Spencer Allen - Head Coach, Northwestern University
Spencer Allen is entering his fifth season as the head coach at Northwestern. He was named the 26th head baseball coach on June 14, 2015.
Following the 2016 season, Allen was tabbed by USA Baseball to lead one of its teams at the 2016 Tournament of Stars. The tournament featured the top U-18 talent in the country and was used to help select the USA BAseball 18U National Team.
Allen came to Northwestern after serving as an assistant coach at Illinois in 2015. He helped the Fighting Illini set the school record with 50 wins and win the first NCAA Regional in program history. Illinois won its 30th Big Ten championship this spring, and it earned the No. 6 overall seed for the 2015 NCAA Baseball Championship, marking only the second time that a Big Ten program earned a national seed.
Under Allen's tutelage, the Illini ranked near the top of the Big Ten in numerous offensive categories, leading the league in hits, runs, RBIs, total bases, home runs and slugging percentage in 2015. The team won a school-record 27 consecutive games between March 30-May 20, falling only seven games shy of matching the NCAA record of 34.
Prior to his stint with Illinois, Allen served a two-year stretch as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Creighton. The Bluejays won 62 games in 2013-14 and the BIG EAST regular-season championship during its first season in the league in 2014. That was Allen's second stay in Omaha, as he also worked on staff during the 2005 and 2006 seasons. The 2005 squad won 48 games and the first Missouri Valley Conference championship in program history.