Allen, who followed more than 20 years of success as a player and coach at the University of Northern Iowa with five seasons as head coach at the University of Kansas, comes to Missouri State after four seasons as associate head coach, tight ends coach and special teams coordinator at Iowa State University. Allen’s appointment at Missouri State was approved Tuesday morning by the University’s Board of Governors and he will begin his new duties Jan. 1. Allen will be on the sidelines for Iowa State for the last time on Dec. 31 when the Cyclones play TCU in the ev1.net Houston Bowl at Reliant Stadium in Houston, Texas.

Allen becomes the 19th head coach in the 95-year history of Missouri State football and he succeeds Randy Ball whose contract will not renewed following the 2005 season.

At the time Allen left UNI after the 1996 season, his 75-26 record made him the winningest coach in Gateway Conference history and gave him a .743 winning percentage. His Panther teams won or shared Gateway titles in 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995 and 1996 and competed in the NCAA I-AA playoffs each of his last seven seasons at UNI. The Panthers advanced to the national semifinals in 1992 and 1996 and had a 6-7 playoff record under Allen. He was the Gateway Coach of the Year five times in his last six seasons at UNI and was named Kodak Regional Coach of the Year in 1992 and 1996.

A native of Iowa City, Iowa, Allen was a quarterback at West High School there. He was a backup signal-caller for the Panthers as a freshman in 1975 and was the starting UNI quarterback the next three seasons as the Panthers of head coach Stan Sheriff played their first three seasons in the 16,300-seat UNI-Dome.

Allen and his wife Lynn have three children; Angela, Chase and Alex.