Keith Allen will begin his 7th season at TKA this fall and 5th as Varsity Football Head Coach after serving the previous two as Defensive Coordinator. Coach Allen is a native of Tulsa, Oklahoma and graduate of Union High School. After high school Coach Allen went on to earn his BS in Civil Engineering from the University of Oklahoma, and his MA of Liberal Arts from Texas Christian University.
Prior to his time at TKA, Coach Allen spent 19 years coaching at the collegiate level. Coach Allen’s career began at the University of Oklahoma as a student assistant from 1994 to 1997. After leaving Oklahoma, Coach Allen served as defensive backs coach for Northeast Louisiana University for one season.
After his spell at NLU, Coach Allen became the Director of Recruiting and Assistant Director of Operations at TCU from 1998-2000 where he worked under head coach Dennis Franchione and helped the program win the WAC Championship. Coach Allen left TCU to become the Defensive Coordinator and Special Teams Coordinator at Quincy University from 2000-2002.
In 2002 Coach Allen accepted the position of Special Teams Coordinator and Recruiting Coordinator at San Jose State University. During his time at SJSU, Coach Allen’s kick return unit finished in the top 15 nationally twice, including 3rd in the nation in 2002. Coach Allen was also one of the recruiters for San Jose State star and eventual Green Bay Packer star receiver James Jones.
After leaving San Jose State in 2005, Coach Allen became the Defensive and Special Teams coordinator at Southwest Baptist University. In 2007, SBU named Coach Allen as the head coach, a position which he held for 5 seasons before coming to TKA. Coach Allen left SBU as the winningest coach in school history, having led the program to 3 consecutive winning seasons from 2009-2011. Coach Allen’s teams finished in the top 5 in total offense nationally during that stretch.
Since becoming The King’s Academy’s Head Football Coach, Coach Allen has been named the 2016 South Florida football Conference Coach of the Year, 2016 Florida Dairy Farmers Coach of the Year, 2016-17 TKA Coach of the Year, 2017 South Florida football Conference Coach of the Year, 2018 High School Football Palm Beach Post Coach of the Year, 2018 Sun Sentinel Coach of the Year.
Allen and his wife Melissa reside in West Palm Beach and have been married since June 1999. They have a fourteen-year old son, James (J.D.) and twenty-four year old daughter, Katie.
Allen received first coordinator position in 2000 when he moved to Quincy University in Quincy, IL. He was the defensive and special teams coordinator while also working with the defensive backs. Prior to Quincy, Allen coached at three NCAA Division I Universities. He started out at Oklahoma in 1997 with the defensive line, then moved to NE Louisiana in 1998 to work with the defensive backs. He moved to Texas Christian for the 1998 and 1999 seasons where he was the director of recruiting and assistant director of football operations. While at TCU, he went to two bowl games in the 1998 Sun Bowl and the 1999 GMAC Mobile Bowl. He received his Master of Liberal Arts degree in 2000 from TCU.
Allen broke into coaching at the University of Oklahoma. He was a student assistant coach from 1994 through 1997. In his first year, he worked with strength and conditioning and then moved up to the defensive line in his final two years at OU. After graduating with a civil engineering degree in 1997, he stayed on at OU for a year as a graduate assistant and worked with the defensive line.
Allen has coached several players that have gone on to play professional football: James Jones, Tyson Thompson, Charles Pauley, Marcus Helfman, Jamall Broussard, Pat Dennis, and Kelly Gregg.
| Years | School | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 2015- | The King's Academy | Head Football Coach |
| 2013-2014 | The King's Academy | Defensive Coordinator |
| 2007-2012 | Southwest Baptist University (DII) | Head Football Coach |
| 2005-2006 | Southwest Baptist University (DII) | Defensive Coordinator |
| 2002-2004 | San Jose State (FBS) | Special Teams Coordinator; Recruiting Coordinator; Defensive Assistant |
| 2000-2001 | Quincy University (DII) | Defensive Coordinator |
| 1999-2000 | Texas Christian University (FBS) | Director of Recruiting Operations |
| 1998 | Northeast Louisiana University (FBS) | Defensive Backs |
| 1997 | University of Oklahoma (FBS) | Defensive Graduate Assistant |