Allen will coach at Florida high school
Ray Allen’s playing credentials are beyond reproach, forever cemented by his 2018 induction into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame — the only UConn men’s player to be enshrined.
Now, Allen is ready to show his coaching chops. Allen has been named head boys’ basketball coach at Gulliver Prep in Pinecrest, Florida, according to a social media post put out by the school. He is listed as coach on the school’s website.
This will be Allen’s first stab at head coaching at any level, though he was an assistant coach for one of Gulliver’s middle-school teams. It comes as somewhat of a surprise to his former college coach, fellow Hall of Famer Jim Calhoun, who said that Allen has never confided in him that he wanted to coach.
“Matter of fact, he goes the opposite way: ‘No, I never want to coach,’ ” Calhoun told Hearst Connecticut Media. “I think when guys go to high school, they get a different kind of test.”
Calhoun believes Allen will succeed as a coach.
“As long as he doesn’t try to make everybody as meticulous as he was,” Cal
houn noted. “He didn’t want anybody messing with his game, once he knew what he was doing. He worked hard, so if 50% of the way he worked carries over, those kids will be great kids and hard-working kids.”
Allen will get a chance to coach his son, Ray Jr., a Class of 2023 shooting guard who is being recruited by schools like UMass and Rutgers right now.
“He’s a smart guy, there’s no reason why he couldn’t do well,” Calhoun continued. “It’s just that, sometimes a guy who’s that great and worked that hard, his expectations are high. Which is great. I think it’s terrific for him. Maybe he’ll know what it is to coach knuckleheads, like all of us.”
Allen is one of several former UConn players who
has gotten into high school coaching over the past few years, including Charles Okwandu, Jon Mandeldove and Rashmael Jones, who was recently named girls’ basketball coach at Greenwich High.
Former Husky star
guard Ricky Moore recently took over the headcoaching reins at Northwest Carrabus High in North Carolina.
Allen starred at UConn for three seasons (1993-96) before being selected with the fifth overall pick in the
1996 NBA Draft. He won NBA titles with the Celtics and Miami Heat, and retired after 18 seasons as one of the league’s all-time top 3-point shooters. Allen was recently named one of this year’s recipients of the Hall of Fame’s Mannie Jackson Award, presented for outstanding humanitarian efforts. He’ll receive the award at next month’s Hall of Fame enshrinement ceremonies.
Allen takes over at Gulliver for Gary DeCesare, who coached the team this past season. Does Allen have amibitions of eventually coaching above the high school level?
“I don’t think he does,” Calhoun said. “Generally speaking, when I talk to him, he’s all over the place playing golf, so I’m not sure why he’d want to give up all those kind of things.”