Penn State's Tom Allen Says He's a 'Better Coordinator' After Experience at Indiana

Allen takes over a Nittany Lions defense that was among the nation's best in 2023.

First-year Penn State football defensive coordinator Tom Allen speaks with the media at Holuba Hall. / Dan Rainville/USA Today Network - PA /

Tom Allen hasn't worked solely as a defensive coordinator since 2016, his first season at Indiana, though he has retained his muscle memory for the position. Allen arrived at Penn State with seven years of head-coaching experience at Indiana, a specific plan for stepping back and a sense of relief about certain parts of the job.

Allen enters his first season as Penn State's defensive coordinator understanding the pressure that comes with the position. In fact, Penn State football coach James Franklin made that clear during their days-long interview process.

"The important thing was, who can we hire to continue that tradition and also has similar philosophies to what the roster has already been built on rather than starting all over again," Franklin said recently.

Allen has said that he feels at home defensively, even more so now that head coaches must be general managers. "There’s so many things you don’t have to deal with when you’re not the head coach,” Allen said. “And so it’s kind of refreshing to be able to just focus on developing the players, building relationships with the players and the defense, the schematic part of it, the personnel side of it. Just the film study. I can go in there, shut my door and, if something happens, just pass it on to coach Franklin."

Still, Allen will rely on his seven years as a head coach to bring new perspective to his role as defensive coordinator at Penn State. He understands the strains placed on Franklin and can anticipate situations, making him a "better assistant."

"Often times, when you come back from being in that [head-coaching] role, and you have a more big-picture perspective on things, you kind of know more know why things are done a behind the scenes," Allen said recently. "I think just being in the current world we’re in, with the roster management piece, I learned a ton with that just trying to manage that in a way that's changed our game. ... So I feel like, coming out of the role I’ve been in to this role, it made me a better coordinator and a better assistant."

In particular, Allen said that being involved in offensive meetings at Indiana and shaping the program's offensive strategy will make him a better defensive coordinator at Penn State, particularly in the Big Ten.

"I spent so much time in that [defensive] role, studying the offensive side as well as being in their meetings as a young coach," Allen said. "Growing up, you pretty much are always kind of in your area of responsibilities. I think just the bigger concepts offensively, what we're trying to do and just the whole understanding of the management of the game and how that fits together with all three phases, especially the defensive role, I feel like I have a better understanding of that. And also, just being in this league for the last eight years, I've called [defense] half the time. ... Over time you probably understand that simplicity is sometimes better. You know, guys have to be able to execute things. And that's getting it to the point where you can play a lot of guys and keep a lot of guys involved and playing at a high level from start to finish."

Penn State opens the 2024 season Aug. 31 at West Virginia. Kickoff is scheduled for noon ET on FOX.

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AllPennState is the place for Penn State news, opinion and perspective on the SI.com network. Publisher Mark Wogenrich has covered Penn State for more than 20 years, tracking three coaching staffs, three Big Ten titles and a catalog of great stories. Follow him on Twitter @MarkWogenrich.