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| Frankie Allen Resigns Tennessee State Basketball PostMarch 8, 2000After weeks of rumors and whispers, it was Frankie Allen who answeredall the questions about his status as Tennessee State University's headbasketball coach.
In a statement released by TSU, Frankie Allen has resigned as TSU's HeadMen's basketball post effective March 31, 2000. "After much deliberation, " said Allen, "I have decided toresign my position as head men's basketball coach. My heartfelt thanks goes toeveryone who supported me and my teams during my nine-year tenure at TennesseeState." "We want to thank Coach Allen for his services to the University andthe athletic department, specifically the men's basketball program," statedDr. Jim Smith, TSU's director of athletics. "We wish Coach Allen muchsuccess in his future endeavors." In local television interviews, Dr. Smith indicated that after discussionswith Allen evaluating the Tennessee State men's basketball program, he andAllen had come to a mutual agreement that it was time to take the TSU men'sbasketball in another direction. The 1999-2000 men's basketball team finishedthe year with a 7-22 record and ended with it's fourth straight losing season.Allen's nine-year record at TSU stands at 115-140. Allen played collegiately at Roanoke (Va) College where he was the state ofVirginia's College Player of the Year for three consecutive seasons(1960-70-71). He was an All-American in 1970 and 1971. He was head coachat Albermarle HS (Albermarle, VA) from 1974-76. He was the assistant coachat Virginia Tech from 1976-87 and head coach at Virginia Tech from 1987-91. At Virginia Tech, Allen was selected as the Metro Conference Coach of theYear and National Rookie Coach of the Year after guiding Virginia Tech to a19-10 record, his only winning season with the Hokies. His four-year record atVirginia Tech was 56-61. Allen arrived at TSU from Virginia Tech during the 1991-92 season and led theTigers' to their first Ohio Valley championship and a berth in the NCAATournament in 1993 with a 19-10 record. He was named the OVC Coach of the Yearthat season. TSU made their second appearance in the NCAA tournament in 1994when they captured the OVC tournament. The team lost to Kentucky in the firstround and finished the year 19-12. In 1995, Allen was named Co-Coach ofthe Year in the OVC when TSU won the regular season championship. Overall at TSU, Allen went 4-24 in his opening season then guided the Tigersto four consecutive winning seasons in 1992-93 (19-10), 1993-94 (19-12), 1994-95(17-10) and 1995-96 (15-13). During the last four seasons Allen's teams havestruggled with losing records in 1996-97 (9-18), 1997-98 (13-16), 1998-99(12-15) and 1999-2000 (7-22). In recent years Allen has come under criticism for his failure to keepplayers and coaches in the TSU program. In the last four years Allen has hadfifteen players (11 starters) leave the squad for various reasons and he has hadthree complete turnovers of his coaching staff. Another point of criticismwas that Allen has only graduated four players in nine years. Allen's 12-year coaching record as a head coach stands at 171-201. Dr. Smith says that a national search would begin immediately ... "to find the best qualified candidate for the position." Some of the names that have surfaced as those who may apply for the vacantcoaching job include:
Published reports say that TSU officials are highly interested in Finch, who has was 220-130 duringhis 11-year career at Memphis. Smith and Finch worked together for eight yearswhile Smith was an assistant athletic director at the school and Finch was themen's basketball coach. |
