Allen building trust with his players so he can hold them accountable, be tough

Allen wants to hold his players accountable.

David Hood · Senior Writer · Wednesday, May 28 2025

New defensive coordinator Tom Allen wants a connected defense, and to achieve that, he must know the person as well as he knows the player.

Allen is entering his first season as Clemson’s defensive coordinator after being named to the position in mid-January. He joined the Tigers with 33 years of previous coaching experience, including impact at the high school, Division III, NAIA, FCS, and FBS levels.

Allen served as the defensive coordinator/linebackers coach at Penn State in 2024, helping lead the Nittany Lions to a school-record 13 wins and a College Football Playoff berth.

Because he didn’t recruit any of the current Clemson defenders, one of his first jobs was to get to know them away from the field and the film. That involved sitting down with each player for a little one-on-one time.

“They were awesome. It's just a great time to sit down, close the door, have them tell me all about themselves,” Allen said on the 2 Right Turns podcast. “Obviously, I didn't recruit these guys, didn't know most of them, and I wanted to get a chance to know their family, who raised them, brothers and sisters, wrote everything down, talked to 'em about why they chose Clemson. That was an important question to me.

“That tells me a lot about what they value. And then went through, hey, what their major is, what do they want to do with that major? Writing everything down. And then it was just about, I ask 'em a really critical question and that is tell me the three most important things in your life. And they would tell me what those were, and I'd write them down, and that really prompted me to be able to dive deeper into who they are, because at the end of the day, I can't motivate you, I can't lead you if I don't know you. And there has to be a level of trust that's built. And to me, that was the beginnings of building that trust and to be able to create that connection.”

The conversations went even further, including Allen asking to pray for his players and giving them a book to read.

“And then I would ask 'em to, ‘Hey, give me something to pray for you about.’ And then also I would say, ‘Hey, I want to give you a book.’ I listed the book and what was kind of the book was about, and every guy said yes,” Allen said. “And so then I was able to give them those. And they're in the process of reading those. And so that's going to create further conversation to allow me to be able to once again create that connection. Because when I talk about the three components to a great defense, one of those is a connected defense.

“And that's not just player to player, that's also coach to player. And that connection is built over time. And when you don't recruit guys, you don't have that initial connection with them. And so I have to start that process myself. And so I just think that it just really allows me to create the ability to hold them to high levels of accountability.”

The end result? Allen wants to know his players inside and out, and know them well enough that he can be tough on them and hold them accountable.

“I really say it this way to our coaches and to our players, and that is if you truly believe that I care about you way more as a person than as a player, then that will earn the right for me to hold you to high levels of accountability and be really tough on you,” Allen said. “But until I get to that point, it can be resisted and is often resisted when you really try to get on 'em about certain things. And not that I'm not going to correct them, but it's received a lot differently. And then I can go way, way deeper into this and really get them to a high level of their performance. It can be elevated when I can really dig deep into who they are as a person and what they truly value. And when I know that, connect with that man, I can push you.”