Clemson’s new defensive coordinator Tom Allen is optimistic about the potential of his defensive unit, seeing a talented roster with the tools to excel. On ACC PM, Allen noted the physical attributes and athletic ability that stand out across the defense.
“The size of the defensive line and the athleticism they possess are obvious,” Allen shared. “There are quality linebackers, elite corners, elite safeties. It’s a group that just needs to develop its identity and confidence.”
Despite the talent, Clemson’s defense fell short last season, especially against the run. The Tigers gave up 160.6 rushing yards per game, the most since 2011, and allowed 4.7 yards per carry, a figure not seen since 1975. Balanced offenses throughout the season exposed issues with setting the edge, particularly on the left side of the line.
Allen, hired to replace Wes Goodwin, brings a wealth of experience, including seven years as Indiana’s head coach. His focus is on building a scheme that fits his players’ strengths.
“At the end of the day, there’s no magic system,” Allen explained. “It’s about creating a plan that matches the current roster. I’m evaluating film and workouts to design a system that plays to their abilities.”
Sour grapes? LaVar Arrington questions Tom Allen’s integrity for leaving Penn State to join Clemson.
Former Penn State Nittany Lions player LaVar Arrington isn’t happy with new Clemson football defensive coordinator Tom Allen.
The College Football Hall of Fame linebacker, who played for Joe Paterno at Penn State from 1997-99, blasted Allen for his decision to leave the Nittany Lions after one season. The comments came on Fox Sports Radio’s “Two Pros and a Cup of Joe” morning show, which he cohosts with former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn.
Allen was defensive coordinator at Penn State in 2024 and helped guide the school to its first College Football Playoff appearance in his lone season with the team. Before going to Happy Valley, Allen had been the coach at Indiana from 2017-23.
Arrington said:
“I look at it and I say, ‘You come there one year and leave?’ That’s like … Tom Allen, when I heard this, I thought, ‘No way that could be true. He seems like a good man, the type of guy that has integrity in what he does.”
Asked directly if he thought Allen lacked integrity, Arrington said:
“I’m not gonna say he’s not a good guy and lacks integrity. I just thought that he had more of it. I thought there might be more ‘good guy’ in him and more integrity than to leave the program.”
Quinn reminded Arrington that Allen’s family lives in the Carolinas, something Dabo Swinney referenced in his opening remarks during Allen’s introductory press conference as Clemson’s new defensive coordinator on Wednesday.
Quinn said he thought Allen’s family could have made a difference in his decision to leave Penn State for Clemson.
Arrington shot back:
“No, not to me … I saw Manny (Diaz) in Vegas. I have no problem with Manny leaving to go to take a head coaching job at a prestigious college. I don’t have a problem with that. But you’re leaving to be a defensive coordinator somewhere else? That doesn’t hit right with me.”
Arrington continued to take shots at Allen.
“Unless you have an ailing family member or something to that effect that would call for you to be within the vicinity of them to be able to get there back and forth, I understand that. If that’s what comes out, then he has my sincerest apologies. But if it’s just, ‘Oh, I got this opportunity and I can move back near my daughters? I don’t think so. I don’t like this whole business.”
Quinn called Allen’s decision the most surprising move of the offseason to date, adding he didn’t see it as a lateral move but a step back.
“I understand Clemson Tiger fans may take issue because you won the ACC to get into the College Football Playoff,” Quinn said. “It was a down year in the ACC. Bottom line. Not a very good showing, in particular in the playoffs, so I don’t view that as helping him get any closer to winning a national championship, if he cares about that.”
Swinney has two national championships at Clemson.
James Franklin has zero championships at Penn State.
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On Wednesday, the Tigers officially named Tom Allen as the team’s new defensive coordinator following the departure of Wes Goodwin. Allen comes to the Upstate from Penn State, where his defense helped guide the Nittany Lions to an 11-1 regular season and a berth in the semifinal round of the College Football Playoffs.
Before joining Penn State, Allen spent seven full seasons as head coach of the Indiana Hoosiers in the Big Ten.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney joined Allen at his introductory press conference. Here’s everything Swinney said in his opening remarks about the Tigers’ new sheriff on defense.
Dabo Swinney opening remarks on Tom Allen hire
“Super excited about our new defensive coordinator First thing I would say, as I said in my statement, just how much I love Wes Goodwin and his family and thankful for the job that he did. Unbelievable work ethic. Nobody worked harder than Wes — and it just didn’t work and that’s my fault. Simple as that. It’s not his fault, it’s my fault. But my job is to make sure that we are doing everything we can to be the best version of ourselves year in and year out.
“As I always do, I think it’s important to step back always from emotional things and keep a good perspective on the good, the bad, but evaluate. You always set your eyes forward on what you’ve got to do to get better. We’ve been to seven CFPs in the past 10 years, six Final Fours, four final twos and two national championships. We’ve won this league eight out of the last 10 years, so we’ve done a lot of great things and we’ve created a high standard and high expectations.
