Whatever happened to ... ODU basketball coach Sonny Allen?

[Treadway21]

Great article posted on twitter by Fran Fraschilla about SMU coach Sonny Allen:

Fran Fraschilla ‏@franfraschilla
Someone sent me this story on Sonny Allen, one of the fathers of the modern fast break offense. Still going strong!

Sonny Allen served as coach for about a decade. He helped create the foundation of a program that now plays in a $47 million, 8,500-seat arena and won 27 games last season as a Division I school.



http://hamptonroads.com/2015/06/whateve ... onny-allen …

[Charleston Pony]

we had some decent years with the "run, Sonny run" campaign and his son Billy was a pretty good PG for the Mustangs. I think Billy still ranks pretty high in various stats for PGs at SMU. Wonder if he followed in his dad's footsteps and ever coached?

[ponyboy]

Anybody have a Run Sonny Run t-shirt around?

[bubba pony]

He had a quirky coaching habit. When SMU would get a run of points and Moody fans were going crazy he would call a time out when SMU got a 10 point lead. I actually asked him about it after a game. I asked why not let the other coach call the time out? Or go to 12 point lead, 14 point lead? I forgot his answer but I remember it didn’t make sense to me.

[The Falcon]

I got to see both Sonny and Billy soaking up some Moody Magic last year.

I talked to them briefly after the game and they seemed to be doing OK - I think
Billy was being a good son and looking out for old Dad.

Someone rightly said above that Billy was a fine PG for SMU. He was a fine ball
handler, good jump shot, and was a very good free throw shooter. He also had a
great career at Highland Park High School. He is still very sharp, modest, and friendly.

[ponyboy]

They were both introduced at a game at one point last year.

[lwjr]

I got to see both Sonny and Billy soaking up some Moody Magic last year.

I talked to them briefly after the game and they seemed to be doing OK - I think
Billy was being a good son and looking out for old Dad.

Someone rightly said above that Billy was a fine PG for SMU. He was a fine ball
handler, good jump shot, and was a very good free throw shooter. He also had a
great career at Highland Park High School. He is still very sharp, modest, and friendly.

I was one year behind Billy at HP. During his first few practices with the Varsity basketball team we thought he was horrible. He would passed the ball when people were not expecting it,causing turnovers, balls going out of bounds and so on. Of course it eventually dawned on everyone, Billy was so far advance in basketball smarts and court awareness it made the rest of team look like they were playing eighth grade level. Our coach recognized it immediately but he wanted the team to figure out how good and how far advance his game was compared to the rest of the team.