Former Atlantic City Vikings boys' basketball coach Bill Swain win record of 352 wins appears to be safe.

The Atlantic City school board voted on Tuesday night not to bring back Gene Allen, their head basketball coach of the past 15 years. Allen was just 17 wins away from the all-time mark, notching 336 wins for the Vikings, along with the only three state titles in school history.

Mike McGarry from the Press of Atlantic City was the first to report the story.

According to the Press reports, the parent of former player Ray Bethea Jr., Ray Sr., complained about Allen sending text messages to players, which Allen has confirmed to Philly.com.

Allen told Phil Anastasia of Philly.com:

"I didn't see it coming," Allen said. "If I did, I would have went up there [to the board meeting] to defend myself. But I didn't do anything wrong. I was never written up. I never had a reprimand. There was nothing in my file."

Former assistant coach and player Elijah Langford, who is the teams JV coach, is acting as the head coach currently, but a facebook post on Wednesday showed his support of the coach.

Though Langford asked for support of Allen at the upcoming B.O.E board meeting on Dec 11, it seems like Allen is ready to move on, per Anastasia.

"That's not me," Allen said. "I don't want that. I really don't want to go back after this."

Atlantic City is one of the top high school basketball programs in the state, finishing 25-5 last season, losing in the South Jersey Group IV final to Shawnee.

They open up tryouts for the 2018-19 season on Monday.

 

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