“There’s not a program out there that’s been more consistent than us and I’m really proud of that. But we’re always striving to get better, and each and every year I try to do what I need to do to help us do just that: keep growing, keep getting better. I felt like I needed to have a change in leadership on the defensive side, so I decided to make that change. Once I did, I did a lot of research on obviously who’s good on defense and this and that, and pretty easy to figure that out. But a lot of due diligence and I called a lot of people that I know and trust: defensive people, head coaches, GMs, NFL people. Without sharing any information with anyone, just getting their feedback because I had kind of established a little bit of a list myself. So it was really interesting to hear a lot of the feedback from a lot of different people on their perspective of the best out there. I kind of got a list down.
“Actually, it was a very kind of humbling reminder of how special Clemson is and how football people view our program. Especially when this is your livelihood and what you do and how people view Clemson, our program, and the type of consistency and success that we’ve had. That was really humbling for me because when I put my list together, I had so many people that reached out, but I got it to about 10 or 12 people.
“The only coach that I had to reach out and gauge interest was this guy (Allen). He was the only one. Everybody else I wanted to reach out, I didn’t have to do that because they either contacted me directly or through their representation. So literally the only guy I had to gauge interest in was Coach Allen. I did that through our agent, but he wasn’t going to talk to me until it was done. I really respected that. And the great thing is, the best of the best really wanted to come and be here at Clemson, so that was a really cool thing for me. I got it down from 12 to 10 to five and then really did a real deep dive there. Got it down to three and then I got it down to two.
“In the end, I just felt like a lot of prayer to the good lord just kind of put this thing together. That’s the best answer I can give you, and I felt like (Allen) was a great coach and all those people were great coaches. All sitting defensive coordinators at really, really good schools, but just felt like he was the right leader that I needed at this time. He’s a great coach but like I said, he’s a great leader of men. Has been for a long time. I love his background. I love his track record, but highly, highly recommended from some of the best people in this business from all. Not just coaches, but all different layers of college football.
“So I’m glad it worked out. Obviously, they played a game not even a week ago. I really wasn’t able to get on the phone with him until I guess it was Friday night .And then Saturday, I followed that up so just really exactly what I thought he would be. We knew each other a little bit. He was an interim at Indiana and when he got that job, he reached out to me and we kind of communicated a little text there while he was the head coach at Indiana. (We) know a lot of the same people, but just a great fit for us. Everybody’s excited. Going to introduce him to the team today.
“We’ll have a team meeting this afternoon, but I wanted y’all to have an opportunity to meet him and get to know him a little bit. With that, I’ll pass it over to coach so he can have a little bit of an opening statement. But just really thankful that his whole family is joining us. He’s got a beautiful family… they’ll be getting here as soon as they can. We’re going to welcome him to the Clemson Family. Nothing like opening up with LSU in an opener to see what he’s got. Should be a fun offseason. So with that, coach, I’ll pass it off to you.”
Dabo Swinney on whether he talked to Matt Luke before hiring Tom Allen
Later in the press conference, Swinney was asked whether he had talked to offensive line coach Matt Luke before the hire. Luke and Allen coached together on Hugh Freeze’s staff at Ole Miss before Allen joined Indiana as defensive coordinator in 2016.
“I did talk to Matt and (am) sworn to secrecy. Pinky swear,” Swinney quipped. “He just couldn’t say enough great things about him. I talked to everybody (Allen) has pretty much worked with, but Matt certainly gave me a lot of good insight, as well.”
Dabo Swinney on what drew him to Tom Allen schematically
“I’ve always been a four-down guy. That’s just kind of what I’ve grown up with. I think big people beat little people. Now, a lot of that is our ability to recruit the best of the best on the defensive line. If I was somewhere else, you have to adapt and do what you have to do to win games. Not everybody is fortunate enough to recruit the type of defensive linemen that we can at Clemson. Nobody’s had more D-linemen go to the NFL in the last, I don’t know, 15 years or so than Clemson. We’ve got guys all over the NFL with unbelievable success, so that’s who we’ve always been.
“Again, that’s what I grew up around. Won a national championship as a player. To me, I think you’ve got to be multiple within that. And then the way the game has changed, he’s a 4-2-5 guy and that’s — you know, we always say we’re a 4-3 base and in reality you are because sometimes you’re going to play some teams that are going to be heavy personnel and you’re not going to put a little DB out there on Davis Allen or a big ol’ tight end.
