Dabo Swinney gives honest response to the impact Matt Luke had on Tom Allen hire

Dabo Swinney hired Tom Allen as the new Clemson defensive coordinator earlier this month, pulling him away from Penn State after only one season with the Nittany Lions.

Swinney kept a tight circle during his search for a defensive coordinator, but he did talk to one of his current assistants in Clemson offensive line coach Matt Luke.

Tom Allen and Matt Luke worked together at Ole Miss from 2012-14, with Luke serving as the offensive line coach for the Rebels and Allen coaching special teams and linebackers. Dabo Swinney reached out to Matt Luke for some insight into what it’s like being on staff with Tom Allen prior to offering him the job.

“So once I kind of got it down to a few people — I have a very tight circle,” Dabo Swinney said. “And I did talk to Matt. And sworn to secrecy, pinky swear. You can’t break a pinky swear.

“But no, Matt, he just couldn’t say enough great things about him. I talked to everybody he’s pretty much worked with. But Matt certainly gave me a lot of good insight, as well.”

From Ole Miss, Tom Allen went to USF for a year, before being hired as the defensive coordinator at Indiana ahead of the 2016 season. He was then tabbed as the head coach of the Hoosiers from 2017-23, before being let go and leading the Penn State defense in 2024.

Allen helped the Nittany Lions to the semifinals of the College Football Playoff, before they fell to Notre Dame. He is a coach with an impressive resume who led the No. 7 defense in the country this past season, and plenty of teams would have been interested in him had he not gone to Clemson.

However, he was intrigued by potentially teaming up with Dabo Swinney. Tom Allen reached out to Matt Luke to learn what it is like being on staff at Clemson after hearing from Swinney.

“Once coach reached out to me, yea, I talked to Matt,” Tom Allen said. “And obviously we coached together at Ole Miss and have been in some similar situations along the way. So we were able to have some real good questions about the culture here and what it’s like to coach here and everything. So obviously that was a big part of this process.

“Obviously a familiar face, we spent some time together in his office here a few minutes ago. And just blessed to be able to be with somebody that I know and trust and know does a great, great job. And we have a lot of the same values, as well, so it’s pretty awesome.”