Josh Allen (Born March 22, 1981) is an American college basketball coach who is currently the Head Coach at Indiana University. He is probably best known as the Head Coach at Gonzaga where he coached the team to 7 straight NCAA appearances in his 7 seasons as head coach after taking over for Mark Few in 2012.
Early Life
Josh Allen was born in 1982 in Terre Haute, Indiana. His father was a laborer and his mother a secretary. Josh, at a young age, took a liking to sports and was a huge fan of Larry Bird and also a fan of Bob Knight who at the time, were icons of basketball in the state of Indiana. Allen attended Bob Knight basketball camps each year as a youth and sought out anything he could find from video or book with Knight's philosophy on basketball and coaching.
Allen moved to French Lick, IN to live with his grandparents through his high school years. While in French Lick, Allen played on the Springs Valley varsity basketball team as PG/SG. Allen, while not athletically gifted, made up for it for his knowledge of floor spacing and using angles on the floor to help get the ball to open teammates.
College Years
Allen was accepted to Indiana University and began in the fall of 2000. While not talented enough to continue with athletics at a collegiate level, Allen relished the opportunity to be so close to the basketball program he had been a fan of and on the same campus of the coach he so revered and admired.
However, one month into his first college semester, Indiana fired Bob Knight as Head Coach. Knight sat out the 2000-2001 season before being hired at Texas Tech. Allen wrestled with what he wanted to do. Once Knight was hired at Texas Tech, Allen, who Knight knew nothing about, wrote to Coach Knight several times expressing his admiration for the coach and also his desire to be a coach some day. Allen had offered to do anything he could do for Knights program at Texas Tech whether it be helping with equipment or anything else the program needed. Knight never responded to any of Allen's letters.
Texas Tech
Allen felt that if he was ever going to get the chance to ever make an impression on Knight and get an opportunity to learn from him, he had to transfer to Texas Tech. He took all money he had saved and paid for the move himself against the advice of his family. In August of 2001, Allen arrived on campus in Lubbock, just before the start of Knight's first year at Texas Tech.
Meeting Coach Knight
In September of 2001, Allen finally went to Coach Knight's office. He had told Knight of all the letters he had written to Knight. Knight remembered those letters and was impressed with the guts and determination of Allen and allowed him to help out in practices at Texas Tech and running errands. Allen impressed Knight with his attention to detail, his always being the first person to the teams practices and his knowledge of the game and his observations of things he saw in practice. Knight later credited Allen with the success of Andre Emmett at Texas Tech, noting that Allen urged him to not give up on Emmett at a time when Knight was down on him.
Assistant Coach
Knight had allowed Allen to break down game film and realized that Allen possessed a lot of traits that would make a good coach. Allen served as a volunteer/intern manager on bench for 2003-2004 season. In 2005, upon graduating at Tech, Knight gave Allen an paying job as Assistant Coach helping out Pat Knight and Stu Robinson in practice and on the bench during games.
Head Coach
In 2007, Allen was named the Head Coach at VMI. Knight recommended Allen to the VMI AD. In 5 seasons at VMI, Allen's teams were 94-49 with 3 NCAA appearances, all 1st rd losses and 1 NIT appearance.
In 2012 Allen accepted the Head Coach job at Gonzaga, replacing Mark Few. Immediately, Allen was a success and became known for his ability to recruit and teach. He took Gonzaga to the Elite 8 in his 1st season and the Sweet 16 the following year. Gonzaga would go to 7 straight NCAA Tournaments under Allen and at Gonzaga, Allen's teams compiled a record of 162-74.
In May of 2019, Allen was named Head Coach at Indiana, replacing Mark Fox. The Hoosiers really had not recovered since Kelvin Sampson landed the team on probation in 2008. The Hoosiers last tournament appearance was in 2011.
Allen stated that Indiana was his dream job and would have been the only job he would have left Gonzaga for.
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