Allyn McKeen was an American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 player and coach. He served as the head coach at West Tennessee State Normal School, now the University of Memphis

University of Memphis

The University of Memphis is an American public research university located in the Normal Station neighborhood of Memphis, Tennessee and is the flagship public research university of the Tennessee Board of Regents system....

, from 1937 to 1938 and at Mississippi State College, now Mississippi State University

Mississippi State University

The Mississippi State University of Agriculture and Applied Science commonly known as Mississippi State University is a land-grant university located in Oktibbeha County, Mississippi, United States, partially in the town of Starkville and partially in an unincorporated area...

, from 1939 to 1948, compiling a career college football

College football

College football refers to American football played by teams of student athletes fielded by American universities, colleges, and military academies, or Canadian football played by teams of student athletes fielded by Canadian universities...

 record of 78–25–3. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame

College Football Hall of Fame

The College Football Hall of Fame is a hall of fame and museum devoted to college football. Located in South Bend, Indiana, it is connected to a convention center and situated in the city's renovated downtown district, two miles south of the University of Notre Dame campus. It is slated to move...

 as a coach in 1991.

Playing career

McKeen played football as a guard

Guard (American football)

In American and Canadian football, a guard is a player that lines up between the center and the tackles on the offensive line of a football team....

 at the University of Tennessee

University of Tennessee

The University of Tennessee is a public land-grant university headquartered at Knoxville, Tennessee, United States...

 from 1925 to 1927, where he earned all-state honors. He was also the captain of the men's basketball and track teams.

Coaching career

From 1937 to 1938, McKeen coached at West Tennessee State, where he compiled a 13–6 record. His 1938 team went undefeated at 10–0. From 1939 to 1948, he coached at Mississippi State, where he compiled a 65–19–3 record. In 1940, he was named the SEC Coach of the Year after leading Mississippi State to its only undefeated season in school history. The following year, his squad captured the first and only Southeastern Conference

Southeastern Conference

The Southeastern Conference is an American college athletic conference that operates in the southeastern part of the United States. It is headquartered in Birmingham, Alabama...

 championship in program history.

Late life and honors

After retiring from coaching, McKeen served as the director of the Blue–Gray Football Classic. He was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 1977.

Head coaching record

External links