Jason Allen

Position: Assistant Coach (Fifth Season) Alma Mater, Year: Oklahoma Baptist University, 2000

Jason Allen is in his fifth season as an assistant coach at Iowa. Allen was promoted to the team's recruiting coordinator following the 2008 season.

The Hawkeyes' recruiting class has earned national honors every year since Allen was promoted to recruiting coordinator. His 2010 and 2011 recruiting classes produced 62-percent of Iowa's starting lineup in 2011, and helped the Hawkeyes claim four non-conference tournament championships over the last two seasons.

In Allen's second year, he helped the Hawkeyes match the program's best start in school history, becoming just the third Hawkeye team to start the season 6-0. Iowa fought its way to five conference wins, raising the two-year total since Allen arrived on campus to 11 Big Ten victories, the best two-year stretch since 2000-01.

In his first season at Iowa, Allen helped the Hawkeyes to 14 wins, which ties the most for an Iowa team since 2000. The Hawkeyes also won six Big Ten matches, the most for an Iowa squad in eight seasons.

In 2010, Allen served as the head coach of the Iowa High Performance Junior National team that advanced to compete in the USAV High Performance National Championships in the Wisconsin Dells.

Allen spent the 2007 season as the 16U Head Coach for the Texas Tornados club program, which is considered one of the top volleyball clubs in the nation. Allen led the current team to a No. 17 national ranking and coached 10 players who received Division I scholarships. Four of Allen's players were also named to the top 120 players in the country list by numerous publications. Allen led his team to a first place finish at the 16 Open Northeast Qualifier. He also served as the recruiting director and webmaster.

Prior to his time with the Texas Tornadoes, Allen served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Sam Houston State University (2004-07). Allen helped lead Sam Houston State to a second place finish in the Southland Conference (2005) and coached a total of eight student-athletes to all-conference honors. Allen was also responsible for video scouting, recruit evaluating and summer camps.

Allen was an assistant coach for the Lone Star Youth High Performance Teams in both Austin and Houston, TX from 2005-06. In 2005, his team finished fifth at the USA High Performance Championships and in 2006, the team finished 10th.

Allen began his collegiate coaching career at the Division II level, where he was a graduate assistant at Southwest Minnesota State. In his one season, Southwest Minnesota State was crowned co-champions of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference and appeared in the NCAA Division II National Tournament. He also helped coach five all-conference and two all-region student-athletes.

Allen moved on to North Dakota State University, where he was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator (2002-04). North Dakota State won a share of the North Central Conference title in 2003 and qualified for the NCAA Division II National Tournament twice, including a "Sweet 16" appearance in 2003. Allen helped lead four student-athletes to all-region honors and two to all-America honors in 2003. He also recruited and signed the North Central Region Freshman of the Year in 2003.

Allen played one season at Tomball College in Tomball, TX, before transferring to Oklahoma Baptist University. Allen helped Tomball to a ninth place finish at the NIRSA Collegiate Volleyball Championships and served as a player/coach for the Oklahoma Baptist club team. Allen was a member of three state tournament club teams and was named to the all-tournament team twice. He was also a member of the International Sports Federation volleyball team for two summers traveling throughout North Africa, playing various national teams and hosting clinics for junior national teams.

Allen graduated from Oklahoma Baptist (2000) with a degree in interdisciplinary studies with an emphasis in communications, business administration and psychology. He worked towards his Masters of Education in wellness and human performance at Southwest Minnesota State University. Allen also completed hours towards his Masters of Exercise Science in sport pedagogy at North Dakota State University.