Allen was fired as the head coach at Indiana. Now, he is one win away from reaching the national title game as Penn State's DC.

When he became Penn State’s defensive coordinator a year ago, Tom Allen looked forward to coaching football without worrying about the many issues that come across the head coach’s desk. Over the last year,

I don’t rest very well,” Allen said. And so it should be no surprise that he was out of the game for only a month after getting fired by the Hoosiers in November 2023. His decision to join Penn State was going to be a change for someone who led a program for nearly a decade.