Dabo Swinney breaks down 'due diligence' that led him to hiring Tom Allen

Dabo Swinney did a lot of due diligence to eventually hire Tom Allen as his new defensive coordinator. Allen, the former Indiana head coach, spent one year at Penn State before coming to Clemson.

It’ll surely give a boost to the Tigers’ defense unit after Allen’s stellar job with the Nittany Lions this season. He aided Penn State’s run to the College Football Playoff semifinals.

It was certainly a process for Swinney to find his next DC, but after careful consideration, he knew Allen was the best choice.

“Did a lot of due diligence, and I called a lot of people that I know and trust, defensive people, head coaches, GMs, NFL people, without sharing any information with anyone, just getting their feedback,” Swinney said. “And, you know, because I’d kind of established a little bit of a list myself, and so it was really interesting to hear the feedback from a lot of different people on, you know, their perspective of the best of the best out there. 

“And I kind of got a list down. It actually was a very kind of humbling reminder of how special Clemson is, and how, you know, football people view our program, especially when this is your livelihood and what you do, how people view Clemson, and in particular, again, our program, and the type of consistency and success that we’ve had that was really humbling for me.” 

Tom Allen is the leader Clemson’s defense needed

Swinney called Allen a leader of men. And it seems like the new DC wants to make Clemson a long term home, since he doesn’t plan on making a move to become a head coach again.

“I had a lot of people, so many people that reached out, but I got it to about 10 or 12 people, and the only coach that I had to reach out to to gauge interest was this guy,” Swinney said, pointing to Allen. “He was the only one. Everybody else I wanted to reach out to, I didn’t have to do that because they either contacted me directly or through their representation. So literally, the only guy I had to gauge interest in was coach Allen …

“In the end, I just felt like a lot of prayer, the good Lord was just kind of, you know, putting this thing together. That’s the best answer I can give you. He’s a great coach, and all those people were great coaches, all sitting defensive coordinators at really, really good schools. But he just felt like he was the right leader that I needed at this time, and he’s a great coach but as I said, he’s a great leader of men.”