CLEMSON – Nothing cuts into a coaching honeymoon quite like three losses in a season’s first four games.

Or 651 passing yards allowed in a two-game span.

Or giving up three passes of 40-plus yards across back-to-back Saturdays.

That was the reality of Tom Allen’s first eight weeks as Clemson’s defensive coordinator last season. 

The former Penn State assistant and Indiana head man helped the Tigers give up almost 1,000 fewer rushing yards from the year prior, and the tackling was assuredly better in his first season under head coach Dabo Swinney, but the secondary proved to be a continual thorn slicing through progress and opportunities for the defense to get off the field.

“Obviously our pass defense, obviously, has to be massively improved and that’s the focus,” Allen said at Dabo Swinney’s annual media outing on Tuesday. “Communication, execution is going to be the focus there with that group.”

After suffering a second consecutive loss last season to Duke, in which Clemson allowed 361 passing yards and gave up four passing touchdowns, something had to change. Something, for whatever reason, was not clicking with Clemson’s defensive backs.

Allen knew just the man to help – the lone assistant he brought with him from Penn State. A player who played linebacker under Allen’s system for four seasons at Indiana and knows the ins-and-outs better than anyone. Someone who was just with the leader at Penn State for a College Football Playoff run.

Thomas Allen, Tom’s son, was the answer.

The younger Allen joined the coaching staff as a defensive analyst and assistant linebackers coach in 2025, moving down to Clemson with his wife and one-year-old son. But as quickly as his move and new position came, Allen was presented with another unexpected opportunity.

“So, I was doing a lot of just helping with the ‘backers behind the scenes, and Swinney came in for the Florida State game and asked to make this change and start running the DB meetings,” Allen said. “Obviously, I was excited to do that and felt like I could help, and felt like we did a good job at the end of the year.”

Before the change, the safeties and cornerbacks met in separate position groups each week. Under Allen, they were all put together in the same room, sharing and hearing the same ideas –working to stay on the same page.

It worked.

Clemson went on to win its last four regular season games, giving up an average of only 13 points per game and limiting opponents’ explosive plays. Shortly after the Tigers’ Pinstripe Bowl loss, Allen was promoted to passing game coordinator for the 2026 season, meaning he will be in charge of calling all defensive coverages.

“Let me tell you this, (Allen) will be a coordinator in the SEC, the Big 10, the ACC, the Big 12 before he’s 30,” Swinney said. “He is a really, really gifted young coach and I’m thankful that we were able to keep him here at least for another year. He did an awesome job. He’ll work with the back five, but he will handle our installs and just making sure that everybody’s on the same page.” 

Allen hit the ground running with his new position, and one of the first orders of business was going out to find transfer portal defensive backs, players that could eliminate some of the early missteps from last season. 

“It takes a lot of time, takes a lot of effort, a lot of Nolan (Turner) and myself doing a good job of sitting in the same room and really diving into what we needed to help this safety room kind of flip it,” he said. “So, and I felt like we did that, and we’re excited about what they’ll do this season.”

Under the guidance of Turner–the newly promoted safeties coach–and Allen, the Tigers brought in two safeties, Corey Myrick and Jerome Carter III. Both players received glowing reviews from coaches in spring practice. 

The second post in Allen’s new position is recruiting, something he has been around for his entire life as a coach’s son. With Clemson’s transportation resources and Turner’s help, Allen says this part of his job has been very fun.

And what else does a defensive passing game coordinator do in the summer? He fires up veterans, especially corner Ashton Hampton, who was a bright spot in the Tigers’ secondary last year.

“He’s the leader, he needs to be the leader of my DB room,” Allen said. “I tell him that every day. You’re the alpha.”

Coincidentally, Allen played against Hampton’s brother in high school. But this season, Clemson needs him, and the entire secondary, to be more than a little brother, more than young players looking for an opportunity.

With a new-look roster and new coordinator, Clemson’s secondary looks to be improved this year, especially from the first eight-game stretch of last season.