Speaker 1: 0:00

I wanted to give a personal thank you to our good friend and show sponsor, kathy Elwall State Farm Agency. We have known Kathy for more than 15 years and there is no person we trust more when it comes to insurance than Kathy Elwall. Kathy is always available to help you find the right insurance for your family needs, whether it's covering your home, auto or providing a life insurance policy tailored to the unique needs of families in Highland Park. My family trusts Kathy with our insurance and we hope you will too. Please visit kathylwaldcom to learn more and let her know that Martha from the Bubble Lounge sent you. Welcome to the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson and I have some great news. Scots fans Football season is officially here and the first scrimmage against Plano is tonight and the first game is next Thursday against Rockwall Heath. So to reflect back on last season and talk about the upcoming season, I invited Coach Allen to join me today.

Speaker 1: 1:01

One of my most favorite things to do on the Bubble Lounge is to interview coaches. I love hearing their different approaches and how they motivate the team, and when it comes to Coach Allen, there's a special place in my heart because he's done so much for our boys and for our community and his leadership is second to none. For those of you that may not know, coach Allen is the winningest active high school football coach in Texas Texas with 446 victories. As of the end of the 2023 season, he has won four state championships during his 25-year tenure with Highland Park and is about to begin his 44th season overall as a head coach this fall.

Speaker 1: 1:37

Last year I was very fortunate and I was on the field doing some sideline reporting at all the football games. It is truly something to see Coach Allen come out on the field with the boys, and you can see his leadership style really reflected in the boys. When we've interviewed the captains, they talk very highly of him and they all talk about what an impact he's made on their life, as well as the principles that he's taught him. It's not just about football when you're on this team. It's about lifelong lessons. The leadership, the determination, the fortitude, the physical strength all of these will help our son, even if he never plays a game. As you can tell, I'm a big fan of Highland Park football and I am so excited to be able to sit down with Coach Allen again this year. Welcome back to the Bubble Lounge, coach Allen.

Speaker 2: 2:19

Thank you, Martha.

Speaker 1: 2:21

Well, you have some really big news. This past May, you were recognized with a very high honor. You received the Tom Landry Award, which is the highest honor given by the Texas High School Coaches Association. Congratulations, by the way.

Speaker 2: 2:33

Thank you very much. Coach Landry was a role model of mine and I just consider that to be an outstanding award and I was very honored to receive that.

Speaker 1: 2:46

Well, I know last year we talked about that you had received another Tom Landry award in the past and it was really special to you because you do kind of model yourself after his coaching style.

Speaker 2: 2:57

Right. Well, the history behind wearing the fedora on the sidelines was the year after Coach Landry passed away. I decided to honor him by wearing a fedora and so I wore it for a year and then I wasn't going to wear it. The next year I was going to wear a baseball cap and we played Lancaster in Lancaster and we were defeated. We were upset. We were supposed to win that game. We got upset. So the Booster Club meeting on Monday night, all the parents had their own reasons why we got beat. The grass was too high or it was too wet and we missed a field goal. And I had a box with me and in that box I opened it up and I had the fedora and I said the reason we didn't win is because I didn't wear my fedora. So I put it on for the next game and we won about 13 straight after that. So I've been wearing it ever since.

Speaker 1: 3:50

Well, I cannot even imagine you on the sidelines with a baseball cap.

Speaker 2: 3:54

Like I wouldn't even know who you were.

Speaker 1: 3:56

Well, I love the fedora. It's definitely your signature look and I love seeing you walk out on that field. It's just very powerful to see you come out there with the hat and leading the team.

Speaker 2: 4:05

Well, our players are the ones that really make it happen, and it's an honor to lead them on the field.

Speaker 1: 4:12

Well, let's talk about last season. I was so impressed with how the boys played. It was our second year in 6A and they made it further than they ever had in the playoffs in 6A and I just was so impressed with how they played and wanted to see how you felt about the season.

Speaker 2: 4:28

Well, I felt great about the season. Our players excelled. I mean, a real example of Warren Peck is a great example of a Highland Park Scott that improved so much in a year between his junior and senior year and for eight games he was the MVP of our district on offense. But he was a team player that gave it all he had and then when he got a concussion and we knew that was a possibility, the team rallied behind Parker Thompson and we continued to win in the playoffs. So it was a year in which the team was the most important thing and even though we missed Steele Tobin and Warren Peck, two of our best players the other guys that came in did a wonderful job and that's happened at our school so many times when starters get hurt and somebody steps in and does a great job.

Speaker 1: 5:27

Right. I remember the first game that Parker came in and he just immediately as soon as he got on the field, made a touchdown. It was so impressive to see. But you're right, we did have some pretty significant injuries last year and those guys that came in to fill in the spots did an excellent job.

