Brian Allen serves as Associate Head Coach / Recruiting Coordinator for the Missouri Southern State University track & field programs. He enters his 12th season (2024-25) coaching the throwing events.
Since joining the MSSU staff in 2013, Allen has coached the Lion throwers to 91 All-MIAA performances, including 35 conference champions, Six(Current) MIAA Championship meet records and 31 MSSU school records broken. Along with success at the conference level, Allen has seen 169 provisional marks, 98 national qualifiers, 73 All-American performances and Eight National titles at the NCAA level. Allen’s throwers have 14 entries on the NCAA Division II Indoor and Outdoor All-Time Top 25 lists.
He helped guide the Missouri Southern Men to the 2016 MIAA Outdoor Conference Championship – the first team title in school history – as well as the 2020 MIAA Indoor Conference Championship and the Women’s 2021 Outdoor Conference Championship team title.
Allen also has helped lead the Missouri Southern Men to capture two 4th place team finishes at the 2023 NCAA Division II Indoor National Championships - a program first for the men - and the 2024 NCAA Division II Outdoor National Championships.
Missouri Southern throwers have been honored with 6 Regional Field Athlete of the Year awards and Rajindra Campbell was named the Division II Men’s Outdoor National Field Athlete of the Year in 2021. Allen was honored as the NCAA Division II Men’s Outdoor National Assistant Coach of the Year in 2024. He also has earned Men’s or Women’s Regional Assistant Coach of the Year recognition four times (2019, 2021, 2023, 2024).
Allen has continued coaching former Lion National Champion, Rajindra Campbell, in the professional ranks. His post collegiate career has seen the following results: Personal Best 22.22m (Jamaican National Record, 7th farthest throw in 2023) First Jamaican over 22 meters (Furthest left-handed Shot Putter in history), World Championships Qualifier (Budapest, (HUN)2023), World Championships Final Qualifier (Finished 12th). World Indoor Championships Qualifier (Glasgow(i)2024). Currently Ranked 6th in the world (2024) - won Bronze(22.15m) at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, France.
Allen came to Southern after helping coach the throwers for two seasons at the University of Central Missouri, while also training post collegiately in the Hammer Throw. Prior to Central Missouri, Allen spent a season coaching at his alma mater, Pittsburg State University. During his tenure as an assistant coach, he helped coach 22 All-MIAA throwers, including six conference champions and seeing six school records broken. He also helped coach 11 All-American throwers, including a national champion in the shot put and a runner up in the discus.
A very decorated student-athlete and member of the Hall of Fame at Pittsburg State University. Allen was a four-year letter winner for the Gorillas, including serving as a team captain in both his junior and senior campaigns. He was a nine-time All-American and was the 2009 national runner up in the shot put. During his career, he was a 17-time All-MIAA thrower and he picked up conference titles in the hammer throw, two in the discus and one in the shot put. In 2010, Allen was the South Central Region Field Athlete of the Year as voted upon by the coaches in the region. He still holds the Pittsburg State school record in the weight throw. He graduated from Pittsburg State in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems. Recently, Allen was inducted into the MIAA Hall of Fame class of 2022.
Allen has his USTFCCA Strength and Conditioning Specialist Certification and USATF Level One Coaches Certification.
Brian and his wife Sarah live in Joplin along with their three children, Bree, Oscar and Quinn.
