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Ex-Paris HS Football Coach Allen Wilson To Be Honored At Wildcat Stadium Friday Night

Tyler Morning Telegraph – Coach Wilson(L)

Ex-PHS Coach Allen Wilson to be honored at Wildcat Stadium Friday night The 1980 4-A state runner-up football team and the 1988 4-A state champion football team are here tonight in honor of Coach Allen Wilson. They are celebrating the 30th anniversary of the 1988 state championship and honoring Coach Wilson on his induction into the Texas High School Coaches Association Hall of Honor. Allen Wilson, a highly successful high school coach, won two Texas state championships (1988, 1994) and amassed a 249-88-4 record over his coaching career.

His teams are known for their smash-mouth running game. Wilson, a 1970 graduate of Robert E. Lee High School in Midland, Texas, went on to play defensive back under coach Wally Bullington at Abilene Christian University in Abilene, Texas, where he was part of the 1973 football team that won the NAIA National Football Championship and Lone Star Conference title. His early assistant coaching stops include Rosebud-Lott HS, Abilene Christian College, and Abilene Cooper HS. In 1976, Coach Wilson became an assistant at Paris High School, and instrumental in taking the Wildcats to the 1980 state championship game where they were defeated by Huntsville. In 1983, was promoted to head football coach. He guided Paris to the 4-A state championship in 1988.

Two years later, Wilson became head coach at 5A John Tyler High School in Tyler, Texas. During his eleven years at John Tyler, Coach Wilson amassed a record of 110-37-2, winning the Class 5-A state championship in 1994 going 16-0, and was the 5-A state runner-up in 2000. In 2002, Wilson took over as head coach of the tradition-rich Dallas Carter Cowboys football program. In 2003, Dallas Carter lost in the Regionals to the Leander Lions. In 2006, Wilson’s Carter team eliminated his old school, John Tyler, from the playoffs in only the Lions’ second game wearing “Cujo” jerseys since the 2000 season.

Wilson’s individual accolades include serving as the defensive coordinator in the East vs West National High School All-Star Game in 2000 and the Texas vs California High School All-Star Game in 1995. He was named one of the team coaches to coach The USA Football Junior National Team in 2009. He was also named the Associated Press High School Coach of the year in 1989 and 1995 and District Coach of the Year on 20 separate occasions.

For his accomplishments as a head coach, Wilson was recognized as one of the top 25 All-Time High School Coaches by the King of Football. He was inducted into the Abilene Christian University Hall of Fame in 1995, and the Tyler Independent School District Hall of Fame in 2013. Additionally, he was inducted into The East Texas Hall of Fame in 2015, and into The Black Sports Hall of Fame 2018. Wilson retired after the 2011 season. Former player and assistant coach of the Wildcats, Michael Johnson, said, “You couldn’t ask for a better man and coach. He helped a lot of us in a time of need. He was a father figure even though a lot of us had dads. He taught us not just football lessons but also life lessons. On receiving the THSCA Hall of Honor Johnson said, “This couldn’t have happened to a better person. I’m very proud to call him my coach.”