Nation Ford football coach Michael Allen resigns in midseason. What we know.

Nation Ford High School football coach Michael Allen has resigned just three games into the 2024 season.

Nation Ford, from Fort Mill, is 1-3 this season and plays state power Rock Hill Northwestern (4-0) Friday.

Efforts by The Rock Hill Herald to reach Allen were unsuccessful.

“Due to the confidential nature of personnel matters, the district is unable to provide specific details at this time,” said Joe Burke, chief communications officer for the Fort Mill School District. “The school will determine the next steps regarding the coaching vacancy in the coming months.”

Burke said that the school has appointed assistant coach Jason McManus as interim coach for the remainder of the season.

McManus is a former head coach at Myers Park High in Charlotte. McManus, 46, was also an assistant at Rock Hill’s South Pointe High. He volunteered at Kings Mountain High as a football assistant in the 2023 season.

McManus took a physical education job and assistant athletic director position at Nation Ford in October, and started coaching as offensive coordinator in January at Nation Ford.

“We were all surprised by coach Allen’s resignation,” McManus told The Herald. “He’s been here since the day the school opened, and he’s built this program from the ground up. He made a decision that’s best for him. We’re all sad and somber but we want to grow from this and move forward and try to do what’s best for our senior class and have a great rest of the season.”

Allen was promoted from an assistant to head coach in 2010, replacing Rusty Jester who was a longtime coach at Charlotte’s Independence High School.

In 2015, Allen became the all-time winningest football coach in Fort Mill Township history.

Nation Ford has had three straight losing seasons since finishing 3-2 during the 2020-21 school year, when COVID affected the length of the schedule.

Prior to that, Nation Ford had five winning seasons under Allen with two season finishing at .500.