After a successful 2024–25 season, Penn State’s football program is bidding farewell to defensive coordinator and linebackers coach Tom Allen after just one year with the team. The 54-year-old coach officially departed State College on Monday following the Nittany Lions’ loss to Notre Dame in the College Football Playoff. By Wednesday, Allen was introduced as the new defensive coordinator for the Clemson Tigers.
During a press conference alongside Clemson head coach Dabo Swinney, Allen shared the reasoning behind his decision to join the Tigers, emphasizing a deeply personal motivation: family.
“Our two daughters actually both live in the Carolinas,” Allen explained. “Brittany lives down the road here, and Hannah lives in North Carolina, where she’s expecting our second grandchild in about 30 days. The chance to be near our two girls, Thomas here with us, and his son… Family means a lot to me. My wife has made some amazing sacrifices over the years.”
Allen also reflected on his coaching journey, highlighting the toll it took on his family and the sacrifices they made along the way. “When I left high school [coaching] in 2006, I was hired as the defensive coordinator at Indiana in 2016. That was a 10-year window between leaving high school and fulfilling my dream of being a Big Ten defensive coordinator,” he said. “In those 10 years, we lived in seven states, making a lot of moves. And who bore the brunt of those moves? My wife. She’s the superstar in this whole thing. She’s been amazing, and I appreciate her so much because I was chasing after this dream.”
Allen revealed the challenges his children faced due to the frequent relocations his career demanded. They had to change schools multiple times, often in the middle of the academic year—a disruption he and his wife tried to navigate as best they could. “Coaching moves in January are tough. That’s right smack in the middle of the school year,” he explained. “We had to pull our kids out of school, and it wasn’t me who handled all that—I was off recruiting or starting a new job. My wife had to take care of it all.”
He recalled a particularly emotional moment that underscored the difficulty of these transitions. “I’ll never forget when my wife took our youngest daughter to her new school in January. She wouldn’t get out of the car—she was just crying. My wife was crying while telling me about it, and then I started crying because I was the reason for all of it. Those moves are hard, and they impact your family in ways you never forget.”
Allen spoke about how meaningful it was for his daughters to learn about his move to Clemson. “Our girls cried when they found out I was taking this job because it meant we’d be close again. Those moments, those connections—you just can’t replace them. Life’s short, and I don’t take anything for granted.”
This move marks a heartwarming full-circle moment for the Allen family, bringing them closer together after years of sacrifices and challenges. For Allen, joining Clemson isn’t just about football; it’s an opportunity to put his family first while continuing to excel in his coaching career.
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