Allison Coleman was named the Utica University Interim Head Women's Basketball Coach to begin the offseason in March of 2025. Coleman ascended to the head spot after a single season as an assistant coach for the Pioneers' staff.
Prior to her time at Utica, Coleman spent ten seasons as the head coach of the Russell Sage College women's basketball program. In her decade of competition with the Gators, Coleman amassed a 142-103 record (.580 win percentage)Â
She earned her 100th career head coaching win on February 8, 2020 as the Gators beat Houghton College, 64-47.
Throughout her tenure at Russell Sage, Coleman was at the forefront for a plethora of both team and individual success. In 2021-2022, Coleman coached the Gators to the Empire 8 Tournament Semifinals, also producing the Empire 8 Rookie of the Year in Syrita Faraj. Faraj, along with teammate Sammy Pasinella both achieved All-Empire 8 Second Team honors. That same season, the Russell Sage women's basketball team was recognized by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) Academic Top 25 Team Honor Rolls. The Gators were named to the WBCA’s Special Mention list for having compiled a team grade point average of 3.635, which stood 27th best among the nation’s Division III programs that season.
Coleman's Gators gathered even more individual honors in the COVID-shortened 2020-2021 season, with Madasyn Bush and Sammy Pasinella grabbing spots on the Empire 8 Women's Basketball First Team, while Kyra Oeffler was named to the Empire 8 Sportswoman Team.
In the team's 2020-2021 Covid-19 shortened campaign, the team garnered numerous individual awards including several player of the week citations, while Madasyn Bush and Sammy Pasinella garnered a spot on the Empire 8 Women's Basketball First Team, while Kyra Oeffler was named to the Empire 8 Sportswoman Team.
Coleman's Gators made a run to the Empire 8 Championship Game in just the program's second Empire 8 Postseason appearance during the 2019-2020 campaign. During that run, graduate player Megan Flynn earned acclaim as a member of the Empire 8 All-Tournament Team and was also saluted as a 2019-2020 Empire 8 First Team All-Star. She added acclaim as a 2019-2020 CoSIDA Academic All-America Second Team honoree. In that same season, Kaitlyn Bowman was named to the 2019-2020 Empire 8 Second Team, while Gessica Patregnani was named to the Empire 8 Sportswoman Team and was a national statistical leader over the course of the season having led the nation in three-point shooting throughout the month of January.
Coleman and her staff were honored as the 2017-2018 Empire 8 Women’s Basketball Coaching Staff of the Year after directing the Gators to the Empire 8 post-season tournament in their first year in the league. Sage, which earned the No. 2 seed in the tournament, went 18-8, while also earning recognition from D3Hoops.com as the regional coaching staff of the year.
During her tenure at Sage, Coleman's teams collected numerous postseason appearances. Her squads also captured a Skyline Conference regular-season championship, a Skyline Conference Tournament Championship, an Empire 8 runner-up title, and earned an NCAA Tournament berth.
Coleman directed the Gators to an impressive campaign as rookie head coach as the team went 18-8 overall, garnering a spot in the Skyline Conference Tournament and the ECAC Semifinals. Along the way, Sage established a pair of program marks with a 12-game win streak and a record 18 victories. She coached the Skyline Conference Rookie of the Year that season in Gen Schoff.
She helped the 2015-2016 Gators to the program's first Skyline Conference regular-season crown with an impressive 15-1 regular-season record in the league, while also leading the team back to the Skyline Conference championship contest. She once again helped to produce the Skyline Conference Rookie of the Year as Emily Parslow was honored and Schoff was recognized as the Skyline Conference Women's Basketball Scholar-Athlete of the Year. She was also honored as the Skyline Conference Coach of the Year by her peers.
In her third season with Sage, Coleman guided the Gators back to the NCAA after the team posted a record of 20-9 and mark of 13-5 in the league.Â
A native of Jewett City, Connecticut, Coleman was named the State Farm/WBCA National Player-of-the-Year as a senior in 2003-04 and remains the only four-time All-American in women's basketball collegiate history. With 1,991 career points, Coleman holds the mark for points in school history (either ECSU men's and women's basketball history). She also shares the women's record with 1,134 career rebounds and ranks first in assists (579) and steals (369), while standing second in three-point field goals (152) and second in games (117). She is the only player in program history with as many as 1,000 career points and 1,000 career rebounds.
As a junior, Coleman led the Warriors to the NCAA Division III national title game and a second-place finish. She averaged 17.7 points and 11.9 rebounds per game and was a finalist for national Player-of-the-Year honors.
As the national Player-of-the-Year in 2003-04, Coleman represented Division III when the WBCA College All-Star Team met the USA Women's Senior National Team in April of 2004.
With Coleman, Eastern had the winningest four-year composite record in program history, winning 101 games and losing only 17 (.856 percent). In Coleman's career, Eastern qualified for three NCAA and one ECAC tournament.
Coleman was a 2010 inductee into the Connecticut Women's Basketball Hall of Fame, a 2012 inductee into the inaugural Little East Conference Hall of Fame and a member of the LEC's 25th Anniversary All-Star Team, and an October 19, 2013 inductee into the E-Club Hall of Fame.
Over the summer of 2015, Coleman enjoyed an induction into the New England College Basketball Hall of Fame for her accomplishments. in the summer of 2022, Coleman had the opportunity to coach a U19 USA team for the American International Sports Tours and received the silver medal during the United World Games in Klafenfurt, Germany.
