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| The Coaches
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Dan Allen, head football coach from 1990 to 1995, died May 16. Ed Carpenter, assistant athletics director of communications, worked closely with him, and stayed in touch after Allen left BU to take the head coaching job at Holy Cross.
By Ed Carpenter
Monday, May 17, 2004
 A Tribute to Coach
American Airlines flight 150 from San Francisco touched down at Logan Airport early on Friday, May 21, after flying all night. On the plane were two former Boston University football players, Robert Dougherty (CAS’96) and Anthony Primavera (SHA’96). They had bought their tickets earlier in the week so they could be in Worcester on Friday to say goodbye to Coach. A day earlier, Jason Andrade (CGS’91, SMG’93, SAR’94), another former football Terrier, had flown in from just outside Phoenix for the same reason.
Teammates Ron Stephenson (CGS’95) and Ron Jenkins (CGS’93, SED’03) didn’t have to travel quite so far; they drove in from New York. James Souder (CAS’99), who works on the staff of U.S. Senator Jon Corzine of New Jersey, left home on Friday morning to make it to Worcester.
There were more — Jason Goldberg (SMG’92, GSM’94), Bob McCullough (SMG’91), Marc Fauci (SMG’94, COM’96), Chris Helon (ENG’94,’98), Paul Laudano (CAS’94), John Schaefer (SMG’95), Ed Raffoni (SMG’96, MET’97), Carnell Henderson (SED’95), Phil Driscoll (CAS’92), Ivan Padilla (CGS’95, MET’97), Ed Mantie (SED’95), and others. Some were in Worcester on Thursday night. Others came in on Friday. Their objectives were the same — to say goodbye to Coach.
There is a bond between a coach and an athlete that’s hard to appreciate for those who haven’t experienced it. When the coach is special, the bond is even deeper. Dan Allen was more than a special coach. He was a special person.
On May 16, Allen, the coach of the 1990 to 1995 Terrier football teams, succumbed to complications of multiple chemical sensitivity syndrome. For two years, Allen, who left BU to take over as the head football coach at Holy Cross, battled courageously what reportedly was a toxin that had entered his body and eventually led to his death. He was forty-eight years old. We at Boston University were very lucky that we had him for six of those forty-eight years.
In February 1990, Allen was named Terrier head football coach, replacing Chris Palmer. BU teams had struggled during the late eighties. The last winning season had been in 1984, when the Terriers advanced to the NCAA Division 1-AA playoffs en route to a 9-3 record. It was hoped that Allen, who had been an assistant coach on highly successful Holy Cross teams from 1986 to 1989, would be able to turn the Terrier football fortunes around. Unfortunately, it was not to be during Allen’s first three seasons; the teams continued to finish with records under .500.
Then came the Cinderella season of 1993. Picked to finish near the bottom of the Yankee Conference, the Terriers opened the season with a 45-0 win over the University of Maine. At the end of the first quarter, BU led the Black Bears 35-0. Dougherty, a junior college transfer from California’s College of Sequoias, led the offense, while Primavera, a transfer from Fresno City College, was a spark plug of the defense. The Maine game was just a hint of what was ahead for Terrier fans for the next two years.
By the end of the 1993 regular season, the Terriers had rolled to an 11-0 record, setting a school record for wins in a season. For the first time in nine years, they advanced to the NCAA Division 1-AA playoffs. In the opening round, they eliminated Kurt Warner and the University of Northern Iowa, 27-21, in double overtime. In the quarterfinals, they rallied against the University of Idaho with a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, but came up just short, 21-14, as the team finished at 12-1 overall.
BU won the Yankee Conference title with an 8-0 record, was voted the Lambert Cup for outstanding achievement by a Division 1-AA team in the East, and was named the ECAC Division 1-AA Team of the Year. Allen also received accolades; he was chosen the NCAA Division 1-AA National Coach of the Year as well as the Conference, Greater Boston, and New England Coach of the Year.
Coaches often talk about the importance of family, but many don’t practice it. Allen did. On Halloween, with their team having won the first eight games of the season, Allen’s staff was working to prepare for a game against the University of Buffalo. But Allen sent them home early. “It was more important for the coaches to go trick or treating with their children than to break down the Buffalo film,” he said.
In 1994, the Terriers posted a 9-2 regular-season record that included a 21-12 win at Army. Their only two losses were by a combined total of four points — by three to James Madison, 24-21, and by one to New Hampshire, 52-51, in overtime. Once again, BU advanced to the Division 1-AA playoffs, where the team lost in the first round to Eastern Kentucky, 30-23, to finish the season with an overall record of 9-3. With a 21-4 combined record, 1993 and 1994 were the most successful back-to-back seasons in school history.
Following the 1995 season, Allen returned to Holy Cross as the Crusaders’ head coach. He was as loved by his players at Holy Cross as he was by his players at Boston University. But it wasn’t just football players who were touched by Allen’s sincerity, honesty, and loyalty. Perhaps that’s why more than 500 people were at St. Paul’s Cathedral to say goodbye to Coach.
“My children lost their role model,” said Laura Allen, referring to their sons, Mark and Taylor, and their daughter, Danielle.
So did a lot of us.
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Copyright 1993- Edgardo Donovan - All rights reserved.
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