PRINCESS ANNE, Md. - At the William P. Hytche Athletic Center, University of Maryland Eastern Shore (UMES) Director of Athletics Keith Davidson named Franklin "Frankie" Allen the new Head Men's Basketball Coach of the Fighting Hawks. Allen, a former National Coach of the Year, takes over for Interim Head Coach Meredith Smith, whose contract was not renewed when it expired at the end of March.

Coach Allen, 59, most recently served as a Head Assistant Coach at the University of Maryland Baltimore County (UMBC). This past season the Retrievers had the best finish in school history with an America East regular season and tournament championship and a 15th seed in the 2008 NCAA National Championship.

After college, he became a high school coach and in three years won two district championships and was named Central Virginia Coach of the Year. A former assistant coach here at Roanoke, Allen had a two-year stint with UMBC he served for one season at Radford University as an assistant.

He served as Head Coach at Virginia Tech, Tennessee State and Howard. At fellow Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (MEAC) school Howard University, Allen inherited a program that was 3-52 its previous two years. He immediately made an impact, winning eight games in conference in 2000-01, 10 overall, and followed it in 2001-02 with 11 MEAC wins and an 18-13 record. That season Allen scored the first winning season for the Bison in 16 years and took them to the MEAC Championship; it was their first trip to the finals in 10 years. He went on to win 52 games in five seasons at Howard.

Allen enjoyed many of his accolades while at Tennessee State University. He won three Ohio Valley Conference (OVC) Championships with the Tigers, 1993, 1994 and 1995. He went to two NCAA Tournaments in 1993 and 1994 and had five appearances in the OVC Final Four. He was a two-time OVC Coach of the Year, National Coach of the Year from the American Sportswire in 1993 and National Black Coach of the Year the same season. That same year the USA Today named him Honorable Mention National Coach of the Year.

He is a 32-year member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC), serving on various committees and the NABC Regional Advisory Board. He also is a member of the Black Coaches Association. Allen has served as a coach at the collegiate level for 32 years, 18 of which was spent as a Head Coach. He has an overall record of 223-284.

He was the first African-American resident student at Roanoke College where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy in 1971. He obtained a Master of Science in Education from Virginia Tech in 2000.

An outstanding part of Roanoke's rise to the top in basketball, Allen became the first player in Roanoke College history to have his jersey retired. He set 18 individual records at Roanoke College, including finishing with 2,780 career points and 1,758 rebounds, both records in the state of Virginia. He was a three-time State of Virginia College Basketball Player of the Year and was an All-American in 1970 and 1971. Allen earned All-Mason Dixon, MVP Mason Dixon and many other honors as a Maroon. He was also named a High School All-American in 1967 at Lane High School.