Marquette women’s soccer’s search for a new head coach is over as Chris Allen was named as the fifth head coach in program history, Marquette vice president & director of athletics Bill Scholl announced Thursday night.

This will be Allen’s first collegiate season as head coach as he arrives from Saint Louis University after working there in various assistant roles for the past eight years.

“When we began this search, we were looking for somebody with a significant history of success on the pitch and just as importantly, we wanted an individual who understands and embraces the Jesuit mission and the core values of Marquette University,” Scholl said in a release from Marquette Athletics.

“Finally, the successful candidate needed to have a passion for providing student-athletes with the transformational Marquette experience they so richly deserve. In Chris, I believe we have found that person.

“We are thrilled to welcome Chris, his wife Jodie and their children Bailey, Parker and Grayson to the Marquette family.”

Here is what you need to know:

• Former women’s head coach Frank Pelaez stepped down from the program in December after four years as head coach.
• At Saint Louis, Allen was promoted to associate head coach in 2020, following three seasons as an assistant and one as volunteer assistant. He also served as the program’s recruiting coordinator.
• While working alongside SLU head coach Katie Shields, Allen helped guide the team to a 131-30-11 overall record, five Atlantic 10 Conference regular season championships, six A-10 tournament titles and six-straight NCAA Championship appearances. In 2023, the Billikens won both the league’s regular season and tournament titles en route to the program’s first-ever appearance in the Round of 16 in the NCAA Championship.

What Allen said

“I am incredibly honored and privileged to be named the women’s soccer head coach at Marquette University,” Allen said in the release. “I would like to thank Bill Scholl and Sarah Bobert for believing in my vision of restoring Marquette soccer back to Big East and national prominence. … I can’t wait to get started working with the Marquette team.

“I am excited to connect with the alumni, pour into the current team and craft our vision for the future of a special program and university. We are Marquette!”

This article was written by Kaylynn Wright. She can be reached at [email protected] or on Twitter/X @KaylynnWrightMU.