LAKE CITY, Fla. — Brian Allen shocked high school football fans around the First Coast when he decided to step down as the Columbia Fightin' Tigers head football coach Tuesday. In his first on-camera interview with Sports Director, Chris Porter, Allen said his decision to step down was not easy but one he had been contemplating for years.
“It's been things for years that you've looked at and thought about or I have thought about, but I think more than anything the final straw was just me not seeing my guys. Me missing camp, I've never missed anything. Chris, I'm a guy that has perfect attendance for all the years I've been teaching that's 14, 10 of them here. I love my guys and I know the importance of being there and being around, so it wasn't fair to them for me to hang on and not give them 100% of me," Allen said.
Allen also said his players took the news hard, but he assured them that he was not disappearing and that he was planning to be at their games on Friday nights. Allen said the outpouring of love from his current and former players lets him know that although he was never able to win a state championship, he did reach his ultimate goal.
“I made young men in my community good citizens from wherever they live at and reside in after life at Columbia football. And I think that's the biggest thing man," Allen said.
Allen, who is a Lake City native and Columbia alum said he wants his legacy to be that he got his players into college. In fact, coach Allen helped more than 50 of his players earn scholarships. Three of them played in the NFL.
In his ten years as Columbia's head football coach, he had only one losing season. Fort White and Columbia grad Demetric Jackson is the Fightin' Tigers' new head football coach. Coach Allen says he wishes Jackson the best.