Allison Guth, who has spent the last seven years as head coach at Yale University, leading the team to 99 wins, has been named head women’s basketball coach at Loyola University Chicago, Director of Athletics Steve Watson announced on Friday. A 17-year coaching veteran, Guth, the 10th head coach in program history, returns to Rogers Park after previously serving as an assistant coach with the Ramblers from 2005-07.
“We are thrilled to welcome Allison Guth back to Loyola and back home to Chicago,” Watson said. “Allison has a proven track record of success having worked with multiple outstanding Division I programs, including right here at Loyola at the very beginning of her coaching career. She has a history of recruiting high character student-athletes who are successful on the court, in the classroom and in the community. We couldn’t be more excited to welcome Allison back to Loyola.”
“It is hard to put into words the abundance of gratitude I have to come home and to lead our young women at Loyola University Chicago,” Guth commented. “This is the place I was blessed with my first collegiate opportunity and the place in which I fell in love with coaching. To say that this is surreal in the moment, is an understatement. It was evident the minute I stepped back on campus that my passion and purpose completely align with that of Loyola’s tremendous leadership. I am most thankful to Dr. Jo Ann Rooney, Tom Kelly, Steve Watson, and Holly Strauss-O’Brien for entrusting me with this tremendous responsibility and opportunity. Loyola offers a world-class experience academically, athletically, and socially to our student-athletes. I can’t wait to get to work with these phenomenal women.”
Guth led Yale to unprecedented levels of success during her seven years in New Haven, Conn., piloting the Bulldogs to five consecutive winning seasons. In her third year at the helm, Yale finished with a program-record 19 wins en route to winning the Women’s Basketball Invitational, becoming the first Ivy League team to win a national postseason women’s basketball tournament. Guth’s team matched the feat in 2020-21, finishing 19-8 (9-5 Ivy) before seeing its season cut short due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
While at Yale, Guth, who was an assistant coach with the Bulldogs from 2010-12, mentored 11 All-Ivy League selections, a group highlighted by the pairing of Tamara Simpson and Roxie Barahman. Simpson was named the Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year in 2016-17 and 2017-18, closing her career ranked second on the conference’s all-time steals leaderboard with 347 thefts, while Barahman became the first Bulldog in six years to earn back-to-back First Team All-Ivy League nods in both 2018-19 and 2019-20.
Guth’s teams also shined in the classroom, with eight student-athletes earning Academic All-Ivy League honors. Four of her Bulldog teams received the NCAA Public Recognition Award for recording an Academic Progress Rate score that ranked in the top 10 among Division I women’s basketball programs.
No stranger to the Chicagoland area, Guth bookended her time as an assistant coach at Yale with stints at both Northwestern (2013-15) and DePaul (2008-10).
While with the Wildcats, Guth, who served as the team’s recruiting coordinator in addition to her role as an assistant coach, was part of a staff that totaled 53 wins over three seasons, including a 2014-15 campaign in which Northwestern went 23-9 (12-6 Big Ten), posting the program’s top win total in nearly 20 years as the Wildcats earned their first NCAA Tournament berth since the 1996-97 season.
During her time in Lincoln Park, Guth spent two seasons as director of basketball operations, handling video exchange and scouting in addition to being involved with on-campus recruiting and summer camps. The Blue Demons made back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament with Guth on staff.
Prior to a one-year stop at Missouri as an assistant coach in 2007-08, Guth cut her teeth in the coaching ranks during her aforementioned time at Loyola. She aided in the recruitment of former Rambler great Maggie McCloskey, who still ranks as the program’s all-time leader in multiple three-point shooting categories.
A three-year letterwinner at the University of Illinois, Guth, a native of Arlington Heights, Ill., was a member of the 2003 Fighting Illini team that reached the NCAA Tournament. She captured an Illinois High School Association (IHSA) Class 2A state title at Buffalo Grove High School in 2000, later earning induction into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association (IBCA) Hall of Fame with the team in 2013.
Guth and her wife, Jessie, are proud parents to two sons, Ray and Garvey.
Photo Courtesy Loyola Athletics
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