Former Penn State Nittany Lions player LaVar Arrington isn’t happy with new Clemson football defensive coordinator Tom Allen.
The College Football Hall of Famer linebacker, who played for Joe Paterno at Penn State from 1997-99, blasted Allen for his decision to leave the Nittany Lions after one season for Clemson on Fox Sports Radio’s “Two Pros and a Cup of Joe” morning show, which he co-hosts with former Notre Dame quarterback Brady Quinn.
Allen was defensive coordinator at Penn State in 2024 and helped guide the school to its first College Football Playoff appearance in his lone season with the team. Before going to Happy Valley, Allen had been head coach at Indiana from 2017-23.
Arrington said:
“I look at it and I say, ‘You come there one year and leave?’ That’s like… Tom Allen, when I heard this, I thought, ‘No way that could be true. He seems like a good man, the type of guy that has integrity in what he does.”
Asked directly if he thought Allen lacked integrity, Arrington said:
“I’m not gonna say he’s not a good guy and lacks integrity. I just thought that he had more of it. I thought there might be more ‘good guy’ in him and more integrity than to leave the program.”
Quinn reminded Arrington that Allen’s family lives in the Carolinas, something that Dabo Swinney alluded to in his opening remarks during Allen’s introductory press conference as Clemson’s new defensive coordinator on Wednesday.
Quinn said that he thought Allen’s family could have made a difference in his decision to leave Penn State for Clemson.
Arrington shot back:
“No, not to me … I saw Manny (Diaz) in Vegas. I have no problem with Manny leaving to go to take a head coaching job at a prestigious college. I don’t have a problem with that. But you’re leaving to be a defensive coordinator somewhere else? That doesn’t hit right with me.”
Arrington continued to take shots at Allen.
“Unless you have an ailing family member or…
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