June 14, 2015

 

Allen to Guide Northwestern Program

 

Former Illinois assistant coach Spencer Allen has been hired as the head coach at Northwestern.

 

This past season, Allen helped the Illini set a program record with 50 victories and won their first NCAA Regional. Illinois was the No. 6 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, just the second Big Ten team to earn a national seed. The Illini led the conference in hits, runs, RBI, total bases, home runs and slugging percentage. Illinois set a program mark with 27 consecutive victories.

 

Prior to his time in Champaign, Allen spent two seasons as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Creighton. The Bluejays won the Big East regular season title during their first year in the conference in 2014. It was Allen's second stint with Creighton, having also been on staff in 2005 and 2006.

 

Allen was an assistant at Washington State from 2010-12. He also served on staff at Purdue from 2008-09. Allen was a scout in the Detroit Tigers' organization and was a volunteer assistant at Iowa in 2004. He began his coaching career at Edmonds Community College as an assistant in 2002.

 

A native of Olympia, Wash., Allen played at Iowa State from 1999-2001. He was a captain and member of the Big 12 All-Academic Team.

 

Allen succeeds Paul Stevens, who retired from Northwestern after serving 31 years as head coach of the Wildcats.