Canisius announced Friday that former Concordia University Chicago head coach Russell Allen has been named the new women’s lacrosse head coach.
He will be the fourth head coach in program history.
Allen has spent the last three seasons as the head coach at Concordia, a Division III school in River Forest, Ill. He went 25-8 in his time there which included a 12-6 record in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference play. In 2021, the Cougars went 11-2 and advanced to the NACC championship game for the first time in program history. 10 of his players earned all-conference nods.
Before Concordia he served as the head coach at Medaille, of which he is an alumnus, from 2014-2018. He went 44-22 there and won the Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference title in both 2017 and 2018. He earned AMCC and North Eastern Athletic Conference coach of the year honors in 2018.
Before Medaille, he coached at the Buffalo Seminary School and the Empress Lacrosse Club, one of the top club programs in the Western New York area. While the head coach at Concordia, he also was the head coach of the True Lacrosse Illinois program.
As a player at Medaille, he played midfield and defense, ranking nationally in Division III in ground balls in 2007. He is eighth on Medaille’s all-time list for ground balls. He also played soccer at Medaille.
In addition to his position at Canisius, he is an assistant coach on the Puerto Rican National Team, where he is helping prepare offensive strategies for the World Games next summer in Baltimore.
“I could not be more excited to return to Buffalo and get to work for the women’s lacrosse program. It is an honor to be part of a program with such a rich tradition. I am very grateful to have this opportunity and I plan on working tirelessly to help bring more MAAC championships to Canisius,” Allen said.
“As someone who is familiar with the Western New York and Central New York lacrosse landscape, Russell has a proven track record as a successful head coach and tireless work ethic when it comes to recruiting,” athletic director Bill Maher said. “He understands and appreciates the strong tradition of success of Canisius women’s lacrosse and I am looking forward to working with him as he builds our program back into a contender for MAAC championships.”
Allen replaces Allison Daley, who stepped down in June following a 2-8 2021 season. She is now an assistant coach at Louisville under former Canisius head coach Scott Teeter.