ALLEN NEW FOOTBALL COACH

From Keith Groller

Looking forward to meeting Cedric Lloyd. Allen's new football coach, today. I meet him at Allen at 1 p.m.

Hopefully you saw the story on C2 of our sports section.

He is an interesting choice that's for sure.

Unlike the guys who have been around here for awhile, it takes some time to get to know a guy from out-of-state. Thank goodness for the Internet and the ability to find out some things via clicks of a computer keyboard.

I'm sure we'll find out much more today about Lloyd, but we do know that he has been coaching football for awhile, about 20 years. He's 40 years old. He has three kids.

He's an African-American, the school's first as a head coach in football. While they'll never admit it, I do know that's something ASD was looking for. They liked the job that both Donnie Roberts and Harold Fairclough have done at Central Catholic and see how skin color can be a great asset in relating to a kid.

Let's face it. It's a diverse community, and to be able to reach out and forge a relationship, diversity in your coaching staff can be an effective and important tool.

Although there's some uncertainty about his career record, I believe Lloyd has had some success at other schools, but at his most recent stop -- Emmerich Manual High in inner-city Indianapolis -- he struggled to win games and to keep kids. But it appears to be through no fault of his own.

Frankly, Manual sounds like a school that makes Allen and Dieruff seem like paradise.

The school has a 39 percent graduation rate and I saw a chart that shows Manual generally starts out with 700 kids as freshmen and by the time that class becomes seniors, little more than 100 are left.

Yet, from what I read online, Lloyd tries his best to make a difference, even against long odds.

He tried to instill in his players a sense of discipline, a sense of right and wrong, a sense of belonging.

And, I'm sure that's what impressed the school district folks who made this choice.

Certainly, Lloyd's record the past two years -- 2-18 -- didn't.

But again, Allentown athletics these days is largely about saving lives, not about winning games, and from what I've read about him, Lloyd will have his priorities straight and know what exactly what he's getting into and what the proper course will be. In that regard, I think he'll be much better prepared for what to expect than John McDowell was entering his first year at Dieruff.

And at least Lloyd, being hired now, has more time to get ingrained than McDowell, who didn't arrive on the East Side until June.

I don't know if there will be a highly-publicized, lengthy series or articles on Lloyd and Allen football like Steve Esack's popular Yard-by-Yard series. But I do know this is an interesting hire and a story that will be worth a look as it unfolds.

Keith Groller