The past two defensive coordinators that Penn State has employed have gone on to become head coaches at other programs.
That’s the reality for top programs across the country who see a particular side of the ball have success.
Assistants get poached.
Just look at what Alabama’s coach Nick Saban has had to deal with throughout his tenure while continuing to dominate college football.
[autotag]James Franklin[/autotag] has found himself in a similar predicament after Brent Pry left to become the head coach at Virginia Tech in 2021 and [autotag]Manny Diaz[/autotag] just departed to take over the head job at Duke.
Coach Franklin went a similar route that he took when hiring Diaz. He gave the job to a coach who was just fired from his head job at a previous school.
[autotag]Tom Allen[/autotag] immediately will jump into his defensive coordinator role with the Nittany Lions after serving as Indiana’s head coach from 2017-23.
But he’s not looking at this opportunity to springboard to another job in the future. He made that abundantly clear at his introductory press conference after officially being introduced as the next DC of the program.
“I’m not coming here for that purpose, I’ll tell you that. I’m coming here to be defensive coordinator. I’m 53 years old. I’ve had some great opportunities. I am so fired up to be in this position at this place,” he said.
Before getting the head job at Indiana, Allen was the Hoosiers’ defensive coordinator in 2016 after coming from the same position at South Florida in 2015. Prior to that, he was last a DC at Ben Davis High School in Indiana before taking over the head coaching role and then moving to the college ranks.
“I think about that role, I feel like I’ve grown so much since the last time I was a defensive coordinator only and not the head coach and want to use that to really allow me to be a better defensive coordinator, a better, a better assistant,” Allen added.
Franklin stated that he is looking for a leader of the defense, something that Diaz was able to do during his short tenure. He, no doubt, thinks Allen will bring a similar style after landing on him following the interview process.
“I feel like I’m gonna be a much better assistant, a much better leader of the defense, and I’m very excited about that role and can’t wait to be able to have that as my focus and not the 10,000 other things that you have to do when you’re head coach,” Allen said at his press conference.
He’ll be taking over an elite unit and talent that he has not had the opportunity to work with during his coaching career. With his focus solely on running the defense, Allen will look to continue keeping Penn State’s defense one of the best in the country.