Penn State officially hires Tom Allen as defensive coordinator — 4 things to know

Penn State head coach James Franklin officially has his man to lead the defense. Tom Allen was announced as the defensive coordinator Tuesday afternoon, 11 days after former DC Manny Diaz left the Nittany Lions to be the head coach at Duke.

Here are four things you need to know about Allen.

Head coaching experience

Allen joins the program after spending just over seven seasons as the head coach at Indiana, where he went 33-49 overall, with a 14-7 record across 2019 and 2020. He was named the permanent head coach for the team’s bowl game in the 2016 season after former IU head coach Kevin Wilson resigned. Allen had success over those two seasons — the latter of which was the season shorted by COVID — and even led the team to a victory over Penn State in the 2020 season opener when then-IU QB Michael Penix Jr. scored on a two-point conversion to close out the game.

His experience leading a program lines up with something Franklin said he desired in the new defensive coordinator.

“If somebody had head coaching experience, I think there’s value in that,” Franklin said Friday. “I think Manny’s time as a head coach was valuable. (Special teams coordinator) Stacy Collins’ value as a previous head coach, there’s value in those things. I don’t think that’s the end-all be-all but it’s helpful if we can find it.”

Schematic similarity

Penn State has run mostly a 4-3 scheme in recent years that is really a 4-2-5, and Allen leans heavily into the latter. That should help make the transition smooth, something Franklin also harped on Friday.

“I‘ve had three defensive coordinators that have all been able to play at a high level, and we’ve taken a similar approach with all three,” Franklin said. “But then we’ve also recruited toward a certain scheme, as well, and to me, I’m not saying that what we have played is the only way you can play defense. There are guys that run a 3-4 that are highly successful. There are guys that are running a 3-3 stack that are highly successful. I just think there’s a lot of gymnastics that go into making that change.”

Allen should keep the consistency in that regard and that will allow players to move more seamlessly into their roles in his defense. Now, that doesn’t mean there won’t be changes. Allen uses more coverage disguises than Diaz did and that will ask more of the secondary. Regardless, this has the makings of a relatively smooth transition.

Success as a coordinator

The new defensive coordinator hasn’t been in this position since 2016 when he was the DC at Indiana, but that year should give fans reason for optimism. Despite the Hoosiers being outmatched from a talent perspective, the unit was No. 20 in SP+, a tempo- and opponent-adjusted measure of college football efficiency. While there aren’t many specific examples of what the defense could look like when its Allen’s sole responsibility, the most recent one is a good one.

He was in charge of the unit at times when he was the head coach at IU, but even then it’s difficult to give him full credit or blame for the defense when he’s being pulled in different directions because he’s also in charge of the entire program. Allen has two years as a defensive coordinator at the FBS level — with the other at South Florida the year before. That unit finished 59th in SP+, a respectable figure, even if it’s not overwhelmingly positive.

High school roots

Allen came up through the ranks as a high school coach, originally coaching in Florida from 1992-1996 before moving back to his home state of Indiana and taking over as the defensive coordinator at Marion High School. He then spent 1998-2003 as the defensive coordinator at Ben Davis High School in Indianapolis before bumping up to be the head coach of the program from 2004-2006.

His time in the high school ranks helped him form relationships and should allow him to have an impact as a recruiter in Florida and Indiana, two areas he frequently dipped into when he was the head coach at IU.