Speaker 2: 5:45

The McKinney game was probably one of the more exciting games that I've coached since I've been here, because we won in the last seconds by kicking a field goal by Nick Regas. But what a great game that was. I think our defense held McKinney to 40 yards total offense in the second half and we had some great plays down the stretch to put us in position to kick the field goal and we didn't leave any time on the clock, except there were three seconds, I think, on the clock. So it's either going to be our win or our loss based on that last play, and I've rarely ever seen our kids celebrate as much as they did after that game, so that was a huge victory for our football team.

Speaker 1: 6:31

I will always remember that game. I was standing right there when Nick kicked the field goal. And I mean it was raining and just the sense of excitement was insane. Everyone ran on the field and we're jumping up and down and hugging each other. It was really something to see. I loved every minute of it.

Speaker 1: 6:48

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Speaker 1: 7:01

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Speaker 2: 7:53

Right.

Speaker 1: 7:53

And it kept going on and on, and on, and then it was so bad that they had to postpone it and finish up the next day, which I've never seen happen.

Speaker 2: 8:00

Right. Lake Highlands played a great game probably the game of the year against us. Of course we had hired Lonnie Jordan as our athletic director, who was their head football coach. There was a lot of emotions on Lake Highlands' side during that game. We didn't seem to play at the level that they were playing at. We found ourselves behind I think I don't know if it's 21 points when the when it was rain delayed, but we still thought we had a chance to win. The next day I think there were nine minutes on the fourth quarter clock and we scored our first possession to pull close. But we couldn't ever stop them. But you know, you learn some things in the loss and you apply it to the next game or two and, like I said, our defense played great in the playoffs.

Speaker 1: 8:52

Right, right. Well, how did the season influence how you'll approach going back into 5A this year?

Speaker 2: 8:59

Well, I think playing 6A makes you tougher, because you play better teams, you play tougher teams, you play teams that have more depth, and so I think the last time we dropped from 6A to 5A was 2016. And we had a great year that year. So I'm expecting our guys to really have a wonderful season this year, even though it's a lot of new opponents, and we've got one of the toughest pre-district schedules that I've ever had since I've been here. So it's going to be a great season. Great games for our fans to watch. We've got some outstanding home games coming up.

Speaker 2: 9:47

We start off at Rockwall Heath, but then we come back against Lovejoy with Todd Dodge as the new coach there, so that will be a great game. And then we come back and play Jesuit at SMU, which is like a home game. And then we play Cherry Creek, colorado, who will fly down here to play us, and they've won 11 state championships, I think, in Colorado, so they're a very good football team. Then we start district at home against John Tyler, and then we go to Red Oak, who will probably be the preseason favorite. They were 13-1 last year and got beat by Aledo, so they've got a great football team. We'll get an open date. And then we've got Cleburne and Joshua Berluscon, and then I think one of the best teams, or one of the best teams in our district, will be Midlothian, which is our last game and it'll be away. So the tough teams in district are away Red Oak and Midlothian. So those are going to be some really tough games, but those first four preseason games are all going to be very close.

Speaker 1: 10:49

They're going to be intense. There's some really tough matchups and I think it's so interesting that Cherry Creek is going to come here, because you know they're a very similar community to what we have here.

Speaker 2: 10:58

There's some Highland Park former students that live in Cherry Creek. They're really excited about coming back and watching that game.

Speaker 1: 11:06

Well, the big news is is you have four highly qualified quarterback candidates that you're looking at and I understand it's going to come down kind of to the wire before that decision is made.

Speaker 2: 11:17

Right, we'll probably go through the scrimmage, have two weeks of practice before we make the decision. We'll have a decision made going into the Heath game.

Speaker 1: 11:25

All right. Well, I was hoping you were going to break the news here no such luck there. Well, every year you have a significant amount of seniors that graduate, so it's almost like you have to kind of create a whole new team, right?

Speaker 2: 11:38

Well, 55 seniors is probably a normal number for us to graduate, but there are 55 juniors ready to come up and leave their mark and leave it better than they found it. So we're excited about the leadership this summer. They've worked extremely hard in performance course and I couldn't be more pleased with our leadership. I mean those senior leaders and captains and player committee members have really done a great job leading this summer.

Speaker 1: 12:08

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Speaker 1: 13:09

So let's talk about mental grit. It's such a big part of the game. How do you instill that in the boys?

Speaker 2: 13:16

Well, our second core value is mental and physical toughness, and we do a Scott Maker right after Christmas. So starting it really starts our 2024 season. So right after Christmas, we'll start with three to four weeks of very intense training, and we try to make it very difficult. We have a tumble station, we have a body weight station, we have weightlifting, and what we do is we want to really push these guys as hard as we can for 15 minutes and then we switch stations. We have four stations and we tell them that they have to give us 100% effort and do things exactly right, and after three weeks of practicing, then we quit coaching them and they have to lead, they have to show leadership, and so they've got to memorize the order of exercises, they've got to encourage each other and they've got to do things exactly right with a hundred percent effort. That's where our football team, we start building our football team.

