Jason Allen has certainly put in his time at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield, teaching history and being involved in coaching several different sports including football, indoor and outdoor track and boys and girls basketball over the last 22 years.
Now he will get to oversee all of the teams as the school’s new director of athletics and activities.
The 45-year-old Hermon native is replacing Jim Leonard, who stepped down after seven seasons. Leonard had spent eight years as the athletic director at Rockland and then Oceanside High School prior to going to MCI.
Allen has been the head indoor and outdoor track the past several years.
“I will have the opportunity to impact more student-athletes than just the ones I’ve coached and on the entire school population as opposed to just a certain group of kids,” Allen said of his new role.
Allen will no longer be teaching to devote himself to being the full-time director of athletics and activities.
He will inherit an athletic program that has had tremendous success in football and field hockey over recent years.
The football team won the Class D state title in 2016 after losing in the 2014 and ’15 state championship games.
The field hockey team won the Class C North title this past fall before losing to Winthrop 3-2 in the state title game. MCI won the state title in 2015 and lost in the 2016 state final.
“Those sports have had a tradition of winning and our girls track team won the small schools championship at the KVACs last spring,” Allen said. “I feel we really have some quality coaches in place.
He said former athletic director Julie Treadwell had a positive influence on him in the way she handled the job. It also raised his curiosity about the position.
“She did a great job,” said Allen, who was the head girls basketball coach at MCI for seven years.
Allen ran cross country and was on the indoor track and baseball teams at Hermon High School.
He earned a degree in secondary education and social science from the University of Maine at Farmington.
“We want to build off our successful programs. That’s important. I would like to see our numbers [of players] come up a bit,” Allen said.
“We want kids to want to participate and have that school pride for being part of our athletic program. Being a part of something bigger than themselves.”