Tom Allen was set to earn $1.6 million and $1.7 million as part of a three-year deal with Penn State University in 2025 and 2026. However, the defensive coordinator decides to move to Clemson with $2 million potential salary.
The prolific American football coach, Tom Allen is moving from Penn State to Clemson University in 2025.
He had been working with the Nittany Lions for just a year. Yet he decided to move out of the team announced on January 13.
Tom still has two years remaining on his contract with Penn State at the departure scene.
After earning $1.5 million in 2024, he was set to make even more 2025 and 2026, as part of his three-year deal.
As of January 14, the former HC hasn’t officially moved to Clemson University. However, reports suggest he will take on the role of defensive coordinator.
Tom Allen’s contract details with Clemson will be available only after both parties sign the papers.
Head Coach Tom Allen Decides Transition To Clemson University Despite Two-Year Contract Remains With Penn State
The former Indiana Hoosiers head coach, Tom Allen has a great financial standing even after not being an HC.
Though exact details on his net worth remain unavailable, his earnings almost doubled after 2016.
In 2016, Tom began working as a defensive coordinator at Indiana University. Under HC Kevin Wilson, the defensive head earned $500k.
During a brief time, he engineered one of the top defensive formations, amazing the whole nation.
Not even a year after joining, on December 1, 2026, Allen became the Head Coach of the team. After that turnover, he began earning $1.83 million.
His salaries and contract don’t seem to dip a bit even almost after 8 years.
The American coach remained with Indiana till 2023. Allen’s initial contract from 2016 to 2019 earned him approximately $7.2 million.
Following the contract expiry, he signed another seven-year deal worth  $34.3 million with the team.
However, he didn’t stay at Indiana for the whole tenure and moved as a defensive coordinator at Penn University.
In those three years, he made approximately $14.7 million with an annual salary of $4.9 million.
Tom Allen’s move from Indiana to Penn State was not particularly controversial. Still, it did spark discussions, about his series of disappointing seasons.
For the role of Defensive Coordinator, he began getting a salary of $1.5 million as part of a larger contract.
Fans and followers believed that he would stay at Penn and extend the contract even further.
However, things didn’t go as planned, despite ranking Penn’s defense around the top.
Tom has decided to make a transition just with his team, not the job. Clemson is expected to pay him $2 million annually.
Neither party has disclosed specific contract length details. But the new deal could align him with other top-tier defensive heads.
Tom Allen’s decision was a surprise to the team and fans, as he led the team to a top-10 defense.
Reports suggest that it was because of his desire to be closer to his two daughters residing in the Carolinas.
Additional Information
- Allen began his coaching career as a DC in Temple Heights HS in Florida in 1992.
- He is married to Tracy Allen and have two daughters and a son.
- Tom Allen’s father, Tom Allen, was also a football head coach.
