This coach wears pads: Michael Allen getting hands-on experience at Baylor
The pergola in front of the Hilton Garden Inn in Lubbock is the perfect spot for deep thinking.
With an office park on one side and a large field with more hotels and a highway on the other, the cozy corner filled with couches offers a reprieve from the dusty, wind-swept plains of West Texas.
Michael Allen had 15 minutes.
Inside the hotel was a Baylor football team that, while fully confident they could compete with the best, was on a major skid and was desperate to hear something different to help turn the page.
The walk-on safety provided it.
“To be honest, it was really just off the cuff, because, one, there's not enough time to prep, and two, the things I said were from the heart,” he said.
“I remember getting up there and saying what I needed to say. The biggest two things are trying to build somebody up, build confidence, and show everybody what's possible, but also figure out where we need to get better individually and call that out.”
The Bears trounced Texas Tech one day after Michael’s now-legendary speech, and finished the 2024 regular season on a six-game winning streak.
Last season, after Baylor had dropped back-to-back road games against TCU and Cincinnati, Allen once again provided a spark with a team talk before the Bears spanked UCF on homecoming.
“It’s unique in how he can find ways to motivate people,” Baylor quarterback Sawyer Robertson said. “He’s irreplaceable. Everybody has so much respect for him because they see how hard he works. When I first got here, he didn’t have as much street cred as he does now. If he says something, it’s heard.”
At 5-foot-7 and 182 pounds, Allen is undersized for a DI college football player.
In his four years at Baylor, he hasn’t been on the field for a defensive snap.
He plays an integral role on the special teams unit. He helped spring Jamaal Bell for a 100-yard return at Colorado in 2024. He broke his arm in the fourth game of last season and was forced to sit on the sidelines for three weeks before returning with a cast.
The sidelines are where Allen feels most comfortable.
After all, coaching is in his blood.
“He is (a college football player) because of his grit, determination, work ethic, and drive,” said Michael’s uncle, Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen. “Those are all the core qualities to succeed in this business, especially the higher you go up the food chain. It’s a fun game that we play, but it’s a tough-ass business that we’re in.”
Dennis has been an NFL coach for more than two decades, including stints as head coach of the Oakland Raiders and New Orleans Saints and defensive coordinator with the Saints and Denver Broncos.
Dennis and former Baylor offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes were graduate assistants together at Texas A&M. He spent time with Baylor head coach Dave Aranda when Aranda was with LSU, and Dennis was in New Orleans.
He said that he’s more than happy to open doors for his nephew, but it’s Michael’s job to take hold and get the job.
“(His success) doesn’t have anything to do with me,” Dennis said. “It’s been his actions since he got to Baylor. When he gets done playing, I can easily bring him here and put him on staff, but I want him to bench out and establish his own identity with other people. Based on his work ethic and what he’s been able to do, he’s been able to do a good job.”
Michael’s primary game-day role for Baylor is, frankly, as a coach.
He sits in the coach’s meetings leading up to games and helps lead walk-throughs. He stands on the sideline during games and signals in plays to the defense while wearing a headset and a different-colored vest over his jersey.
“We’re blessed to have Mike,” Aranda said. “I know I am. Mike’s got such a good feel for the team, and his heart is solid gold. He’s able to break tough news to me in a way that I appreciate. He tells the truth, and he loves this team. He puts it all out there."
Walking the line between coach and player is a slippery slope.
Certain things come up during coaches' meetings that are not to be shared in the locker room, and vice versa. With as many coaching responsibilities as Michael has, he’s still a player wearing the jersey.
Michael walks that tightrope perfectly.
“It’s hard to describe the respect that he has, not only in the locker room, but in the (football offices) and even in the business school,” senior defensive end Kyler Jordan said. “He treats everybody the same. He deserves all of that respect. He’s one of the greatest people I’ve ever met. I’m blessed to have him as a friend.”
Jordan and Robertson were roommates with Michael, so they got to see his football mind work all day, every day.
Michael spent some time last season in Chicago, shadowing his uncle. He has an internship lined up with the defending Super Bowl champions, the Seattle Seahawks, this summer, working with their defense.
He is appreciative of how Baylor has helped him.
“I am so grateful for this place,” Michael said. “When I first got here, I had zero idea what was going to come with it. If you had told me back in 2022 that this is what I would be doing and this is the impact I could have, I wouldn’t have believed you.