Speaker 2: 14:30

Uh, when they get a perfect day and that is every those coaches that are at those four stations all have to give them a thumbs up. They are so excited to finally get out of the Scott Maker. And what happens? We give them a gray T-shirt with a question mark on it and then, once they make it through Scott Maker, we give them a t-shirt that says I survived, scott maker, to you know, they just let them know that they paid the price and that they're scott now. And that's where we start. And then, uh, the rest of how to teach grit and all that. We talk about it.

Speaker 2: 15:12

But we also put them through a lot of tough power lifting in the morning and then an hour of real physical training in the afternoon, and many of them run, track or play a second sport, and that's like two days for them, the second semester.

Speaker 2: 15:28

And then in the summer we have a performance course. That's like two days for them, the second semester. And then in the summer we have a performance course which goes from two to four, which is the hottest time of the day, and so they'll run and do agilities for an hour and then they lift weights for an hour, and that's four days a week and that's for two months of the summer. We just finished that last week and and if you go and watch them and it's 100 degrees, I mean it's a tough, it's really tough on them and you only develop mental and physical toughness when you're put in situations to where you really have to push yourself and we think that fatigue makes cowards of us all. So we have to get in great physical shape. We feel like that a conditioned team can beat tired talent, so we want to be in the best shape we can be in.

Speaker 1: 16:23

Well, you're doing an amazing job. There's been so many times that when a game is starting and the other team looks like NFL players over there compared to our guys and we still we've got the speed and the strength, like what you're saying, and we pull it through.

Speaker 2: 16:37

Yeah, yeah, they believe they're going to do it and the Scots find a way is one of our sayings. And then when it go and get stuff, the Scots get going.

Speaker 1: 16:45

So Absolutely Well. I wanted to try to show a more personal side to you, because so many of us, myself included, we see you on the field. You have the fedora on, you've got your game face on and you're ready to coach and win, and it's hard to believe that you actually might be a real person outside of the field, but I hear that you're quite the guitar player and singer.

Speaker 2: 17:06

Well, I have played in a rock and roll band and I started playing when I was seventh and eighth grade and the first band that I played in was Daddy Bug and the Beatles, and they put a little baby bottle on my amplifier. I was a baby bug. And then I went into the fugitives and played with them and we'd play at dances and different things. And then I played at Camp Canicook. I played for church services and different things with a standard guitar, but every once in a while I'll get an electric guitar and I'll play Johnny B Goode or Roll Over Beethoven or whatever.

Speaker 2: 17:48

In Abilene they had what's called Abilene Woodstock, where they had the garage bands from high school play at the fairgrounds and the money that they raised for attendance or for entrance was given to the food bank.

Speaker 2: 18:04

So one of our guitar players was a doctor in Salt Lake City and another one, the drummer, was a guy in Florida and then the other guitar player was in Austin. I mean, we were, and so what we would do is we would tell, write each other about what songs we were going to play and what chord we were going to play it in, and then we'd only practice for a day prior to the show and then we'd go and perform. We did about 10 songs. You know it'd take about 30 minutes, so we had a great time. So you know I take about 30 minutes, so we had a great time. And then it went from there to where some of the moms on a football team heard that I played the guitar. So at one at the rustic at a football banquet, they asked me if I would play Johnny be good, and I think it was Emeril I don't know the name of this band.

Speaker 2: 18:55

I mean they were really good. I mean they had the horn players and they had the bass, they had two girls singing and a man, and so they wanted me to play Johnny Begib. So I, I showed up early, thinking that I get tuned up and we'd practice. Well, I, I did get tuned up, but they did he. They said what, how fast do you want to play it? And I said well, just normal. And so I played it for them Anyway. So we didn't practice at all and I got up there and they were going about twice as fast as I was used to playing it. But it was fun. I mean, kids loved it and they love to see coaches kind of be more personal and kind of let their hair down and have fun, so we had a good time doing that well, I re-watched the video last night and it just made me so happy.

Speaker 1: 19:45

I mean, that's a long song, it's a very physical song and you held your own. You were, you were right there with them the whole time I didn't realize it was emerald city, but they're an amazing band, it was emerald city and you even did the Chuck Berry dance.

Speaker 2: 19:56

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 19:57

Which I was very impressed by.

Speaker 2: 19:58

Yeah, I got a cramp in my hamstring when I did that.

