ROANOKE, Va. – The Galax Maroon Tide has become a perennial playoff powerhouse over the last decade and they hope to keep riding that wave of success with new head coach Shane Allen.
“I said, ‘If you’re hiring me because you think you’re getting another Coach Dixon, you’re going to be disappointed and I’m going to be fired.' It’s a matter of being yourself and coaching to the best of your ability,” said Allen.
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While he’s new to the position, Allen is familiar with the recent Galax tradition, having served as an assistant under former Coach Mark Dixon for three years. Allen doesn’t feel any added pressure to fill Dixon’s shoes, but rather try and build more on the solid foundation that’s been laid.
“It’s going to look very similar,” Allen said. “Coach Dixon did an amazing job of building that program and getting the ingredients to make it successful. You don’t change that, you keep rolling the way it is. As a football coach, you always have to evolve so I can’t say what it’s going to look like two years from now, three years from now.”
The former Ferrum football player is eager to get to work with his team within the coming weeks. Despite COVID-19 delaying things, Allen’s familiarity with the program is an advantage he hopes will pay off in the fall, and lead to more thrilling wins and playoff caliber football.
“We want to be better tomorrow than we were today, we want to be better at game 5 than game 1, game 10 than game 5. Just always striving to get bigger, faster, stronger and better,” said Allen.