“You have to adapt in the way the game has changed and evolved. You see so much 10 personnel and 11 personnel, a little bit of everything. That 4-2-5 is really what the 4-3 has grown into. Y’all seen us and then occasionally you have some guys that are unique. Occasionally you come across an Isaiah Simmons, right? Some unique people like that that gives you a little more flexibility, but we’ve got secondary play. I think you have to have a great nickel corner type of guy line up. Because where does Antonio Williams line up? Where’s Tyler Brown line up? We put T.J. Moore in the slot vs. Texas. So you create matchups and you have to have the ability to cover.
“Then also, you have to have the ability to stop the run. Those guys gotta fit the gap, they gotta pressure the quarterback. There’s a lot of things that go into the scheme, but it starts with me, with being able to control that line of scrimmage. And again, we’re at a place here that has a very rich tradition and history, and we lost one D-tackle that we expected to lose. These guys, we’ve got a great group back. That’s where it all starts.
“I want to set the tone there and it’s not that you’re not in and out of odd and even fronts. I think y’all (Penn State) picked off a pass with a D-end in a playoff game. You create simulated pressures and things like that so that they think it’s pressure but it’s not. Next thing you know, here comes a pick so you don’t make a living doing that, but you use your personnel in a lot of different ways to fit the scheme.
“So that was something that was very important to me. He was a great fit right out of the gate. That was part of my process and really looking at everybody because I know who’s here. And it’s important to me to bring the right person in here to fit our staff and fit our personnel.”
Here’s the full press conference with Swinney and Allen.
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Clemson has finalized the hire of Tom Allen as its new defensive coordinator, marking a major step in revamping the Tigers’ coaching staff. On Tuesday, the university’s Board of Trustees Compensation Committee approved a three-year deal for Allen, starting at $1.9 million in 2025 and increasing to $2 million and $2.1 million over the following two years.
Allen spent the 2024 season at Penn State, where he led the Nittany Lions’ defense to impressive national rankings, including seventh in total defense, eighth in scoring defense, and ninth in rushing defense. His unit also excelled in generating pressure, ranking second nationally in tackles for loss and fifth in sacks.
Before joining Penn State, Allen served as Indiana’s head coach for seven seasons, where he guided the Hoosiers to three bowl games and their best AP ranking in decades during the shortened 2020 season. His decades of coaching experience and ability to develop strong defensive units have made him a highly respected figure in college football.
Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney will formally introduce Allen on Wednesday, but fans are already buzzing about the hire.
REPORT: Penn State DC working toward deal with Clemson for the same role
[autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] looks set to enter his third defensive coordinator search in four years. On Monday morning, it was reported that [autotag]Tom Allen[/autotag] is nearing a deal to become Clemson’s defensive coordinator.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel was the first to break the news, reporting that “a final decision is expected in the upcoming days.”247Sports’ Matt Zenitz added that Allen has accepted the job, and the sides are working through some final details.
The deal comes just days after Penn State lost to Notre Dame 27-24 in the College Football Playoff. Franklin and Penn State hired Allen last December to replace Manny Diaz, who had taken the Duke head coaching job. Diaz replaced Brent Pry, who took the top job at Virginia Tech in 2021.
Allen had big expectations of replacing Diaz, and although he brought a different style, the results were similar. Allen led the Nittany Lions to the seventh-ranked defense nationally in yards allowed per game (294.7) and eight points allowed per game (16.5).
Penn State is now in the market for a new defensive play-caller after Franklin likely hired Allen, hoping for more than just a season with the 54-year-old coach. Continuity with his coaching staff is one of Franklin’s priorities, so look for the next hire to be made with an eye for the future, not just next year.
Clemson lands Tom Allen as the team’s new defensive coordinator.
Clemson is set to bring in Tom Allen as its next defensive coordinator. On Monday, the Clemson Board of Trustees’ Compensation Committee met to approve new football coaching salaries, signaling Allen’s impending hire, per reports from our friends over at The Clemson Insider.
Allen spent the 2024 season as Penn State’s defensive coordinator and linebackers coach, where he helped guide the Nittany Lions to the College Football Playoff semifinals. Under his leadership, Penn State’s defense ranked 29th nationally in total defense, 17th in rushing defense, and 50th in pass defense, while finishing tied for 12th in scoring defense.
Prior to his time at Penn State, Allen served as Indiana’s head coach for eight seasons, compiling a 33-49 record and leading the Hoosiers to three bowl games. During the shortened 2020 season, he guided Indiana to a 6-2 finish and a No. 12 ranking in the AP Poll, the program’s best season in decades.
Allen steps into a Clemson defense looking to rebound after a subpar 2024 campaign. The Tigers ranked 69th nationally in total defense, allowing 374.1 yards per game, and struggled against the run, giving up 160.7 yards per game—their worst mark since 2011. Clemson will hope Allen’s experience can restore the unit to its traditionally high standards.
