Francis Allen was head coach of the

Nebraska Cornhuskers men's gymnastics The Nebraska Cornhuskers men's gymnastics team represents the University of Nebraska–Lincoln in the Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference) is the oldest Divisi ...

team from 1969 to 2009. Those 40 years make him the longest tenured head coach in the history of

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference, and the Cornhuskers compete in NCAA Divis ...

athletics. He has coached his men's

gymnastics Gymnastics is a type of sport that includes physical exercises requiring balance, strength, flexibility, agility, coordination, dedication and endurance. The movements involved in gymnastics contribute to the development of the arms, legs, shou ...

team to eight NCAA National Championship titles. He was the head coach for two Men's

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...

Gymnastics Teams and coached nine gymnasts who competed in the Olympics.

Early life

Allen was born in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

, Ohio, and moved to

Lincoln, Nebraska Lincoln is the capital city of the U.S. state of Nebraska and the county seat of Lancaster County. The city covers with a population of 292,657 in 2021. It is the second-most populous city in Nebraska and the 73rd-largest in the United Sta ...

soon thereafter. He began his own 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 Jack Geier. He helped the team win Big 8 Championships in 1963 and 1964. He was an all-around finalist from 1962–1964. In 1964 he finished fourth all-around and first on

parallel bars Parallel bars are floor apparatus consisting of two wooden bars slightly over long and positioned at roughly head height. Parallel bars are used in artistic gymnastics and also for physical therapy and home exercise. Gymnasts may optionally we ...

Coaching career

Right after graduating college, Allen was the assistant coach for the Husker Men's Gymnastics team. In 1969,

Bob Devaney Robert Simon Devaney (April 13, 1915 – May 9, 1997) was a college football coach. He served as the head coach at the University of Wyoming from 1957 to 1961 and at the University of Nebraska from 1962 to 1972, compiling a career record of . ...

offered him the job as head coach and he accepted. Allen coached at

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the southwe ...

for 40 years, until 2009. While coaching, his team won eight NCAA Championships. During that time, he was the head coach of the Olympic teams of 1980 and 1992. Nine of his gymnasts—

Phil Cahoy Phil Cahoy Jr. is a retired American gymnast. Career Elite Cahoy was a member of the 1980 Olympic team but did not compete because of the boycott. He participated in 1984 Olympic trials but was hindered by injuries. A competitive attempt in 1 ...

, Kevin Davis,

Trent Dimas Trent Dimas (born November 10, 1970) is an Hispanic American gymnast and Olympic champion. Now retired, Dimas was an elite senior level international artistic gymnast. Dimas became a member of the U.S. junior national team at the age of 13 and ma ...

Larry Gerard Larry Gerard is a former American artistic gymnast and member of the United States men's national artistic gymnastics team. He was selected for the 1980 Olympics but was unable to participate due to the 1980 Summer Olympics boycott. Gerard's mothe ...

Jim Hartung James Hartung (born June 7, 1960) is a retired American gymnast. He was born in Omaha, Nebraska. Elite competition Hartung was a member of the 1980 Olympic team but did not compete due to the U.S. boycott of the 1980 Summer Olympics in Mosco ...

, Scott Johnson, James Mikus, Tom Schlesinger, and

Wes Suter Wes Suter is a retired American gymnast who competed in the 1988 Olympics. Suter was a highly decorated high school gymnast in Virginia in the early 80s. Describing Suter's intensity, his coach Bob Grauman remarked: I have never in all of my y ...

—competed in the Olympics. His gymnasts won a total of 28 United States titles. 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. In 1984, Allen coached three gymnasts to the Olympic gymnastics team.

and Scott Johnson made the team while James Mikus was an alternate. Allen also coached gymnast

who was a gold medal winner for

high bar The horizontal bar, also known as the high bar, is an apparatus used by male gymnasts in artistic gymnastics. It traditionally consists of a cylindrical metal (typically steel) bar that is rigidly held above and parallel to the floor by a syste ...

in 1992. Allen was the longest tenured head coach in the history of Nebraska athletics. He has won the second most

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

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.

Honors

* United States Olympic Men's Gymnastics Team coach in 1980 and 1982 * NCAA Coach of the Year three times: 1979, 1980, and 1981 *

National Coach of the Year The AFCA Coach of the Year Award is given annually to a college football coach by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA). The award has had several different sponsors over the years, including Eastman Kodak Corporation, and thus also ...

eight times * Regional Coach of the Year seven times * Member of the USA Gymnastics Hall of Fame * Recipient of the College Gymnastics Association Honor Coach Award * President of the College Gymnastics Association from 2000–2008 * Coached his Husker team to eight NCAA Championships and seven runner-up finishes * Nine gymnasts under Allen were Olympians * Allen's gymnasts won three

Nissen Award The Nissen Award (Nissen Emery Award) is the award given to the best male collegiate gymnast in the United States. The award reflects admirable scholarship and moral characteristics as well as sporting success. List of winners See also * AAI Awa ...

s, 41 Individual NCAA Championships, 172 All-American Awards, and 15

Academic All-American The Academic All-America program is a student-athlete recognition program. The program selects an honorary sports team composed of the most outstanding student-athletes of a specific season for positions in various sports—who in turn are giv ...

Awards.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Allen, Francis Living people Nebraska Cornhuskers men's gymnastics coaches Sportspeople from Lincoln, Nebraska Year of birth missing (living people) Nebraska Cornhuskers men's gymnasts