Tom Allen understands some of the questions surrounding his decision to leave Penn State after one highly-successful season to take a seemingly lateral move as Clemson‘s new defensive coordinator. Still,

Tom Allen is Clemson’s defensive coordinator because he runs a unit that fits what Dabo Swinney was looking for. Swinney was asked what schematically led him to Allen in the hiring process during their introductory press conference.

Allen, he said, wasn’t looking for a job. He was laser-focused on Penn State’s CFP semifinal game against Notre Dame at the Orange Bowl. The Nittany Lions made the field as an at-large team (No. 6 seed) and won games against SMU and Boise State.

Tom Allen wore a weary smile in Penn State's locker room after the Orange Bowl as he surveyed a silent, still group of players hurting over the Nittany Lions' 27-24 loss to Notre Dame. Penn State's defensive coordinator, at least for that moment, tried to find context.

With Allen’s hiring, five of Clemson’s 10 assistant coaches are now set to make at at $1 million in annual salary in 2025 (Allen, Riley, Matt Luke, Chris Rumph and Nick Eason). That’s on top of Swinney’s annual salary of $11.25 million for this year and puts the Tigers comfortably among the nation’s top 10 in total assistant coach pay.

On Tuesday, the Clemson Board of Trustees met for a compensation committee meeting to finalize the contract details of new defensive coordinator, Tom Allen. Prior to that, Allen was the head coach ...

CLEMSON, S.C. — Clemson has hired Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen for the same role with the Tigers, a move that was finalized Tuesday by the school’s Board of Trustees Compensation Committee.

CLEMSON — Tom Allen realizes his decision to leave Penn State for Clemson football's defensive coordinator position after one season raises some questions. Allen explained the move Wednesday in ...

CLEMSON — The night of Jan. 14, Dabo Swinney was driving new defensive coordinator Tom Allen and his family around Clemson. They were out until 11 p.m., a full moon in the sky as they visited ...

The Clemson Tigers have their next defensive coordinator. Clemson announced Tuesday it hired former Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen to the

The only coach who didn’t? “This guy,” Swinney said Wednesday, grinning toward Tom Allen, the former Indiana head coach and Penn State defensive coordinator who was officially hired as the ...

Clemson coach Dabo Swinney shares what impact Matt Luke had on his decision to hire Tom Allen as defensive coordinator.