BenU Women's Basketball to Sign New Head Coach in June

from Benedictine University

The Benedictine University Department of Athletics has announced the hiring of Kristen Gillespie as head women's basketball coach. Gillespie joins the Eagles after serving as the top assistant women's coach and recruiting coordinator at NCAA Division I University of Illinois-Chicago since 2009.

“We are very excited to have Kristen lead our women's basketball program,” Benedictine Director of Athletics Mark McHorney said. “I would like to thank the search committee for identifying a strong group of finalists. Kristen will do a great job moving our program forward and will be a great representative for Benedictine University.”

Gillespie joins an athletic department that produced three Northern Athletics Conference (NAC) championships during the 2010-2011 academic year. Benedictine won conference titles and advanced to the NCAA tournament in football, men’s basketball and women’s softball. 

Gillespie has a wealth of coaching knowledge. Before joining the UIC staff, she served as an assistant coach at North Carolina State in Raleigh, N.C., from 2007-2009. Her duties included scouting, recruiting and player development. Previously, Gillespie was an assistant coach at University of California-Santa Barbara and University of Central Florida. She was also the director of the Kay Yow Basketball Camps.

Gillespie served as a graduate assistant at North Carolina State from 2002-04 where she earned her master's degree in Liberal Studies with a concentration in Marketing and Sports Administration. She played for the Wolfpack under head coach Kay Yow from 1996-99. She was named an Honorable Mention Academic All America, helped lead her team to a four-year record of 81-40 and was the captain and starting point guard on the 1998 Final Four team.

“I am thrilled to join the Benedictine University family,” Gillespie said. “I was very impressed with McHorney and his entire staff during the interview process. It was easy for me to see that Benedictine University is an elite NCAA Division III institution. I look forward to continuing to build on the winning tradition (former coach Paul Nelson established."

Gillespie inherits a Benedictine women's basketball program that went 16-10 in the 2010-11 season with an 11-6 mark in the NAC. The Eagles advanced to the semifinal round of the NAC tournament before losing to eventual champion Wisconsin Lutheran College.

“It is my goal to strengthen the program and bring it to national prominence,” Gillespie said. “We will win both on and off the court, and we will do it in a first-class manner consistent with the mission of the University.”

Gillespie will officially start June 1.