Having led his teams to six conference championships and seven NCAA Tournament appearances as a head coach, Jeff Dow has been named the eighth head women’s basketball coach in Southeastern Louisiana University history, SLU Director of Athletics Jay Artigues announced Tuesday.
Dow’s hiring is pending the approval of the University of Louisiana System’s Board of Supervisors. Dow replaces Ayla Guzzardo, who resigned after eight seasons.
Dow spent the past six seasons at Southland Conference member UIW. As a head coach, he has a 344-271 record and a 586-437 mark including his time as a lead assistant. During his coaching career as a head coach and lead assistant, his teams have compiled 12 20-win seasons, eight NCAA Tournament appearances, four postseason WNIT appearances and seven conference titles.
The 2024-25 Cardinals advanced to the WNIT and posted their third straight winning season. In his six seasons in San Antonio, only UIW and SLU made the Southland Conference Tournament each of those years.
His version of the Cardinals won 48 games more than the program won in the six seasons prior to his arrival. In 2021-22, he led UIW to the Southland Conference Tournament championship and the first NCAA Tournament appearance by a women’s athletic program at UIW.
In the classroom, all 16 members of his 2024-25 UIW roster posted a 3.0 or higher. During his tenure, every women’s basketball student-athlete who completed their senior season graduated from UIW, while 57 players earned a spot on the Southland Conference Commissioner’s Honor Roll.
The 2024-25 Cardinals also were heavily involved in the community. This year’s UIW roster performed over 500 hours of community service, averaging over 30 hours of community service per student-athlete. During Dow’s tenure, the Cardinals performed over 2,200 hours of community service.
“We’d like to thank Ayla for her contributions and wish her the best in the future,” Artigues commented. “We’re thrilled to have a proven winner in Jeff lead our women’s basketball program. His knowledge of the Southland Conference and track record of success at every coaching stop makes him a great choice to help our Lady Lions continue meeting our expectations of excellence in the classroom, in the community and in competition. With his previous team’s dedication to all three of those areas, we felt like Jeff definitely checked all the boxes for what we’re looking for as a head coach.”
Dow is excited about the opportunity to lead the reigning SLC regular season champion Lady Lions.
“Our family is excited to embrace the Hammond, America community,” Dow commented. “I’m thankful to (University president) Dr. (William) Wainwright and Jay Artigues for providing me the incredible honor of leading a Southeastern Louisiana University program that has established itself as one of the premier programs in the Southland Conference.”
Dow’s respect for the Lady Lion program and the support of the Lion Nation played a large role in his joining the Southeastern family.
“We’ve had some great battles with Southeastern over the years and I’ve always been impressed with their fan support,” Dow said. “I’m excited to get to know all our great supporters, especially the valued members of our PRIDE organization. Coach Guzzardo and her staff did an outstanding job building this program and making this one of the premier jobs in the region. I’m ready to get started.”
Dow came to UIW after five seasons as the head coach at ULM. With the Warhawks, he coached 2017-18 Louisiana Freshman of the Year and 2018-19 All-Sun Belt Conference performer Arsula Clark and helped ULM to its first non-conference winning records in over a decade.
Prior to his time in Monroe, Dow was 108-40 from 2008-13 at Division II Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He led the Crimson Hawks to three NCAA Tournament appearances and IUP squads finished as high as No. 7 in its four appearances in the final national polls.
Dow joined the Crimson Hawks after a three-year stint at Anderson University in South Carolina, where he was 79-17 and led his team to three NCAA Tournament appearances, two conference regular season championships and a conference tournament title. He was named Conference Carolinas Coach of the Year in his final season at Anderson.
Prior to his time in South Carolina, Dow was the lead assistant at Colorado State (2002-05), Santa Clara (2000-02), UC Irvine (1996-99) and New Mexico State (1992-96). His record as a lead assistant is 218-134 overall and 122-65 in conference play.
Dow made his head coaching debut at the age of 24 at Texas A&M University-Kingsville in 1990-91. Picked to finish ninth in the conference’s preseason poll, Dow’s Lady Javelinas finished third and reached the semifinals of the Lone Star Conference Tournament.
A graduate of Oregon, Dow started his career as a graduate assistant at his alma mater. Dow earned his bachelor’s degree in psychology and physical education in 1988 and his master’s degree in physical education in 1991 during his time in Eugene. He and his wife, Emily, have two daughters, Chloe and Helena.
The 2025-26 SLU women’s basketball season will tip off in early November.
https://lionsports.net/news/2025/3/25/southeastern-names-jeff-dow-head-womens-basketball-coach.aspx
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