ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Saturday, September 14, 1996 TAG: 9609170018
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: DANIEL UTHMAN STAFF WRITER
THE EX-NORTHSIDE STAR is named a restricted earnings coach for the men's basketball team.
Jimmy Allen, a former star point guard at Northside High School and Emory & Henry College, has joined the basketball staff at the U.S. Naval Academy as a restricted earnings coach.
Allen graduated from Northside in 1989 and went on to a successful career as the Wasps' point guard. He began a three-year stint as an assistant to Emory & Henry coach Bob Johnson after earning his degree in 1993. Navy will give Allen his first experience at the NCAA's Division I level.
An Old Dominion Athletic Conference connection led Allen to Annapolis, Md. Allen is filling a position vacated by Dennis Csensits, a former Randolph-Macon College assistant who now is on staff at The Citadel. The Citadel is coached by former Washington and Lee star Pat Dennis.
``I thought it was something I couldn't pass up right now,'' Allen said. ``Having the opportunity to work with someone like [Navy head coach] Don Devoe is incredible.''
Devoe has nearly 400 victories in a 23-year coaching career.
Allen signed a contract on Thursday. It is the second time he has called Annapolis home. He spent part of his youth there and at West Point, N.Y., due to his father's military career. James Allen Sr. now teaches at Hollins College.
Other than bench duties, Allen's responsibilities at Navy will include recruitment of high school juniors (an advantage only military academies are allowed under NCAA rules), coaching half of the junior varsity squad's games and working summer camps.
LENGTH: Short : 39 linesby CNB