A little more than 12 months after coaching Nansemond-Suffolk to the state football title, Kevin Allen resigned as the Saints’ varsity football coach Friday after two seasons with the Saints.

Allen is going to the Richmond area to be closer to his children and take a job as an athletic trainer with Shane Sykes and Elkin Sports Performance, a company that specializes in training college football players looking to make the jump to the pros.

“NSA was very good to me and for me and I think I did well for them,” Allen said. “I loved working with the kids. I loved that part of it. They gave me everything they had and all I ever asked, which is all a coach wants.”

The Saints won seven or their last eight games in 2009, Allen’s first year with the Saints and first year as a high school head coach, finishing with a 17-0 win in the Virginia Independent Schools, Div. II, state championship game at No. 1-seed Blue Ridge. It was NSA’s first state championship since 2000. The Saints dropped to a 4-6 record this season.

“I see this as a good opportunity for me to head up that way,” Allen said.

“I need to see my kids more and it was just impossible to coach (in Suffolk) and live in Richmond,” he said.

Allen said he expects to go back into coaching at the high school or collegiate level in the near future. He also wants to go into teaching.

“A lot of kids need positive influences on their lives. I want to utilize everything God’s given me whether that ‘s in a classroom or on a field,” Allen said.

Allen’s departure means next season the Saints will have their fourth different head coach in six seasons since Terry Crigger, who coached NSA for 26 years, left the position in 2005.