Maurice Allen has played many roles in life. He Veteran of the U.S. Army, A husband, a father and a football coach.
He is also a “soldier coach.”
Allen, a retired Army communications specialist, is one of more than 1,800 “Soldier Coaches” recognized by the veterans charity. Soldiers on the sidelines After completing his military service, he found a new purpose.
Maurice Allen enlisted in the U.S. Army in 2012 and served four years, including a deployment to Afghanistan from 2014 to 2015. (Maurice Allen)
“I played football in high school and I always knew I wanted to be a coach. After high school I thought I was going to play football in college, but then I joined the Army and was stationed at Fort Hood,” Allen said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
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Allen put his coaching dreams on hold to serve his country and ultimately continue his education, enlisting in the military in 2012 and serving four years, including a deployment to Afghanistan from 2014-2015.
His story is similar to many others, but after completing his military service, Allen knew he wanted to return to coaching. With that in mind, he earned a bachelor’s degree in sports administration and a master’s in education from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor, then earned an education specialist degree from Valdosta State University.
But in the meantime, Allen For veterans only. That’s when he came across Soldiers to Sidelines.
He reached out to Harrison Bernstein, president and founder of Soldiers to Sidelines, a veterans service charity whose mission is to give members of the military community a renewed sense of purpose through coaching, while also serving the youth community.
They stayed in contact and eventually Allen was able to attend one of the “Soldiers to Sidelines” seminars.
“This is a great organization that really puts veterans first, which is something I believe in very strongly and it was a great opportunity.”
The program is free and available to veterans, active duty military, military spouses and Gold Star families. (The soldiers move to the sidelines.)
Founder of SOLDIERS TO SIDELINES, whose mission is to support veterans and give back to the community
Bernstein told Fox News Digital that the idea for a coaching program for military personnel came to him after he served in the military in 2010. Washington CommandersHe served as assistant strength and conditioning coach there for three years.
“I was a high school football coach and one of my colleagues was really passionate about helping military personnel in the area get involved in coaching football because there was a lot of news out there about people coming back from the Middle East looking for purpose, looking for ways to reconnect and find new happiness and purpose,” Bernstein explained.
“So it was actually a colleague who suggested we take some local veterans to high school football practice and teach them how to coach football as part of the team.”
Bernstein admitted he wasn’t initially interested — he wanted to get back on the team and hone his coaching skills. NFL. But after much persistence, Bernstein agreed, hosting a seminar for just six people. Amazingly, Bernstein’s future plans changed at that moment, and Soldiers to Sidelines was born.
Currently, more than 1,800 soldier coaches across eight different sports have been certified through the program, with 38 percent of certified coaches being veterans, with retired and active duty military making up 25 percent and 27 percent, respectively.
The program is free and available to veterans, military members, military spouses and Gold Star families, and after completing the certification process, Soldiers to Sidelines offers ongoing learning through online courses, webinars, workshops and more.
Those who complete the certification process go on to coach at all levels, but for Bernstein, it’s at the youth level that he sees the greatest impact.
Maurice Allen is the head football coach at South Paulding High School in Georgia. (Maurice Allen)
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Allen is currently the head football coach at South Paulding High School in Ga. He previously coached at various 5A-8A schools in Texas, Florida and Georgia, but in the spring, Soldiers to Sidelines introduced him to a new opportunity.
Allen became the first Soldier coach to secure an internship with an NFL team. New York Jets. He was with the team during mandatory minicamp and OTAs.
“It was really, really interesting to see how they operate, how they practice, the coaching points, how complicated the process is to go from high school to the NFL,” Allen said, “but it was really interesting to see the detail of the preparation, the details of the program, and how they communicate with each other and the coaching staff. And it was one of the best experiences I’ve ever been a part of and really made some good connections and learned.”
Maurice Allen was the first “soldier coach” to do an internship with an NFL team this spring. (Maurice Allen)
Allen said the experience opened his eyes to the possibilities of coaching at the highest level, and now he’s taking everything he learned and applying it back within his own community, while also looking to continue spreading the mission of Soldiers to Sidelines.
“There’s a team outside of the military that you can join, and that’s Soldiers to Sidelines,” Allen said of military veterans leaving the military.
“It gives you purpose and you get to touch a lot of people’s lives, whether it’s youth, middle school, high school, college, the NFL. There are a lot of lives and people you can reach and impact. So the message I would give to any veterans who are interested or considering a career change, or if you’re still active duty and coaching youth or middle school teams, is Soldiers to Sidelines is for you.”
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