Speaker 1: 20:04

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Speaker 2: 21:03

Well, I tell some dad jokes, and the thing about telling jokes to your football team is you have to threaten them with something to make them laugh, because otherwise they won't pay attention. So I always threaten them. You know, if you don't laugh, if you don't laugh at my jokes, we're going to run extra after practice. So whether it's funny or not, they'll laugh, they'll give you a good laugh.

Speaker 1: 21:24

Yeah, like, give us your best joke. Oh no, I don't have one today. You can't perform on the spot. No, what about magic tricks? Is that true?

Speaker 2: 21:33

Well, I used to do magic. I did a newspaper tear and restore magic trick in front of the student body. In fact, when I was introduced, my first day at Highland Park, when I was introduced to the senior class and this was in 1999, I did the paper tear and restoration magic trick and I had seen Lou Holtz do it on the Tonight Show. I guess a lot of people don't know who Lou Holtz is, but the time he was on Tonight Show Notre Dame had won the national championship and he was the head coach. And I told my wife. I said when I get my first head coaching job I want to be able to do that magic trick.

Speaker 2: 22:12

So she found the magic book and I studied that magic book and I learned how to do it. So when I was introduced to the Ballinger football team, I did the trick. When I was introduced to the Brownwood football team, I did the trick. And when I was introduced to Cooper, I did the trick. And when I was introduced at Highland Park, I did the magic trick.

Speaker 1: 22:32

Awesome, you might have to revitalize that sometime.

Speaker 2: 22:37

The Highland Park kids are too smart. They try to figure it out. It's not any fun to perform for them.

Speaker 1: 22:44

And I understand you've also written a book that you can find on Amazon.

Speaker 2: 22:48

Well, yeah, it's been a long time since I wrote it. I think I wrote it one in 2005 and maybe another one in 2007. I'm not sure. The first one was coaching by the book and I just had some ideas. You know talks that I'd done over the years and I'd kind of put it all together and had some help writing it. But then the next one was coaching character and it's just what we do in our program at the time to teach our boys character. It's the best way I thought that you could teach it. Sure.

Speaker 1: 23:25

Well, I understand that you set a goal to be a head coach by the age of 30, which is really young to be a head coach. That's very impressive and you did accomplish it.

Speaker 2: 23:35

I had a break coming out of college. I graduated from SMU and my head coach in high school was Merrill Green he had while I was in college he left Abilene Cooper and went to Bryan High School. And so when I was going to graduate, I didn't know how to get a coaching job. So I called Coach Green and he said I don't have a high school job, but I got a middle school job and I love you to work for this middle school coordinator, but if you want a high school job, there's some in corpus christi. And so he gave me the phone number and I called that coach and I didn't get any response. So about two weeks later coach green called me and he said have you found a job yet? And I said no, sir, and he said well, my head baseball coach, assistant football coach, just came in and resigned. I'd like to interview you.

Speaker 2: 24:24

So I got a break right out of college because I got a varsity football job and a head baseball job and that put me in a position where I could interview and get a head coaching job when I was 30. But the first job I got was not a good job, it was they hadn't had a winning season I don't know how long, and they had been two and eight the year before I got there, and so it was, you know, had to turn it around, but it was a great learning experience. I wouldn't trade that experience. We were the Ballinger Bearcats. Our best player got hurt first game. We won our first game and last game and lost eight in a row in the middle, but then we made the playoffs for the next four years. But it was a great experience for my family and myself. Great West Texas town that loved football and had a great tradition.

Speaker 1: 25:18

Well, that's a great story I love. I love a good comeback story. So what is it like living here in Highland park with your wife and what do you guys do for fun outside of coaching? Because I would imagine it's hard to go out around here because everyone knows who you are and you probably are, you know, spotted everywhere.

Speaker 2: 25:39

Well, uh, we go out to eat. We have a date night on Wednesday where my wife and I will pick a place to eat and you know if we're going to like in the summer. We went to Lake City, colorado, and trout fish, fly fish, which my wife and I like to do and took a Jeep trip up in the pass, up in the mountains where the mining towns are. That was a lot of fun. And then we went to Florida, to the beach, and the drummer in the band that I was in in high school had a place that he let us stay and we had a good time with him. So I mean, we try to get away when we can, uh, but we love being in Highland Park and uh, we just uh, enjoy the people and enjoy the players and the coaching families and that that brings us joy. I mean, every day at 2 35 when I see those boys run across the field when they get out of class, that's the best part of my day.

Speaker 1: 26:41

Well, I love that. I know that it means the world to you. Well, it is so fun to be able to talk to you again this year. Thank you so much for joining me. Thank you, martha, and thank you for all that you do for our boys in this community.

Speaker 2: 26:54

Thank you very much.

Speaker 1: 27:00

That's been another episode of the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson and I'll see you next time.