On Monday, four days after Penn State College Football Playoff semifinal loss to Notre Dame in the Orange Bowl, ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported that first-year defensive coordinator Tom Allen is Clemson’s top target for its DC position and that the school is working towards a deal. The former Indiana head coach produced a unit that ranked top-five in the country in total defense and allowed just 16.5 points.
Sources: Clemson is working toward a deal to hire Penn State DC Tom Allen as the school’s new defensive coordinator. He’s the top target and a final decision is expected in the upcoming days. pic.twitter.com/8PLnibXD2j
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) January 13, 2025
Clemson: "working toward a deal to hire Penn State DC Tom Allen"
Last offseason, after firing offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich and watching defensive coordinator Manny Diaz leave for the head coaching job at Duke, head coach James Franklin had to fire new coordinators on both sides of the ball, along with a new special teams coordinator. Franklin settled on the up-and-coming Andy Kotelnicki, a young offensive innovator from Kansas as his OC, and went for more experience on defense with Allen, who was just fired after a seven-year run as the head coach in Bloomington.
While Allen’s defense was excellent against the run and even bottled up the nation’s leading rusher and Heisman Trophy runner-up Ashton Jeanty in the CFP quarterfinal at the Fiesta Bowl, his unit was torched through the air by Oregon in the Big Ten Championship Game and the Fighting Irish, who ended Penn State’s season. Still, Dabo Swinney has zeroed in on Allen as his replacement for Wes Goodwin, a Brent Venables disciple who was elevated after the former Clemson DC left to become the head coach at Oklahoma.
Penn State will likely attempt to counter an offer from Clemson, but the program that years ago made Venables the first million-dollar assistant coach in college football history likely has deeper pockets. Considering some of Allen’s struggles against the best teams in Penn State’s schedule, a departure may not be the worst thing for Franklin and the Nittany Lions, especially considering the program’s recent success in hiring defensive coordinators. Before Allen it was Diaz, and before Diaz, it was Brent Pry, who left to become the head coach at Virginia Tech.
If Allen does decide to leave for Clemson, there are two internal names to watch. First, co-defensive coordinator and safeties coach Anthony Poindexter, who served as the interim DC for last year's Peach Bowl loss to Ole Miss. Second, former All-American Penn State linebacker Dan Connor. Because of Allen’s notoriously raspy voice, Connor, a defensive assistant, was relied upon to relay the play calls from Allen to green dot linebacker Kobe King.