Michael Allen, II joins the TSU staff for his first season as the linebackers coach in 2019.
 
Allen comes to TSU after serving as the associate head coach and defensive coordinator at Silsbee High School in East Texas during the 2016-18 seasons. At Silsbee, Allen led the Tigers to their longest playoff run since 1977 as the team advanced to the Class 4A Division II state semifinals in 2018. In 2017, the team went three rounds deep after only one round the season before. The Tigers were a regular stop for college recruiters as four defensive players signed to continue their football careers in 2018.
 
Prior to joining the staff at Silsbee, Allen coached the wide receivers and special teams at Cypress Ranch High School in Cypress, Texas for two years (2014-15). In his first season at Cy Ranch, Allen helped make history as the team advanced to the Class 6A Division I State Championship game as it marked the school’s first title game appearance in only its fifth year of varsity football. In his second year, the Mustangs rolled through their district with an undefeated record before closing out his tenure with an 11-1 mark in 2016.
 
Allen got his start on the high school level at Livingston High School as the co-defensive coordinator and secondary coach in 2013. Before his stint at Livingston, he served two years as the defensive and special teams assistant for the NFL Players Association Collegiate Bowl on the staff of former NFL and Super Bowl XXXIV winning head coach Dick Vermeil.
 
Allen began his collegiate career at the College of Sequoias in California before transferring to Lamar University for his final two seasons of eligibility. The San Marcos, Calif. native holds a bachelor’s in communications and a master’s of science in Kinesiology and exercise science. Allen and his wife, Taylor, have three children; Michael, Madelyn and Myles.