Coaches

When Dennis Allen became the 18th head coach in Raiders history on Jan. 30, 2012, he promised to field a tough, smart, disciplined and committed football team, noting that organizations win games in the National Football League by more than talent alone.

Allen, 39, is the NFL’s youngest head coach, more than six months younger than the league’s previously youngest coach, Pittsburgh’s Mike Tomlin.

With 16 years of combined coaching experience at the college and professional levels, Allen enters his 11th NFL season. On six occasions during his 10 years as an NFL assistant, his team earned a playoff berth: 2002, 2004, 2006, 2009, 2010 and 2011. And four of those trips came after division championships: The NFC South with Atlanta in 2004 and New Orleans in both 2006 and 2009, and the AFC West with Denver in 2011.

His résumé also includes football’s ultimate prize, a Super Bowl XLIV ring he earned by helping the Saints beat season MVP Peyton Manning, who threw for more than 4,500 yards with 33 touchdowns, and the Indianapolis Colts to conclude the 2009 campaign.

The NFL’s second-youngest defensive coordinator when the Broncos hired him in 2011, he coordinated a defense that helped Denver parlay an AFC West crown into a Wild Card win and a date in the Divisional round. During his only year in Denver, despite starting three rookies most of the season, the Broncos improved 12 spots over 2010 in overall defensive ranking (from 32nd to 20th) and bettered their points allowed by eight spots (from 32nd to 24th).

Among four Pro Bowlers on Allen’s defense, Von Miller thrived. A Pro Bowl starter and the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year, he tied the team’s rookie record with 11½ sacks. Elvis Dumervil also flourished under Allen, rebounding from injury to register 9½ sacks. In fact, the Broncos’ 41 sacks as a team were their most since 2000.

Prior to joining the Broncos, Allen was an assistant coach for five seasons with New Orleans, first as assistant defensive line coach (2006-07), then as defensive backs coach (2008-10).

Under Allen’s direction in 2010, the Saints’ secondary allowed an NFL-low 13 touchdown passes while ranking fourth in the NFL in net passing yards per game (193.9).

In 2009, Allen tutored a secondary that played a key role in helping the Saints to their first Super Bowl victory. His unit accounted for an NFL-high six interception returns for touchdowns and totaled 22 picks en route to their championship. One of his pupils, cornerback Tracy Porter, sealed the Saints’ 31-17 win over Indianapolis by returning a Manning interception 74 yards for a touchdown late in the game.

He also helped revitalize the career of safety Darren Sharper, who in 2009 tied for the NFL lead with nine interceptions. Sharper joined safety Roman Harper in forming the first pair of defensive backs in franchise history to make the Pro Bowl in the same season.

In 2008, his first year as secondary coach, Allen helped the Saints overcome season-ending injuries to both starting cornerbacks and contributed to a defense that held five opponents under 200 yards passing.

Allen assisted in tutoring the Saints’ defensive line from 2006-07, helping defensive end Will Smith become a Pro Bowler in 2006 after posting 10½ sacks and forcing three fumbles.

He originally entered the NFL coaching ranks with Atlanta in 2002, spending four seasons with the Falcons as a defensive assistant. During his stint in Atlanta, the Falcons qualified for the playoffs twice—as a wild card in 2002 and as NFC South champs in 2004—and played in the NFC Championship in 2004.

Allen spent his first two years with Atlanta working primarily with the defensive backs. In 2002, he aided that unit in improving from No. 30 against the pass to 16th, while tying for third in the NFL with 24 interceptions.

In his final two campaigns in Atlanta, Allen assisted in coaching a defensive line that produced Pro Bowlers Patrick Kearney (2004) and Rod Coleman (2005). In 2004, the line helped the Falcons total 48 sacks to lead the NFL for the first time in team history.

Allen kicked off his football coaching career in 1996 as a graduate assistant at his alma mater, Texas A&M, where he was a four-year letterman as a safety. He worked with Aggies defensive backs for four seasons before coaching the secondary at the University of Tulsa from 2000-01.

A highly recruited defensive back at L. D. Bell High School in Hurst, Texas, before following his father, Grady Allen, to Texas A&M, Dennis went on to start the final 21 games of his career on the top-rated Texas A&M “Wrecking Crew” defense.

The Atlanta native was signed by Buffalo as an undrafted college free agent in 1996 and spent training camp with the Bills. His father, Grady, played in the NFL as a linebacker for the Atlanta Falcons from 1968-72.

Allen and his wife, Alisson, have a son, Garrison, and a daughter, Layla.

COACHING BACKGROUND