Clemson has its eyes on Penn State defensive coordinator Tom Allen as the man to run its defense in 2025, according to a report by ESPN’s Pete Thamel on Monday morning.

The Tigers parted ways with previous defensive coordinator Wes Goodwin earlier this month, despite winning 10 games in 2024, capturing the ACC title and earning a spot in the inaugural 12-team College Football Playoff. Goodwin is gone, and now Clemson reportedly is targeting a big-time name from the Big Ten to be its new defensive coordinator this fall.

Thamel reported Monday that Clemson is working toward a deal to hire Allen and that a final decision could come within days.

Should Penn State lose Allen to Clemson despite advancing to the Playoff semifinals this season, it would mean the Nittany Lions would have a 3rd different defensive coordinator in 3 years. Manny Diaz ran the Penn State defense in 2023 before taking the Duke head coaching job, and then Allen took over in 2024 and was a huge success in shaping the Nittany Lions defense into one of the nation’s best last fall.

Allen was the head coach at Indiana from 2017-23, and he’s also been the defensive coordinator at IU and at South Florida. The 54-year-old also spent 3 years as an assistant at Ole Miss.