After one season as interim head coach, Jason Allison was named the full-time head coach of the App State men's golf program in June 2021.
Since Allison became App State's head coach through the 2021 fall schedule, the Mountaineers have beaten or tied 90 of their 134 opponents in tournament play. In that time, App State has had eight top-three team finishes in 14 events.
During the 2020-21 season, Allison directed the Mountaineers to their best Sun Belt Championship team finish in school history and coached Timothius Tirto Tamardi to an NCAA berth at the Kingston Springs Regional.
Under Allison's watch, App State placed sixth out of 12 teams at the 2021 Sun Belt Championship, finishing two strokes out of fourth. Tamardi tied for fifth on the individual leaderboard and was one of three Mountaineers in the top 20. The junior from Indonesia not only became the program's third All-Sun Belt honoree, but he also became just the second golfer in school history to earn a trip to the NCAA Championships.
The team's 3.73 grade point average in fall 2020 was its best semester GPA in program history.
Allison spent the previous six years on staff with the Mountaineers' men's basketball program, including the 2018-19 season as associate head coach. He also has experience as the head golf coach at Lees-McRae College (Banner Elk, N.C.) and King College (Bristol, Tenn.).
As Special Assistant to the Head Coach in 2019-20, Allison played a key role in App State's 18 victories. The Mountaineers were ranked as one of the top defenses in the Sun Belt and posted a +7 win turnaround, which was the third highest in the nation.
Allison spent his first four seasons as App State as an assistant coach, before being promoted to associate head coach for the 2018-19 season.
He was instrumental in the growth of the Mountaineer hoops program. Allison successfully recruited three-time All-Sun Belt honoree Ronshad Shabazz. In four seasons, Shabazz was just the second player if program history to score 2,000 career points and the first player to score 500 or more points in three different seasons. Allison also recruited Griffin Kinney, who appeared 122 total games (7th all-time), averaging 7.7 points on 51.2 percent shooting and 4.9 rebounds.
Allison was also responsible for the coaching and development of Frank Eaves. In his career, Eaves was a two-time All-Sun Belt selection and totaled 1,211 career points (24th all-time). During his senior season in 2015-16, Eaves averaged a team-high 18.7 points, while leading the Black and Gold with 68 assists and 26 steals.
Allison joined the App State men's basketball staff as an assistant coach in 2014 after spending nine years at Virginia Military Institute.
During his tenure at VMI, Allison served as an associate coach/recruiting coordinator and helped lead the Keydets to three appearances in the Big South Tournament title game and to the semifinals of the 2014 CollegeInsider.com Tournament.
He helped coach 23 all-Big South honorees at VMI, including the league’s Player of the Year (Stan Okoye – 2013), two Defensive Players of the Year (Travis Holmes – 2007, D.J. Covington – 2013, 2014) and Freshman of the Year (D.J. Covington – 2011).
The Keydets eclipsed the 20-win plateau twice in Allison’s nine seasons with the program (24 wins in 2008-09 and 22 in 2013-14), a feat that VMI achieved just three times in the 97 years prior to his arrival.
A high-flying offense was a staple of VMI’s program while Allison was on the bench. In his nine seasons, VMI led the nation in scoring six times and former Keydet standout Reggie Williams won back-to-back NCAA scoring titles in 2006-07 and ‘07-08. Ten players that Allison helped coach at VMI eclipsed 1,000 career points, including three 2,000-point scorers.
Known for his recruiting prowess, Allison landed some of the region’s top prep players as VMI’s recruiting coordinator. Most recently, he was responsible for the recruitment of Q.J. Peterson, who averaged 19 points per game and ranked 49th nationally in scoring as a true freshman in 2013-14, and Jon Elmore, who was named the 2014 West Virginia Player of the Year after averaging 31.4 points per game as a high-school senior.
Prior to his time at VMI, Allison spent two years at King College in Bristol, Tenn. as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for both the varsity and junior varsity teams, as well as the head men's golf coach. Prior to his stint at King, Allison coached at Gaston Day School in Gastonia, N.C. where he served as an assistant coach in 2002-03, helping lead the Spartans to a 28-4 mark and a spot in the Final Four of the state tournament.
Allison began his coaching career at Lynchburg Christian Academy where he served as the head basketball coach of the junior varsity team and was an assistant for the varsity squad in 1998-99. He was also an assistant basketball coach and head men's golf coach at nearby Lees-McRae College in 1999-2000 and moved into private business for one year before resuming his coaching career in 2002.
Allison played three collegiate basketball seasons at Liberty University from 1995-98. He helped the Flames to a 23-9 record and the school’s first Big South regular-season title as a sophomore in 1997.
A native of Lincolnton, N.C., Allison received his bachelor’s degree in physical education from Liberty in 1999. He is married to the former Hope McLaughlin and the couple has two sons, Riley and Ryder.
