Augustana fires head women's basketball coach

Augustana announced on March 20 that its 2023-2024 head women’s basketball coach will not return for a second season this fall. 

Jillian Flores Bennett joined the team in April 2023 as the seventh coach in program history after previous coach Dave Krauth retired following his 34th season with the Vikings. 

“In order to protect university employees, Augustana is committed to upholding the confidential management of personnel matters. Therefore, we cannot comment nor disclose any further information related to such matters,” the university’s statement read. 

In Flores Bennett’s first, and only, season with the Vikings, the team ended with a 7-20 overall record and a 6-16 record in the NSIC. The Vikings fell into an eight-loss streak early on in the season, beginning with a 63-50 loss to Dakota Wesleyan University.

According to coaching records on GoAugie, the women’s basketball program last held an overall record with less than 10 wins in 1988-1989, when former coach Lisa Brown’s team went 8-20. Brown only coached for one season. 

In Krauth’s last season with Augustana, the Vikings scored a 25-6 overall record and went 18-4 in the NSIC. All but two players from the 2022-2023 team, forward Aislinn Duffy and center Lizzy Karp, returned to the roster for Flores Bennett’s first season. 

This spring, more than half of the players on the 2023-2024 roster entered the transfer portal, according to a source close to the team. So far, two have announced their commitments to other universities for the upcoming season: junior guard Isabelle Moore plans to transfer to Northern State University and senior forward Aby Phipps plans to transfer to the University of Sioux Falls. 

Augustana was Flores Bennett’s first time coaching an NCAA Division II team. 

Flores Bennett came to Augustana from Iowa Western Community College in Council Bluffs, where she led the Reivers at the junior college level to a 26-5 record in the 2022-2023 season. 

Flores Bennett first began head coaching the season prior, when she was at the helm of Our Lady of the Lake University’s women’s team in San Antonio, Texas. The Saints notched a 20-11 overall record that season. 

According to Augustana’s statement, the search for the Vikings’ next head coach will begin immediately. Vice president of athletics Josh Morton said the university hopes to have a new head coach by the end of the academic year.

“We know we need to move quickly but still make sure we get the right person,” Morton said. 

Morton said he was unable to provide further comment on matters involving personnel.