Jenks Football Coach Looks Forward To Getting Back In The Game

By Chris Wright, The News On 6

JENKS, OK -- Jenks football coach Allan Trimble will return to the sidelines after spending a season in exile.  The Oklahoma Secondary Schools Activities Association voted unanimously to reinstate him on Tuesday.

6/1/2010 Related Story: OSSAA's Board Reinstates Jenks High School Football Coach

Trimble has immediately resumed his role as Jenks head coach after his indefinite suspension was lifted. He says the experience was trying, and he's ready to move on.

"Very excited. It has been a long journey, a long nine months and a lot of emotion, said Allan Trimble, Jenks football coach. "But it's good to be back."

This is the first we've heard from Allan Trimble since his self-imposed suspension last October after his program was found guilty of numerous recruiting violations. After reviewing the case, the OSSAA extended his semester-long suspension to an indefinite one.

But the OSSAA board changed its mind Tuesday, and will allow Trimble to return to the gridiron.

"For me it's been really tough," he said. "When you're used to working with your football family and your coaches that are your good personal friends. Not being able to interact with those guys has been very challenging."

Trimble says football is all about life lessons, and he certainly learned one during his exile.

"You hopefully go through life and you learn from your mistakes, and you get better, you improve, and you move on," he said. "I definitely want to practice what I preach."

What he won't weigh on is the suspension itself, and whether or not he deserved to be gone from the game for so long.

Chris Wright, The News On 6: "Do you think the punishment was enough?"

Allan Trimble, Jenks Football Coach: "Well, that's not for me to decide. I met the expectations of the punishments and the things that were put in front of me, in many cases exceeded those."

Instead, he says he will return his focus to his passion, and promises not to make the same mistakes again.

"I think I'm going to put my hat and whistle on and go out there and pick up where I left off, Trimble said. "But I've been away. I'm really kind of renewed. Kind of excited, kind of a new opportunity for me. So I'm really looking forward to it."

Trimble's return to the football field is the talk of the town.

"I think it's wonderful," Carey Robbins said. "He's the tradition, the name, and I think its great that they got him back in there. There's a lot of people who are gonna be really happy."

"I think it's awesome," said Eva Casey. "I think he's an amazing coach. He's done wonderful things for the kids, wonderful things for the team. He was an excellent mentor to one of my step-children who was in the program, and I couldn't be happier."

A Jenks player has also been reinstated. He sat out his freshman year because of recruiting violations.