The “longest honeymoon in history” is coming to an end.
Ron Allan and Tammy Adams were married Aug. 6, 1983, in their hometown of Fremont, Ohio, and arrived in Florida three days later. Allan interviewed for a teaching and coaching position at Lecanto High School on Aug. 10 and started work Aug. 15.
When a new school year begins this August, it will be the first time in 40 years that longtime coach, teacher and athletic director Ron Allan won’t be roaming the halls or the sidelines at Lecanto High School.
When Allan began his career out of college, Lecanto didn’t even have a high school building. It shared the middle school building while the high school was being built. In the spring of 1984, there was a graduating class of one. Now, Lecanto is the largest school system in Citrus County.
“When we got here it was a thing where we didn’t know how long it was going to be. But we really started to grow really fond of the area,” Allan said. “I worked with some really good principals and APs over the years. We always had a good relationship with administration and the county office. We just really liked it and still do. We’ve gotten to know a lot of people and have a lot of friends from the different schools and community members we’ve come in contact with.”
Sandra “Sam” Himmel, Superintendent of Citrus County Schools, said “Ron has been an icon at Lecanto High School. He served the district and our students well.”
A family affair
When Allan leaves work on Tuesday, May 31, it will be for the last time after nearly four decades of service.
The Allans – along with son Danny, who also works in the Lecanto school system – are packing up and moving to Kansas to be closer to sons Brent and Jake.
In fact, Ron Allan is headed to the same high school Jake works at – Campus High in Haysville, Kansas. He will continue to coach girls basketball and teach, while Tammy – who worked at Lecanto Middle School for nearly 40 years herself – is going to be a stay-at-home grandmother to a pair of granddaughters.
“She can hardly wait,” Allan said.
Danny will be working at another nearby school while Brent – the first baby ever born in Citrus County in 2000 – is finishing up college in Kansas.
The four Allan boys “all grew up in Lecanto complex,” Allan said. Brad graduated in 2005, followed by Jake (2009), Danny (2011) and Brent (2018).
Allan said he wasn’t looking for something different, but when Jake texted him a few weeks ago about the girls basketball job at his high school opening up, the interest was there. Later that day, Jake called his dad and said a teaching job was also available. After conversations with the administration, the deal was done.
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Ron Allan lifts up the game ball as he is honored for his 350th
career girls basketball coaching victory, during halftime of a
Lecanto boys basketball game this past season.
mattpfiffner / Matt Pfiffner / Sports editor
“We’re excited, we’re sad. It’s never easy leaving something that you’ve put so much of your time, heart and soul into,” Allan said. “My family’s life has pretty much revolved around this place in one form or another. That’s going to be tough. It’s tough now.”
Memorable moments
Allan has been at LHS ever since it opened, so he has literally been around for every game ever played by a Panthers team.
In his first year at the school, Allan was the assistant middle school football coach, helped coach the high school junior varsity and varsity football teams, was the head softball coach, filmed for the boys basketball squad and taught high school business education.
Since that time, Allan has coached nearly every high school sport either as an assistant or head coach, including girls basketball, where he passed the 350-wins mark this past winter. He has been athletic director since 2010.
Allan was inducted into the Florida Athletic Coaches Association’s Hall of Fame in 2018.
“I remember so many games. I can replay games in my head sometimes. Football, basketball, whatever it is,” he said. “I remember a lot of the kids and a lot of interactions we had, either on or off the field. Will always cherish those.”
Some moments that do stand out to Allan include watching the softball program that he helped start win the 1996 Class 4A state championship game 2-1 over Lake Wales in the school’s first postseason appearance; the boys soccer team in 2004 defeating Rockledge 3-1 for the Class 4A state title; guiding the girls basketball team to the Class 2A Elite 8 in 1991; and watching the girls basketball program he helped build advance to the Class 5A Final Four in 2016.
Another moment that stands out to Allan didn’t have anything to do with winning a championship or even involve a team with a winning record.
“My first year as head softball coach we beat South Sumter, who was No. 2 in the state,” he said. “To pull an upset like that at the end of the season, just to see how those girls progressed from losing something like 11 games in a row to beating a top-rated team.”
A lasting impact
Allan is also proud of all the great coaches he worked with, either as their assistant coach or them assisting him, and how much the athletic facilities have grown over the years.
“I look at where we’re now facility-wise, when I first drove up, there were no fields, it was all sand,” Allan said. “You come up and see what you see and it’s like ‘wow.’ To see how far we’ve come.”
There are also the countless athletes Allan impacted over the years – including 2017 Lecanto graduate Austin D’Anna, who had a spectacular soccer career and became the Panthers’ head coach two years ago.
“During my high school career I was always on speaking terms with coach Allan, as my dad played softball with him back in the day, so we had that connection from the start. But it was really only until my senior year, I’d say, when I had legitimate conversations with him,” D’Anna said. “I specifically remember him coming to the district semifinal to watch us play and filmed the after-game celebrations, yelling out “bowls of goals baby” at me after I was blessed to score a hat trick to get us in the district final and qualifying for regionals for the first time in about six years. Soccer here in Citrus County isn’t football, so it meant a lot that he took the time to come support what ended up being an incredible run.
“But it was only when I was trusted by him and (Lecanto principal Jason) Koon to get this head coaching job at 22 when I really got to see the behind the scenes work that he does for all of LHS athletics and everything he has to deal with, that I gained a true appreciation for his dedication to the program.
“I will truly miss having him as my AD and more importantly as a mentor/adult friend to have access to throughout the soccer season. I wish him nothing but blessings and success as he closes this chapter with LHS.”
David Logue, a 2000 Lecanto graduate and head baseball coach for the Panthers the past 12 years, said Allan was always there for his coaches.
“Coach Allan was a great leader to the sports programs at Lecanto High during his time as AD. He almost always had answers to your questions and if he didn’t, he found the answer very quick,” Logue said. “Any time tough situations came up in my program he always had good advice to help me navigate through them.”
But it wasn’t just coaches and athletes at Lecanto who learned from Allan. Bobby Verlato, a 1994 graduate of Crystal River and athletic director for the Pirates since 2016, is thankful for what Allan did for a new AD at a rival school.
“When I became an athletic director, he helped mentor me, even though I was at another school,” Verlato said. “When I think of Lecanto, I think of Ron Allan. He has done so much for the school and athletic programs at Lecanto. Ron has always been an ambassador for Citrus County sports to the FHSAA and FIAAA. He will be missed!”
Peter Rausch, who has taught and coached at Lecanto the past five years, has nothing but respect for Allan.
“Working with Ron Allan, aka the Legend, has been a privilege as a coach and club advisor. The tireless effort he has put into Lecanto can never be measured. His knowledge and experience is boundless,” Rausch said. “The greatest compliment I can give him is that he is one of the greatest advocates for student-athletes and coaches that I have known in 20-plus years.”
That passion for wanting to see those around him achieve success never wavered for Allan.
“Hopefully people out there who know me, know I always tried to do things the right way and had the best interest of the kids in mind,” Allan said. “I’m thankful. We were blessed. We’re going to leave a little piece of us here.”
