Swinney announces staff restructuring, changes to recruiting assignments

Allen smiles during his introductory press conference (Photo by Merrell Mann).

David Hood - Senior Writer - Wednesday, January 15 2025

CLEMSON – The majority of Clemson’s coaches, including head coach Dabo Swinney, will be out on the road recruiting first thing Thursday morning. Not new defensive coordinator Tom Allen.

Allen, who was introduced as the new leader of the Clemson defense Wednesday, will have a slightly different role than his predecessors. Allen will not only stay behind in Clemson so he can devote his time to his defense, but he will also give way to his son Thomas and former Clemson linebacker Ben Boulware for the hands-on part of coaching the linebackers.

“They made a change in college football this year that was different for everybody. And I know it may have been going on in some places, but for us, it was a huge change because it allowed everybody to coach,” Swinney said. “So that's a huge thing. So I think one of the things you will see in college football is kind of a restructuring, and that's what he came from. And honestly, three or four of the coaches that I talked to - same situation. He'll run our defense, he's going to coach everything. He's going to coach everything, a lot like the NFL. He'll start with the linebacker room as far as coordinating the defense from the linebacker room. But we've got Ben and we are in the process of finalizing some things there with that room with Thomas as well. But he will run the defense.

“He's not going to go on the road recruiting. So he's going to always be with the team and I really, really like that. It's actually something we've talked about with Garrett (offensive coordinator Garrett Riley) as well. We're going to talk about that. And so, if we end up doing that with Garrett, Tajh (Tajh Boyd) will be the one that will go on the road. Ben will be out on the road tomorrow. But he's (Allen) going to be with the team, and I think that's great. I think you go see that more and more. And most of the guys that I talk to, that's exactly how they've structured. Again, now that everybody can coach, that's huge. So you have to designate who the 10 recruiters are. So I think that's going to be a great opportunity, but he'll run the defense from the linebacker room, but he's going to be involved in everything, coach everything, make sure we're connected.”

Swinney said the time saved will be beneficial to installing Allen’s defense.

“We need to be detailed. So, I'm really excited about that aspect of it,” he said. “So, the good thing about that is he doesn't have to hit the road tomorrow and have 2 1/2 weeks of craziness, he's going to have time to be with our team, time to transition all of our support staff that's here, get everything meshed together from a terminology standpoint, get on the same page there. I'm hitting the road. I'll be rolling for a couple of weeks here, but when we do get off the road 1st of February, we'll be so much further ahead than what normally in the past would be the case. So I'm excited about that.”

Allen said he feels that the change will allow him to coach not only all of the position groups but also his coaches.

“When I went to Penn State and the rule change went into effect, Dan Connor became the linebacker's coach and then Coach (James) Franklin took all three coordinators and pulled us off the road. And so when I talked to coach (Swinney) about it, I said, this is the current structure and I do think this is the direction that a lot of places are going to start going to and it makes a lot of sense,” Allen said. “And so I do feel like that that was something I really did enjoy because I felt it allowed me to become a better defensive coordinator and do my job at a higher level for obvious reasons.

“To be able to, especially when you come in new, to be able to impact all the rooms, not just the one room, that one position group and be able to really coach the coaches better and do a better job of building relationship with our current players. And so all those things make it so. I really like that and it definitely was something that I was looking forward to continuing wherever that might be.”