ST. LOUIS - Terry Allen remembers walking into a conference room on the top floor of the Stouffer Concourse Hotel here two decades ago.

Personally, Allen's bar wasn't set so high.

He entered the 1989 version of the Gateway Football Conference's media day as a rookie head coach at Northern Iowa. Just 32 years old, Allen shared the floor with veterans like Bob Spoo of Eastern Illinois, Dennis Raetz of Indiana State and Western Illinois' Bruce Craddock. And, the preseason poll predicted a fifth-place finish for his Panthers

"I was pretty intimidated by the people on the docket," said Allen, grinning. "I guess that's the biggest change in 20 years."

Maybe it's the biggest, but it's hardly the only thing that's changed in the 20 years since Allen began his first season as a head coach. And it shows that time always plays hard and never kills the clock.

In 2009, it's the Missouri Valley Football Conference, not the Gateway. The hotel is called the Renaissance. Spoo and his Eastern Illinois Panthers belong to the Ohio Valley Conference. Raetz no longer coaches. Craddock battled liver cancer until his death in 1990 at the age of 46.

And Allen? He's gone from new kid on the block to elder statesman. Twenty years ago, he was single. Today, he's a 50-something family man.

In 1989, no one knew what Allen would do at Northern Iowa. He then won seven consecutive conference titles and reached the semifinals of the Football Championship Subdivision (then Division I-AA) playoffs. His 1992 team was ranked first nationally.

Over those two decades, Allen learned about the top of the world and the bottom of the barrel.

Kansas hired him and then fired him. He became an assistant coach for Dan McCarney at Iowa State, then rejoined the MVFC as the head man at Missouri State. He's about to begin his fourth year with the Bears with a record of 12-21. It's a little short of Allen's 75-26 mark at UNI.

His life has run a long lap around the track. Change has followed him every step of the way. Yet, as he watched a rookie head coach named Brock Spack talk about his 2009 Illinois State Redbirds, Allen could smile. He's been there.

"It's fun, knowing what these guys are going through and what we've gone through," he said. "But it still reverts back to the players and the history of this league and how fun it is being back and being a part of it."

Reeling through the years, it's interesting to examine Allen's rookie season as a head coach.

That 1989 team has been thrust into the shadows, thanks largely to the success that followed under Allen and then Mark Farley, who took the Panthers to the FCS title game in 2005.

In 1989, Allen replaced Earle Bruce, who bolted for Colorado State after an undistinguished 5-6 record in his only season at UNI. As a rookie, Allen wanted to move forward and yet fade back to the wide-open days of Darrell Mudra.

"We wanted a little glitz and glitter instead of three yards and a cloud of dust," said Allen, who served as an assistant to Mudra.

He got it, but Allen's first game was nowhere close to glittering. UNI lost to Mankato State, a Division II school.

Then he faced Kansas State, coached by a former Iowa assistant named Bill Snyder. Snyder's magic wand hadn't been delivered to Manhattan yet. Allen beat him, 10-8.

"After losing to Mankato State, that was probably the cleanser," said Allen.

UNI failed to make the playoffs in 1989, thanks to losses against (of all teams) Missouri State, plus Illinois State. But the Panthers were on the way. UNI began its run of postseason appearances the next year, with stars like James Jones and Kenny Shedd leading the way.

Jones and Shedd and the rest of Allen's Panthers have come and gone. Another generation of players hits the field in a matter of weeks. And somewhere, a 30-year old head coach will try to find his way.

That was Terry Allen 20 years ago. Today, he can pass along a little advice.

"Enjoy," he said, laughing. "Enjoy. Relate to the players, enjoy and be yourself."