Tom Allen supercharged his head-coaching career against Penn State in 2020. Now, he’ll hit the reset button with Penn State as its next defensive coordinator. Since the model worked once before, why not try it again?
Penn State football coach James Franklin is expected to hire Allen, the former Indiana head coach, as his new defensive coordinator. Allen would replace Manny Diaz, whose two seasons at Penn State bridged head-coaching tours between Miami and Duke. Though Franklin is a long way from replicating Nick Saban’s second-chance school for offensive coordinators, the Penn State coach is beginning to build a similar model for defensive coordinators.
Allen spent three of his seven seasons as Indiana’s head coach as its defensive coordinator as well. He built one of the Big Ten’s most respected units without highly ranked recruiting classes. According to the 247Sports Composite, Allen’s Indiana teams ranked higher than eighth in Big Ten recruiting just once (fifth in 2022). Yet his Indiana defenses (Allen also was the coordinator in 2016) made huge leaps. Notably, those 2016-17 teams made the biggest national improvement in yards allowed (down 169 ypg) and passing yards allowed (down 134 per game).
Franklin has been a fan of Allen’s defenses since 2016, even though his teams have averaged 36.8 points per game against them. Last year, when Allen was calling Indiana’s defensive plays, Franklin noted how difficult he was to scheme against, particularly in the run game.
“It is very important for him to make you one dimensional and stop the run,” Franklin said before the 2022 Penn State-Indiana game. “He’s going to use as many resources as he has to to stop the run. Whether that’s in recruiting, whether that’s in scheme, numbers in the box, whether that’s angling or slanting or stunting or however you want to describe it, dropping safeties down the box like we used to do with [safety] Marcus Allen. … A lot of different ways to do it, right? He’s committed to doing it and making you one dimensional. When you study all the analytics, that comes true over and over again.”
What Franklin also likes is turning Allen loose as the defense’s de facto head coach. Franklin did that with Diaz to great effect. And since he spends more of his coaching time on offense, Franklin wants a CEO on the other side. That’s Allen.
At Indiana, Allen, 53, was respected among players after taking over during a difficult time for the program following Kevin Wilson’s 2016 resignation. “There isn’t a better person to teach and develop young men in college football,” former Indiana All-American linebacker Micah McFadden once said of Allen.
Upon promoting Allen in 2016, then-Indiana Athletic Director Fred Glass said, “He is demanding and has a very high standard that is not demeaning. He cares about his players, and they care back.”
Interestingly, Penn State plays a significant role in Allen’s coaching course. At Memorial Stadium in 2020, then-Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. stretched for an end-zone pylon — whether he touched it remains contentious to this day — and a two-point conversion to clinch the Hoosiers’ improbable 36-35 overtime win over No. 8 Penn State. Afterward, Allen attempted to ground himself in the moment’s euphoria.
“Since I have been here we have found ways to lose those types of games. This game we found a way to win,” Allen said after that game. “This type of game. That is where it is so big. That is why it is so powerful to have that kind of finish and just to find a way to win.”
That night elevated Allen. After going 8-5 the year before, Indiana went 6-2 in the COVID season, and Allen was named national coach of the year by the American Football Coaches Association. But the rocket never got off the launch pad. Indiana went 9-27 the past three seasons, and Allen was let go in early December. Now, he’ll return to coordinating, which Allen called his first love.
He was a successful linebackers coach at Ole Miss and defensive coordinator at South Florida before joining Indiana’s staff. Upon becoming head coach, Allen retained the defensive playcalling duties for two seasons. After relinquishing them, Allen took over again in 2022.
“I’ve missed that part of it,” he said before the 2022 season. “And I just feel like that’s definitely one of my strengths as a coach. And it’s the reason why I’m sitting here in this position [as head coach].”
Allen’s scheme, mostly a 4-2-5 that emphasizes blitzing, turnovers and third-down success rate, should transition smoothly to Penn State. Like Diaz, Allen is an aggressive defensive mind with clear ideas of what he values. Early in his career at Indiana, Allen thought the best way to emphasize turnovers was to ban even saying the word. Allen forced himself to do 25 pushups if he lapsed. Since 2016, Indiana ranked among in the Big Ten’s top-5 in turnovers gained three times and led the conference in 2020.
Franklin made clear last week the he didn’t want to uproot the defensive foundation that Brent Pry and Diaz built as the program’s past two coordinators. Allen arrives to a program that needs no defensive rebuild. In fact, Franklin said last week that he sought a coach who wasn’t “intimidated” taking over the nation’s top-ranked team in total defense.
“A lot of times you’re taking over a job, and you say, ‘Hey, my job is to improve the defense.’ That’s going to be hard to do statistically, right?” Franklin said. “That’s more challenging to do than I think people realize when you’re factoring all these points in.”
Allen left one challenge at Indiana and steps immediately into another at Penn State. His relationship with Franklin certainly helps. If he’s successful, Allen could get another head-coaching position. And if he’s successful, that could mean great things for Penn State.