Francis Allen (coach)

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Francis Allen
Born1942or1943(age 82–83)
Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.
Gymnastics career
Discipline Men's artistic gymnastics
College team Nebraska Cornhuskers
(1963–1965)
Club Lincoln High School
Head coach(es) Jake Geier
Former coach(es)Phil Sprague
Retiredc. 1965

Francis Allen (born 1942or1943 [1] ) is the former gymnastics head coach. He was the head coach of the Nebraska Cornhuskers men's gymnastics team from 1969 to 2009, and is the longest-tenured head coach in the history of Nebraska Cornhuskers athletics. He coached the Cornhuskers to eight NCAA National Championship titles. He was the head coach for two Men's Olympic Gymnastics Teams and coached nine gymnasts who competed in the Olympics.

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Early life and education

Allen was born in Cleveland, Ohio, [2] and moved to Lincoln, Nebraska soon thereafter. He began his gymnastics career as a young child when a gymnastics coach in Lincoln found him and some of his friends at a neighborhood pool and started training them. Allen continued gymnastics until high school, where he was coached by Phil Sprague and became state champion for Lincoln High School. After high school, he competed for the Husker's Men's Gymnastics team from 1960–1964, under Jake Geier. He helped the team win Big 8 Championships in 1963 and 1964. [3] He was an all-around finalist from 1962–1964. [4] In 1964 he finished fourth all-around and first on parallel bars. [4]

Coaching career

Right after graduating college, Allen was the assistant coach for the Husker Men's Gymnastics team. In 1969, Bob Devaney offered him the job as head coach and he accepted. [5] Allen coached at Nebraska for 40 years, until 2009. While coaching, his team won eight NCAA Championships. [4] During that time, he was the head coach of the Olympic teams of 1980 and 1992. [2] Nine of his gymnasts—Phil Cahoy, Kevin Davis, Trent Dimas, Larry Gerard, Jim Hartung, Scott Johnson, James Mikus, Tom Schlesinger, and Wes Suter—competed in the Olympics. His gymnasts won a total of 28 United States titles. [4]

In 1979 through 1983, Allen's team won the NCAA Championships. They also took the title in 1988, 1990, and 1994. The Huskers were runners-up seven times. Since 2009, the Huskers have made it to the NCAA tournament 25 out of the last 31 times. Allen has had 172 gymnasts win All-American awards. [4]

In 1984, Allen coached three gymnasts to the Olympic gymnastics team. Jim Hartung and Scott Johnson made the team while James Mikus was an alternate. Allen also coached gymnast Trent Dimas who was a gold medal winner for horizontal bar in 1992. [4]

Allen was the longest-tenured head coach in the history of Nebraska athletics. He has won the second most NCAA titles out of all the men's gymnastics coaches in the NCAA. He was the youngest head gymnastics coach when he was hired and was the oldest head coach when he retired. [4]

Honors

References

  1. ↑ "Huskers gym coach Allen calls it quits". espn.com. June 4, 2009. Retrieved June 8, 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 "Francis Allen". Huskers.com. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  3. ↑ "The Scarlet | 8/23/2007 | Big Red 'gym bum' chalks 40 years". scarlet.unl.edu. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Nebraska head coach Allen retires". USA Gymnastics. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
  5. ↑ Star, BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal. "Allen has spent 36 years teaching Huskers gymnastics, respect". JournalStar.com. Retrieved March 17, 2016.
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