Keith Allen is a college football coach and a devoted family man. However, succeeding in both areas is incredibly challenging, which is why books on managing life’s challenges are so popular. The Oklahoma alumnus and Tulsa native spent his first 18 years coaching at the collegiate level, serving in various roles with the Sooners, Louisiana-Monroe, TCU, Quincy, San Jose State, and Southwest Baptist.

In 2012, Allen shifted his focus from being the head coach at NCAA Division II Southwest Baptist to prioritizing his family. He took on the role of head coach at The King’s Academy in Florida. The Allen family spent eight years at King’s Academy before relocating to Houston, where Allen became the offensive coordinator and assistant junior varsity softball coach at Klein High School.

“I didn’t have to worry about too much in high school. I was an assistant coach for football and softball,” Allen said. “I didn’t have to recruit or worry about numbers because the school isn’t enrollment-driven. The only pressure I faced was ensuring all 16 girls got into the softball game.”

Still, Allen couldn’t shake the urge to coach in college again.

“My son’s a senior, and I was ready for a change in my life. I kept a high school job in Florida for eight years while my son attended school,” Allen said. “We moved to Houston when he was a freshman, and I remained coaching in high school so he wouldn’t have to change schools again.”

Allen is renowned across all levels of the coaching world for being the pioneer behind FootballScoop.com. He developed and launched the website while serving as an assistant coach under Dennis Franchione at TCU in 1998. Allen has connections and ties to nearly every college football program in the country, except one, as Allen discovered on January 17, 2025.

“I received a call from a coaching buddy on January 17, asking if I’d be interested in returning to college to be a head coach,” Allen recalled telling Schreiner’s Board of Trustees. “He said it’s Schreiner University in Kerrville, Texas. I didn’t know where Kerrville was, and I’d never heard of Schreiner.”

His friend explained that Schreiner was launching an NCAA Division III football program. Allen might not have been aware of the Mountaineers, but he knew he wanted to avoid starting a program in the American Southwest Conference, which faces an uncertain future. His defensive coordinator during his time at Southwest Baptist, Zach Wilkerson, spent 10 years in the same position at Hardin-Simmons before taking on the same role with Jason Bachtel’s staff at Houston Christian.

An hour after talking with his friend, Allen got a call from Dr. Charlie McCormick, the President of Schreiner University.

“I was not prepared to have this conversation. I didn’t have my coaching manual, binder, or PowerPoint presentation,” Allen said. “At this point, I have nothing to lose, so I was very candid about what it would take to win at Schreiner. I’m not going to beat my head against the wall for a startup program if it’s just a money grabber or an easy way to increase enrollment.”

Allen’s phone kept ringing that evening. Bill Raleigh, Schreiner’s Director of Athletics, called Allen 30 minutes after his conversation with Dr. McCormick while he was switching flights at the Atlanta airport. Allen visited the campus during the first week of February and was interviewed by various individuals for two days.

“Everybody I met on campus and throughout the town is ready for college football,” Allen said. “That doesn’t mean we won’t have our struggles, but I feel we’re being given the tools from a facility and infrastructure standpoint to at least have a fighting chance of being successful.”

After being appointed head football coach, his top priority was to email every Texas high school football coach in all UIL and TAPPS divisions to ensure they were aware the Mountaineers were launching a football program. After all, if the former owner of FootballScoop had never heard of Schreiner, many high school coaches were likely in the same boat.

Allen mentioned that Schreiner is on track to compete in a junior varsity schedule in 2025 with a group of freshmen who will not arrive on campus until August. He noted that Schreiner’s roster has grown by 23 players since his arrival, with 37 players currently committed. Allen hopes to have a roster of at least 80 players when fall camp begins but recognizes that he may have a roster of closer to 50 players.

He mentioned that the offensive and defensive coordinators are being onboarded and that he expects a public announcement regarding the new hires to be made soon. He also dropped a little hint about who one of the coordinators could be.

“We’re in a great location to recruit Texas,” Allen said. “One of my coordinators will be a former head coach in the Houston area, so we’ll have ties that run deep there. We’re right on the west side of San Antonio, and Austin’s right there.”

Speaking of Austin, the OU alum understands he needs to visit the city that houses the state capitol while getting in a friendly dig at his former rival.

“I’ve only been to Austin once, and that was by mistake,” Allen said, laughing. “I’ve got to rectify that and make friends with them.”

Regarding recruiting, Allen recognizes that the Mountaineer football program must identify a particular type of player in its early years to achieve success.

“There’s two types of horses, a show horse, and a workhorse. I need a bunch of workhorses on this team,” Allen said. “It’s a different type of kid that we need, but we’re a great opportunity for the right kid looking for an opportunity to play.”