Allison Compass, a McMillen High School teacher, volleyball and track coach, was selected this week to be a part of the 2024 Rare, Outstanding, Compelled and Knowledgeable (R.O.C.K.) Coaches Mentoring Program.
The program is run by the Texas High School Coaches Association & Coaches Education Foundation (THSCA) and Texas A&M University’s Thornton-McFerrin Coaching Academy, who match coaches that are new to the program with veteran coaches for mentorship.
According to R.O.C.K., data shows that many first through fifth-year coaches and teachers are leaving the profession, and the mentoring program aims to mitigate that.
To get into the program, coaches and athletic directors in the THSCA can nominate coaches who are in their first five years of coaching, employed by a UIL-sanctioned school and willing to commit to the two-year program. From there, a committee of athletic directors representing different regions of the state chose the mentees, who then attended the 2024 R.O.C.K. Coaches Mentoring Program Symposium at AT&T Stadium in Arlington for a two-day workshop.
Throughout the following year, the mentees and mentors will follow a year-long curriculum that provides bi-monthly access to virtual learning modules with discussion prompts, activities and situational challenges for each pair to discuss.
Compass coaches ninth grade volleyball and girls track at McMillen High School. She graduated from Stephen F. Austin University and returned to Plano in 2019.
Plano ISD last had a participant in 2022, when former Plano East Senior High School coach Nicolas Summerfield was in the R.O.C.K. program.
