Buffalo Grove product named DePaul women's basketball assistant
DePaul women's basketball coach Doug Bruno announced Monday a pair of additions to the women's basketball program. Allison Guth has joined the program as Director of Basketball Operations, while former student-athlete Ciara Johnson has been named Assistant Director of Basketball Operations. Guth, a Buffalo Grove High School product, was an assistant coach at Missouri last season and played four seasons at Illinois from 2001-04. Johnson donned the DePaul uniform from 2003-08.
Prior to her season at Missouri, Guth started her coaching career as an assistant at Loyola-Chicago from 2005-07. She served as recruiting coordinator with the Ramblers and worked with Loyola's backcourt. With the Tigers, Guth led the recruiting efforts and assisted in all phases of the women's basketball program.
"Through an exceptional work ethic and a great ability to relate to all different kinds of people, Allison Guth has quickly established herself in national as well as local women's basketball coaching circles," said Bruno. "Allison comes from a state championship high school program having help lead Tom Dineen's Buffalo Grove squad to a 2000 Illinois state championship. Having played at the University of Illinois under Hall of Famer Theresa Grentz, Allison also gained a wealth of experience at a very young age."
Guth played four seasons in Champaign for the Illini after leading Buffalo Grove High School in suburban Chicago to the 2000 Class AA State title. The Illini earned a bid to the 2003 NCAA Championship and she also played a season on the Illinois golf team.
"Add to Allison Guth's playing pedigree, collegiate experience as Loyola of Chicago's recruiting coordinator and Big 12 assistant coaching experience at the University of Missouri as well as her time in the private sector business world working for Coca-Cola, and it becomes clear that this is a young woman experienced beyond her years," said Bruno. "More importantly than all of Allison's experience is the quality of her work at all of her stops."
Johnson battled injuries throughout her career and played in 78 games as a member of the women's basketball team at DePaul. As a senior, she started six times while playing in 30 games and averaged just over 11 minutes per game. Johnson was a medical hardship as a freshman in 2003-04 and also missed the entire 2006-07 with a knee injury.
"Ciara Johnson has been an inspirational leader to our DePaul women's basketball program," said Bruno. "Although Ciara's career was cut short by injuries, she battled through adversity and was always one of the toughest competitors in our program. Ciara never let her injuries keep her from putting the DePaul program first. Ciara's ties to the Chicagoland girl's basketball scene will also be a tremendous boost."