
14	at. Purdue	21-7	Conference Loss

2023 was like sitting in an emergency room waiting room - clearly in distress and just waiting for your name to be called, but having to listen to everyone else be called instead.  After a strong start to the 2023 season with a win against Southern Methodist and a convincing 24-10 win against eventual Big Ten Champions Ohio State, the Hoosiers to a hit in their 13-0 loss away to Tulane and couldn't stop the bleeding, going on to lose seven of their next nine to finish 4-8 (2-7) - a repeat of their disappointing 2021 campaign.  While some were quick to raise the alarm around Bloomington, cooler heads prevailed, and for good reason.  Three of Indiana's losses down their 1-7 stretch from Week 5 onwards were decided by three points or less: a 24-21 loss at Maryland; an 8-7 heartbreak while hosting Rutgers; and a 13-10 loss against Michigan State.  For Coach Piercewise, with the benefit of hindsight, he chalks the 2023 season down to a sort of indecision; a mixture of being simultaneously risk-averse and high-risk at the same time, where the benefits of each just sort of cancelled out and only the negatives remained and translated into disappointing on-field performances.  There was; however, one silver-lining for Hoosiers in 2023: they had jumped into the Top 20 in terms of their recruiting class.  Despite the proverbial step back, Indiana was ready, able, and willing to take another two steps forward.

2024 Indiana Football Schedule

Week	Opponent	Score	Result
1	at. Appalachian State	24-14	Win
2	vs. #13 West Virginia	29-15	Loss
3	at. #21 UCLA	26-9	Loss
4	at. Youngstown State	34-0	Win
5	vs. #25 Maryland	23-9	Conference Win
6	at. Northwestern	31-17	Conference Win
8	vs. #18 Nebraska	28-24	Conference Win
9	vs. Washington	37-9	Conference Win
10	at. Michigan State	24-10	Conference Loss
11	vs. Michigan	42-7	Conference Loss
13	at. Ohio State	24-3	Conference Win
14	vs. Purdue	10-7	Conference Win
18	vs. Duke	28-13	Bowl Loss

It was exciting - we looked ahead of schedule.  Determined to right the ship after a shaky 2023 season, Coach Piercewise sought to embrace the reputation he had earned as a sort of "mad scientist" within the world of college football; ahead of the 2024 season, he made some positional adjustments, moved some players around the roster, and embraced the talent he had across the board.  And boy, did it pay off.  Led by Redshirt Freshman and eventual Big Ten Offensive Rookie of the Year Samuel Johnson, Indiana's offensive production exploded.  Alongside Johnson were Junior Halfback Mike Bradley and a Wide Receiving Corps led by Senior Halfback-turned-Wideout Geoff Albuquerque.  By Week 10, the Hoosiers were off to a 6-2 (4-0) start to the season - with four Top 25 matchups along the way - ranked #25 in the nation (their first time in the AP Top 25 in the past four years) and were in the driver's seat of the newly-expanded Big Ten heading into Lansing to face a lowly Michigan State.  Unfortunately for Coach Piercewise and the Hoosiers, subsequent losses to the Spartans and at home to Michigan would derail their Big Ten title hopes, but the 2024 season marked a new watermark for Hoosier football.  Finishing 8-5 (6-3) on the season, and with the #11 recruiting class in the country, Indiana appear poised to building upon their momentum into 2025 and beyond in an increasingly competitive Big Ten.

It's a question-mark - we've lost something like 55% of our roster to graduation.  Going into 2025, there appear to be two camps of Indiana football fans: there are those who view 2025 as a sort of 2023 2.0 (or a 2021 3.0, depending on how old they are) and there are others who view it with the sort of optimism that having a talented team of young, returning players tends to instill.  I mean, how could you not view these 2025 Hoosiers with some excitement?  While Geoff Albuquerque departs for (professional?) pastures new, his shoes are more than filled by Redshirt Junior Tyler Looney (A/B+) and Sophomore J.J. Pilaf (A/B-) at Wide Receiver - both of whom are coming off of an impressive 2024 season in their respective WR2 and WR3 roles.  Combined with the arrival of Freshman Wide Receiver Frank Pineda, a 4-star recruit out of California, and there are plenty of options for Redshirt Sophomore Quarterback Samuel Johnson (B/B) to pass to as he hopes to garner Big Ten honors in 2025.  That doesn't even include the two Tight Ends Coach Piercewise managed to snag in the Transfer Portal: Seniors Anthony Cowgill (B+/D+) and Sandy Davis (B+/C+) joining Indiana from Texas A&M and Syracuse, respectively, hope to team up with Redshirt Senior Halfback Mike Johnson (A/B) as additional outlets of Johnson and via the run-game in their own right.

If Indiana's 2025 recruiting class continues the upward trajectory of Hoosier recruiting since Coach Piercewise's arrival and finally cracks the Top-10, then Coach's assertion that 2026 is going to be "the year" is more than just an assertion, it's achievable.  With Coach Piercewise locked up at Indiana through the 2028 season, it's a whole new era in Bloomington - one where you'd better get used to the Hoosiers competing for the Big Ten.  The rest, as they say, is history.

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Special thanks to @Piercewise1 for sitting down to chat about Indiana football and his coaching journey - it was a pleasure to have some "real talk about fake sports!"

I've been sitting on this one for a while (juggling Miami football and basketball and a few other non-coaching things) to get it right and we've got a few more Coaches Chats lined up in the queue; but if you'd like to sit down and have a chat about your coaching journey, the teams you've working with and/or on, feel free to reach out!

Until next time, football fans!