According to 247Sports, Tom Allen is poised to become Clemson’s next defensive coordinator. Allen, currently serving as Penn State’s defensive coordinator, has emerged as a top candidate in Dabo Swinney’s search to replace Wes Goodwin.
Allen’s experience and track record make him an intriguing fit for the Tigers. He joined Penn State in 2024 after eight years at Indiana, where he served as head coach for seven seasons and defensive coordinator for one. Known for his defensive expertise, Allen helped Penn State achieve a stellar 13-3 record this season and reach the College Football Playoff semifinals. The Nittany Lions’ defense ranked among the nation’s best in several categories, including scoring defense (8th), total defense (7th), and rushing defense (9th).
Allen’s teams have consistently excelled on third downs, a hallmark of his coaching style. During his tenure at Indiana, his defenses ranked in the top five in the Big Ten in third-down defense five times and cracked the top 15 nationally twice. Across his 33-year coaching career, Allen has been part of teams that boast an impressive .690 winning percentage.
Swinney is also rumored to have spoken with other candidates, including Denver Broncos defensive backs coach Jim Leonhard, but Allen appears to be the frontrunner as Clemson looks to move quickly with the hire.
Penn State’s Tom Allen has agreed to become the new defensive coordinator at Clemson, a source tells @CBSSports/@247Sports.
Clemson and Allen, who ESPN previously said Clemson was working toward getting a deal done with, are expected to get a deal done in the next day or so.… pic.twitter.com/rTeayuYmZk
Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen is up for the top assistant coach award.
Penn State defensive coordinator [autotag]Tom Allen[/autotag] has been enjoying his first season in Happy Valley, and his performance this season has not gone unnoticed. Allen was named a semifinalist for the Broyles Award, which is awarded to college football’s top assistant coach.
The Frank & Barbara Broyles Foundation announced its list of 15 semi-finalists for this year’s top assistant coach on Tuesday. Allen was one of four assistants from the Big Ten to make the latest cut. He is also one of 11 defensive coordinators on the list of semi-finalists.
Some of the other notable semi-finalists for this year’s Broyles Award include Al Golden (Notre Dame defensive coordinator), Jim Knowles (Ohio State defensive coordinator), and Tosh Lupoi (Oregon defensive coordinator).
The Broyles Award has a strong history of having winners go on to receive head coaching opportunities. Some previous winners of the Broyles Award include Steve Sarkisian, Mike Locksley, Lincoln Riley, Pat Narduzzi, Gus Malzahn, and Kirby Smart.
Last year’s winner was Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker.
Penn State has never had an assistant win the Broyles Award.
Check out the best photos from Penn State’s 44-7 victory over Maryland to close out the regular season.
The temperatures were frigid and Beaver Stadium was far from packed, but Penn State managed to close out the regular season in style with a 44-7 victory over Maryland. The win capped an 11-1 regular season and ultimately sends Penn State off to the Big Ten championship game for the second time in program history.
[autotag]Tyler Warren[/autotag] set a couple of records in the win as he polished off his awards profile for consideration, and [autotag]Nick Singleton[/autotag] overcame a fumble on the first play of the game to score two touchdowns and return a long kickoff to spark the offense to the rout of the Terrapins.
Here are some of the best photos from Saturday’s regular-season finale victory over the Terrapins.
Penn State will play for the Big Ten championship next week. The Nittany Lions will face Oregon in Indianapolis, Indiana on Saturday, Dec. 7. Kcikoff is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. ET on CBS.
A former Indiana head coach and quarterback caught up after Penn State’s win over Bowling Green.
The world of college football sees more and more players and coaches taking alternate routes on their respective journeys, and sometimes those paths find a way to cross one more time. This was the case on Saturday in Beaver Stadium as Penn State hosted Bowling Green for a non-conference matchup.
Following a 34-27 victory over the Falcons, Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen made sure to catch up with Bowling Green quarterback Connor Bazelak. Bazelak was a quarterback for Allen during their time together at Indiana.
The embrace between the former head coach and quarterback is a reminder of the importance and value of relationships built in the sport of college football. Allen recruited Bazelak to Indiana from Missouri out of the transfer portal in 2022 and he was a part of Allen’s program in Bloomington for two seasons. The results may not have panned out the way each would have hoped, of course. Indiana removed Allen as head coach following the 2023 season and Bazelak decided to transfer once again to Bowling Green following the coaching change with Indiana.
Bazelak must have been frustrating his former head coach at Indiana in the first half. Bazelak was slicing up the Penn State defense for much of the first half of the game as Bowling Green opened up a 17-7 lead and took a 24-20 lead into halftime. Fortunately for Penn State, Allen had his defense ready to make some stops and big plays in the second half.
Bowling Green was held to just a late field goal in the second half as Penn State’s defense picked off Bazelak twice in the fourth quarter en route to a 34-27 victory in the home opener.
