Allen Set For Healthy Dose Of Recruiting Looks Forward To Signing New Players For Broncos’ Debut In I-A

Boise State football coach Pokey Allen has received the one Christmas present he desperately desired: Cancer will not interfere with this year’s recruiting.

Allen, diagnosed with a rare, deadly tissue cancer a year ago, learned on Thursday night that his body is cancer-free.

He was thrilled, mostly because he said the news should end rumors that have been circulating on the recruiting trail.

“It’s a good time to have a clean bill of health,” Allen said Friday after flying to Missoula, Mont., for the holidays. “We’ve been getting beat up on recruiting. (Other coaches) have been using it against us, and now recruits don’t have to worry about it anymore.

“They know they’ll have a healthy coach.”

Allen, 52, completed an extensive series of medical examinations during the past week. The tests included a CAT scan on his chest, abdomen and pelvic regions, and an MRI on his right shoulder and arm.

Thursday night, while he was on a recruiting trip in Arizona, his doctor relayed the news over the telephone.

“There was no indication of any cancer anywhere in Allen,” said Dr. Carolyn Collins of the Cancer Treatment Center at St. Alphonsus Regional Medical Center in Boise.

“You know me; I don’t worry about that stuff,” Allen said. “The news makes you feel good, but I feel 100 times better than I did in the fall. I knew everything was OK.”

The news reached his coaching staff Friday morning.

“We all got big smiles, and there were a lot of high-fives. It was great,” offensive coordinator Dave Stromswold said.

“It’s fantastic news … We were all nervous about it, even though we shouldn’t have doubted Pokey. He said he’s known all along,” defensive line coach and recruiting coordinator Barry Sacks said.

Allen still isn’t cured of the disease that affects mostly children.

The rhabdomyosarcoma that attacked his right tricep could return as Collins has always maintained.

She has given Allen a 35-percent chance to survive the cancer, despite the removal of a tumor in March, eight months of exhaustive chemotherapy treatments and a stem-cell transplant procedure.

Allen said he would continue to have monthly blood tests. In late spring or early summer he will have additional CAT scans and MRI tests. In the meantime, he’s thinking about going on a diet. Once down to 180 pounds, Allen now weighs about 195.

Allen is spending the holiday weekend with his mother, Esther, and 2-year-old daughter, Taylor, in Missoula. He will be back in Boise on Wednesday, then return his attention to recruiting.

“The recruiting is hot this year,” he said. “There’s no time to waste.”

The process ends Feb. 7 with letter-of-intent day. The Broncos hope to sign about 25 new players for their first year of NCAA Division I-A football.