By Diego Pro
On December 17, 2019, Pueblo High School hired football head coach Mr. Jacob Allen. Coach Allen has been a teacher for three years and a high school football coach for 11 years.
He started his career at Ironwood Ridge High School and coached for 10 years before coaching at Mountain View for one year. Then he decided to come coach here at Pueblo. This is his first year as a varsity head coach.
“Teaching at Pueblo is the only job I applied for,” said Allen. “Pueblo was everything I was looking for. Pueblo has a very strong community and rich history.”
Allen said that he had an interesting life before coming to Pueblo. After graduating high school, he wanted to join the military, but an injury from football made him unable to join.
“My family has always been involved in the community and has been involved with the military,” he said. “I needed to find another way to contribute to my community.”
After graduating from the University of Arizona, he became a government/economics teacher but eventually became a math and weight training teacher.
On his first day hired as coach, Allen held a meeting with his players, and he talked about his coaching strategies as well as defined his expectations for his new team.
He said, “I wanted the team to know that we were going to simplify the game, become explosive, be hard-hitting and to let the team know that they will be disciplined.”
Coach Allen also stressed that his players have to value their academics to be eligible to play.
“Earning high grades is always a priority,” he said.
Coach Allen said that he believes that the effort he and the team put in class, will reflect how we play on the field and believes that whoever we are on the field and in the classroom, is a reflection of who we are as a person.
For a few months, playing football this school year looked like a long shot because of the Covid-19 pandemic. On August 17, the football team was given the green light to start Phase 1: to practice in small 7-person pods. A few weeks later, players were given the green light to start Phase 2 in which players could practice as a whole team.
“I know there are rumors going around right now that might indicate that we may not have a season,” said Allen. “However, as of right now, it’s not a matter of if we’ll have a season, it’s when.”
Allen said, “Life is never easy. Sometimes it will come up and smack you in the face. No matter how hard and difficult it may seem, you can overcome those obstacles. No matter what obstacles you face, ninety-nine percent of the time someone will help you attack those obstacles. So stay strong and be patient because pretty soon, those obstacles will no longer be there.”
Where are the masks????
Shame. Shame. Shame. Coach.
I was a Math teacher at PUEBLO.
Picture was from December 2019.