Allison Guth leaves behind strong legacy of winning, big shoes to fill for Yale women’s basketball

Allison Guth, arguably the most successful women’s basketball coach in the history of Yale’s program, is now the new head coach at Loyola Chicago.

Guth said that her decision to leave Yale was “a personal one,” as most of the Arlington Heights, Ill. native’s family resides in the greater Chicago area. Guth herself is an Illinois native and played college basketball at Illinois.

Previous stops at Loyola Chicago, Missouri, DePaul, Yale and Northwestern preceded her appointment to the head coaching position at Yale in May 2015.

Leaving Yale was “a hard thing to walk away from,” Guth said.

The new Ramblers’ coach said that Loyola Chicago “has changed a lot in the 18 years since I have been there.” The program enters the challenging Atlantic 10 for the 2022-23 season.

Guth’s 2021-22 squad compiled a record of 16-11 overall and 9-5 in Ivy League play. The Bulldogs boasted out-of-conference wins over Providence, Northeastern and NCAA participant Fairfield.

The next Yale women’s basketball head coach will inherit a veteran team.

Yale returns All-Ivy first-team honoree Camilla Emsbo and All-Ivy second-teamer Jenna Clark, creating a strong nucleus that also includes Klara Astrom.

Guth installed a culture of winning at Yale, notching 99 victories and five consecutive winning seasons. Her 2017-18 team won the Women’s Basketball Invitational title, becoming the first Ivy League team to win a national postseason women’s basketball championship.

That was Yale’s 19^th win of the season,  a school record the Bulldogs would match two seasons later.

Look for Yale to take a look at current assistant John Miller, Tufts head coach Jill Pace (who took over when Carla Berube left for Princeton) and Ivy, Big Ten and Pac-12 assistant coaches to succeed Guth.