Forrest “Phog” is well-known as one of the early turn-of-the-century Kansas basketball players, who eventually became a legendary college coach for the Jayhawks. KU's historic Allen Fieldhouse is named after this Kansas icon.
Allen's first job coaching was at Baker University in Baldwin City, KS, after his graduation from KU. In three years there, he won 45 games to just nine losses. When his mentor, and the inventor of the game, Dr. James Naismith, stepped down at Kansas, Allen took over. He went 43-9 in two seasons before stepping down and moving on to Central Missouri, where he forged a record of 84-31 over seven seasons.
He returned to Kansas in 1919, and the rest is history. Allen won 590 games at Kansas (978 total), the national championships: two awarded by the Helms Foundation for the 1921-22 and 1922-23 seasons, and an NCAA title in 1952.
He coached 10 Consensus All-Americans and Hall of Fame coaches Adolph Rupp (Kentucky) and Dean Smith (North Carolina). Those two turned their programs into fellow college basketball bluebloods. The roots of the sport come from Kansas. He recruited Wilt Chamberlain to play at Kansas, even though he was forced to retire due to age and never got to coach that superstar.
Allen also mentored Hall of Fame coach and contributor to the game, John McClendon, who was not allowed to play for Allen at Kansas due to segregation laws in the 1930s. McClendon is credited with inventing the modern, up-tempo style of play, including developing the fast break.
But Allen was multi-talented.
Phog Allen also coached the Kansas football team
Kansas began playing football in 1901 and has 36 coaches total, including interim coaches. The Jayhawks had a lot of success in the program early. Doc Kennedy took over the team in 1904, coached for seven seasons, and still has the most wins in school history with a record of 52-9-4.
When Allen was at Central Missouri, he coached football as well as basketball. During his time there, they went 29-17-2 and won a conference title in his first four seasons.
In 1920, a year after Allen returned for his second tenure as the head basketball coach at Kansas, he pulled double duty as the Kansas football head coach there as well.
In his one season at the helm, the Jayhawks went 5-2-1. KU won his first five games of the season, outscoring the opponents 81-3, including a 14-0 shutout over Kansas State. KU lost to Oklahoma and Missouri, with a tie with Nebraska sandwiched in between to finish the season.
His five wins as a football coach rank him tied for 25th in school history. That ranks him tied with Turner Gill and ahead of Bob Valesente and Les Miles on the list, all of whom coached two years to Allen's one. David Beaty, in four years at KU, only won six games.
Allen is tied for third in Kansas history with a 68.8 winning percentage, albeit in a small sample size. Still, between his years at Central Missouri and his one at KU, it proves that he could coach football as well as basketball.
Luckily for college basketball, Allen stepped away from football for good after that 1920 season and concentrated on basketball, becoming maybe the most important figure in the sport during the first half of the 20th century and beyond.
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