Coach James "Stute" Allen was a small town boy, born in Amory. He played basketball for Itawamba Agricultural High School. In the late 20's, his team lost to Wheeler in a state championship game played at MC's gym. That's when he decided he wanted to come to Mississippi College. While still a MC student, he coached basketball at Hllman Institute, the women's college in Clinton that was absorbed by MC in 1942. It was there he aquired the nickname, "Stute". After graduating MC in 1933, Allen coached at Clinton High for 20 years. The gym his teams played in was named for him after he returned to coach at Mississippi College. He brought to the  Choctaws a style of fast-break, full court press basketball rarely seen in those times. He believed that the more you scored, the better you were. Allen recruited a lot of small schools and poor kids and he kept them motivated about their classwork. Allen's teams held nine NCAA Division II scoring records at one time. His 1959-1960 team averaged a record 114.2 points a game. In 1965, MC set a national mark for points scored by a losing team in a 160-146 defeat by Livingston. In 1971, the Choctaws set a record for victory margin when they beat Dallas Bible Colllege 168-50. Win or lose, Allen was always a picture of composure on the bench. He did his coaching in practice and just let the boys play on game nights.