“If you can find a way to earn that street cred and make an impact, it doesn't matter who you are. If you can help the team, then you're going to help the team.”
Blue Valley beginnings
If there weren’t already a football position called the ‘Mike,’ Allen Terrell would’ve named one after Michael Allen.
Terrell, who has been the head coach at Blue Valley High School in Stilwell, Kansas, for more than a decade, always knew Michael was a go-getter during his time in junior high, but was unclear as to whether his smaller stature would translate to high school.
An injury forced Michael to miss his entire freshman season, but when he was forced into action as a sophomore, Terrell found a spot for him in the middle of a three-high defensive backfield.
“We got into that defense because of Michael, and we still run it to this day,” Terrell said. “We find our dude and make him the dime safety. In our scheme, that kid has got to be a coach on the field and direct traffic.”
Football has always been at the center of Michael’s life.
His grandfather, Grady Allen, is in the Texas A&M Hall of Fame after a career that included being named an All-Southwest Conference defensive end in 1967 when the Aggies beat Alabama in the Cotton Bowl.
He visited his uncle Dennis during his career, including a trip to the Super Bowl in 2009, when he was extra excited to get Jeremy Shockey’s autograph.
“The relationships and impact you can have within the sport, I knew I wanted to be in football,” Michael said. “As you get older, you understand you might have different gifts. The more I've gone to different places, the more my dreams have gotten bigger.”
Seeing it firsthand opened him up to the world of coaching.
“He forged this journey on his own,” Dennis said. “He decided that this was what he wanted to do. I have been a resource for him in terms of questions, whether it be football or career questions.”
Michael first told Terrell that he wanted to get into coaching when he was a sophomore at Blue Valley, and Terrell immediately started putting more on his plate.
He would have Michael go to a whiteboard in front of the entire team and have him explain how to install something new on defense.
He would give his safety a call on the weekends as he was working on the game plan for the upcoming game, and ask him what he thought and whether or not they had the personnel to run something.
“Mike was never afraid of failure,” Terrell said. “He would put every ounce of energy that his body would allow into playing and leading as hard as he could, and he was not afraid to fail. In our program, we love it when kids ask why. We’re not afraid to be questioned because that means they have ownership and they want to know. Mike was at the forefront of that.”
Terrell learned Michael’s true colors during the COVID pandemic.
The world shut down towards the end of his junior year, throwing his senior year into doubt. With the season up in the air and the coaches trying to find a way to safely play the season, there was a lot of negativity.
Michael never lost hope.
“We were doing team workouts on Zoom with everybody on camera on their back porches,” Terrell said. “Mike continued to stay upbeat. He would organize group study sessions for our scheme. His positivity through a very negative time got us through that and carried us into a really good senior season. It gave all those kids good memories in a bad situation.”
Michael wasn’t just a leader and pseudo-coach; he could also play.
As a senior at Blue Valley, Michael led the team with 105 tackles and three interceptions, finishing second in their district and making it to the second round of the playoffs.
Some smaller DII schools offered him scholarships to come and play, but he always knew he wanted to coach. Iowa State was the first to offer him a preferred walk-on spot, and later, so did Baylor.
“I just kind of took a leap of faith and felt like this was the place for me, and I’m super grateful that I did,” Michael said.
Geoff Allen and his wife, Dr. Putul Allen, plan to make it to most of the Baylor games to watch their son play this season. They spend time with family in DFW and spend time with Lynette Winkler, who played a big role in getting Michael to Baylor, in Waco.
When they walk through the football building, players and staffers alike tell them how much they love Michael, which gives Geoff the most joy.
“This is what he wants to do and what he’s passionate about,” Geoff said. “The things that I am most proud of have nothing to do with the fact that he’s on a football team. It has everything to do with the fact that he’s found a place where he feels like he can make an impact on people.”
Terrell, Aranda, and Dennis all agree that Michael has a future in the business.
“He’s going to be a really good coach,” Dennis said. “I don’t say that because he’s my nephew. I say that because I watch him when he’s here in the building, and how he interacts with people, and the maturity that he has. I watch the attentiveness in the meetings and how he pays attention and how he takes notes.
“When you have someone who’s smart and has a great work ethic, they’re going to succeed.”
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Originally published: https://wacotrib.com/sports/college/baylor/article_1e5e1c20-1c94-4511-8d15-32fb2ce997c4.html