Moncton High School Purple Knights head coach John Allanach and Brett Gray (41) celebrate after winning the 12 man football championship at Rocky Stone Memorial Field against Harrison Trible High School Trojans.
[URL]http://timestranscript.canadaeast.com/sports/article/1111226
Moncton High Purple Knights head coach John Allanach reveals no secrets and demands that his players do the same.
In the days leading up to last fall’s New Brunswick High School Football League championship game against the cross-town rival Harrison Trimble Trojans, Allanach held quick conferences with his players who were about to be interviewed by a nosy newspaper reporter.
Allanch made sure the Purple Knights said all of the right things. These young players were on the eve of the biggest game of their lives and they talked about how much they respected their opponents and the extreme honour it was to compete in such an historic event.
Allanch had nothing to worry about. Almost all high school football players, including this classy group of Purple Knights, have been deferential toward other teams and regarded the game with dignity.
The Purple Knights never offered “bulletin board material” and they never revealed their game plan. As Allanach reflects on the coaching opportunity of a lifetime, nothing has changed.
Allanach has just completed a stint as coach of the Thonon Les Bains Black Panthers, a team in the French elite league in the Alps. He soaked in the experience, on and off the field, but don’t look for him open the playbook.
“I guess I would say that I am constantly evolving as a coach and the challenges of coaching in France have given me an opportunity to learn a lot about people, my coaching philosophy and a heightened appreciation of the technical aspect of the game,” Allananch said in an email from Europe.”
“I can’t really say any plays or tricks that I have learned because you will have to come watch us play in the fall to see them.”
Coy again.
Who’s going to argue? After all he led the Purple Knights to the league championship by beating the Trojans in the first Moncton High-Trimble provincial final in 26 years.
Allanach, a defensive back and linebacker with the Purple Knights in the late 1980s, played in France’s elite league back in 1998. With a year of deferred leave from his teaching job, he jumped at the opportunity to return to France as a coach.
“I am living the dream,” he said. “I traveled with my family, coached football at a high level, worked on my French, saw (MHS grad) Derek Cormier play hockey in Sierre a number of times and made new friends in the football world.”
His team finished with an 8-2 record and scored an average of 33 points per game in the nine-team league, which sees teams play four-down American football with NCAA rules. The Panthers also beat the five-time defending champions twice.
The Panthers also competed in the Eurobol, where they beat Belgrade and lost to the Danube Dragons of Austria.
“Playing in Austria was wild. The Dragons had the loudest crowd I have ever been part of. The Austrians are currently the powerhouse for European football and have complete 45-player rosters with athletes at all the positions.”
The French teams were allowed to have two import players, usually graduates of the NCAA. However, Allanach Canadian university players could eventually “carve out a piece of the market.”
The Moncton High coach also attended a series of clinics, including one conducted by former Texas Tech head coach Mike Leach. He had a long, friendly chat with Leach and, no doubt, got a few tips that he’ll share with no one until game time.
He was joined in Europe by his wife Cynthia and children Janelle and Jocelyne. His father and brothers also went over for a visit and the chance to watch some games.
Allanach has been coaching at Moncton High since 2000, when he started with the junior varsity team.
He said he’s looking forward to returning to the Purple Knights later this summer as they prepare to defend their provincial championship.
Just don’t ask him how he’s going to do that.
The answer will come on the field and not out of his mouth nor the mouths of his players.
As it ought to be.
* Dwayne Tingley is sports editor of the Times & Transcript and his column appears every Saturday.
Photo: VIKTOR PIVOVAROV/TIMES & TRANSCRIPT
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