Wednesday morning, Clemson welcomed former Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen to the team. He replaces Wes Goodwin, who was fired on Jan. 6 after his defense allowed the most yards per carry of any Clemson team since 1975.
Allen joins the Tigers following a school-record 13 win season and playoff berth at Penn State. Under Allen, Penn State finished seventh in the nation in total defense (294.8 yards per game) and eighth in scoring defense (16.5 points per game) in 2024.
In the College Football Playoff first round against SMU, Allen’s defense recorded two pick-sixes, leading to their 38-10 win. Next up in their 31-14 Fiesta Bowl win against Boise State, Allen’s defense was able to contain Heisman runner-up Ashton Jeanty, holding him to a season low 3.47 yards per carry and no touchdowns.
Clemson formerly introduced the new defensive coordinator in a press conference Wednesday afternoon, where head coach Dabo Swinney announced some key changes to the program.
Swinney revealed that Allen won’t be specific to just the linebackers, but the defense as a whole. “He will run our defense, he is going to coach everything,” Swinney said during Allen’s press conference on Wednesday. “A lot like the NFL. He will start with the linebacker room as far as coordinating the defense from the linebacker room.”
This move is part of Swinney’s restructuring of how the defense will operate under Allen’s leadership.
“He will run the defense, he’s not going to go on the road recruiting,” Swinney also stated. He’s going to always be with the team.” Prior to this year, a team’s defensive coordinator would typically travel to recruit players for the team due to a limit of the amount of coaches able to coach. This year, there is no limit.
Dabo Swinney
“The good thing about that is he doesn’t have to hit the road tomorrow for two or two and half weeks of craziness,” Swinney explained. “He’s going to have time to be with our team. Time to transition all of our support staff that’s here. Get meshed together from a terminology standpoint, get on the same page there.”
The Tigers will instead send Ben Boulware on the road. Boulware joined Clemson last season as an assistant linebackers coach, and Swinney is confident he is ready for this expanded role.
“We’ve got Ben,” Swinney included. “We are in the process of kind of finalizing some things there with that room. Ben will be out on the road (Thursday).”
Swinney emphasizes that the team will be much more ahead when he gets back from his own recruiting task on Feb. 1 than typically in the past. Not being on the road for the next two weeks will allow Allen to get familiar and on board with the team and the staff much earlier than usual. Swinney also mentions that Allen already knows a lot of the players they are recruiting.
The team had a meeting Wednesday following their first mandatory strength and conditioning program, where Allen had the chance to meet with the defense and staff for the first time.
Changes are underway on defense, and from the looks of it, the Tigers are positioning themselves for long-term success.
