#042. Randy and Carolyn Allen met through Kanakuk ministries at one of the camps in Missiouri. However they were reunited when Carolyn was attending Texas A &M and Randy was asked to play the guitar and entertain some college students. They have two children, Zac and Ashley (which you will have to hear how Coach Allen became "matchmaker"), and 8 grand children.
Carolyn is the author of the book, "The Coaches Wife" which can be found on Amazon (click the link). She is also very responsible for getting her husband the job at Highland Park. Hear the story of how she locked up the job with a home cooked meal and delicious dessert!
Randy, a native of Abilene, Texas, started his coaching career as an assistant at Bryan HS. His first Head Coaching job came in 1981 at Ballinger HS where he compiled as 44-15-2 record with a program who did not have a winning record 5 year prior to his arrival. He then went on to Brownwood HS and amassed a 43-13-2 record in 5 seasons. Then he went on to his Alma Mater at Abilene Cooper HS where he spent the next 7 seasons building up that program. Then in 1999, he landed at Highland Park HS (Dallas, Texas) where he accomplished 300+ wins.
On October 14, 2011, Coach Allen became the 10th man in Texas high school football history to accomplish this feat. In January of 2014, Coach Allen was chosen as the recipient of the Grant Teaff Fellowship of Christian Athletes Lifetime Achievement Award, joining coaching greats Tony Dungy and Bobby Bowden. He was named the Don Shula National Coach of the Year in 2016. He was selected as an SMU Distinguished Alum in 2017.
The Highland Park Scots became the first Texas High School football program to win 800 games, and Coach Allen has the 3rd most wins of any Texas High School football coach in history! He is most assuredly on the "Mount Rushmore" of Texas high school football.