Drake University Women's Basketball

Allison Pohlman, a longtime associate head coach and one of the primary architects of the Drake women's basketball program's renaissance, was named the Suzie Glazer Burt Head Women's Basketball Coach at Drake University April 18, 2021 and is entering her fifth season leading the Bulldog women with a career record of 93-42. Pohlman guided the Bulldogs to another remarkable campaign with records of 22-12 overall and 15-5 in MVC play. By winning 22 games, Pohlman became the first coach in Drake women's hoops history to win 20+ contests in each of her first four seasons. The 2025 season came to an end in postseason play as the Bulldogs recevied an at large berth into the WBIT. Pohlman again employed the talents of individual stars like guard Katie Dinnebier, who captured her second straight Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year Award along with a littany of other conference and national awards, and forward Anna Miller, who became the program's all-time leading shot blocker.  Her third season at the head coach in Des Moines was a historic one as Pohlman led the Bulldogs to a record number 29 wins. Along the way, the Bulldogs won their the program's 10th MVC Regular Season championship, and eighth MVC Tournament championship, the second in a row for Drake. With both titles under their belt, Drake traveled to Manhattan, Kan. as a No. 12 seed in the NCAA Tournament where the battled No. 5 seed Colorado in their 15th NCAA Tournament berth in program history. Earlier in the season, Drake earned an in-state rivalry win over Big 12 finalist Iowa State. Individually, Pohlman guided three players to All-MVC honors. Junior guard Katie Dinnebier earned First Team All-MVC honors and took home the Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year Award while being named a Becky Hammon Mid-Major Player of the Year finalist. Gradaute Grace Berg joined Dinnebier on the First Team while forward Anna Miller won the league's Defensive Player of the Year and was a Second Team selection.  Pohlman led Drake to another historic season in 2022-23 as the team took down No. 22 ranked Nebraska 80-62 early in the season and eventually captured their seventh MVC Tournament championship and their 14th NCAA Tournament berth in program history. The Bulldogs' run to the Hoops in the Heartland crown included blowout wins over Illinois State in the semifinals, which was the largest margin of victory over the top seed in tournament history, and Belmont in the title game. The Bulldogs traveled to Austin, Texas for the NCAA Tournament where they battled No. 5 seed Louisville to the last possession. During the season, Megan Meyer and Maggie Bair were both honored with MVC Player of the Week award. Bair also collected First Team All-MVC honors. Grace Berg and Katie Dinnebier earned Third Team All-MVC recognition while the latter added an All-Defensive Team honor. Sophomore forward Anna Miller was also honored on the All-Defensive Team and also garnered the league's Defensive Player of the Year and Sixth Player of the Year awards. Pohlman’s debut season (2021-22) saw five bulldogs receive All-MVC honors, including Grace Berg and Megan Meyer on the All-MVC First team. Megan Meyer was named the Valley Newcomer of the Year and the team received an at large bid to WNIT where they advanced to the Round of 16. Katie Dinnebier, Megan Meyer and Anna Miller were all awarded MVC Newcomer of the Week throughout the season, with Miller receiving the recognition three times.   Pohlman has been a member of the Drake staff since 2007 and elevated to associate head coach in 2014 by then-head coach Jennie Baranczyk.    "Allison has been a critical part of our women's basketball program's success. Throughout this process, it became incredibly apparent that in addition to her proven record of achievement as an assistant, she also possessed the perfect combination of vision, drive and leadership to continue the ascent of our program as its head coach," Drake Director of Athletics Brian Hardin said. "Her passion for our program, University and student-athletes is unrivaled. Allison's values align perfectly with our athletic department and I know she will continue the Drake women's basketball tradition of developing strong women leaders both on the basketball court and in life."   In her 15 years on the Drake campus, Pohlman has crafted and established a proven legacy of culture building, on-court excellence and the ability to recruit and develop some of the finest student-athletes in Drake history.   As the Bulldogs' recruiting coordinator under Baranczyk, Pohlman has assembled rosters that advanced to three-straight NCAA Tournament appearances, won four regular-season Missouri Valley Conference titles, two MVC Tournament championships and a record of 123-39.   Her recruiting efforts led to Bulldogs earning six Jackie Stiles MVC Player of the Year honors and four MVC Freshman of the Year accolades. A total of 27 of her recruits have earned All-MVC honors during her tenure.   Those same student-athletes have helped the Bulldogs become a source of pride in the Des Moines community and an elite team in the classroom. The culture that Pohlman helped direct led to the team annually performing more than 1,000 hours of community service. Academically, the team has ranked in the top 10 nationally in team GPA for six-straight seasons, with the Bulldogs earning a total of six CoSIDA Academic All-Americans to rank among the national leaders.   Pohlman's success and familiarity in the MVC and within the state of Iowa run even deeper than her 14 years at Drake.   Before joining the Drake staff, she spent seven seasons on staff at UNI and served as the Panthers' associate head coach during the 2006-07 campaign. She began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at UNI in 2000-01 before being elevated to an assistant coach for the following season at her alma mater.   As a player from 1996-2000, the former Allison Starr, was one of the top student-athletes in UNI history as the centerpiece in the rejuvenation of UNI women's basketball under retired head coach Tony DiCecco. In 1997, she was named to the MVC's All-Freshman team. In each of her final three seasons, she was named All-MVC First Team and to The Valley's All-Defensive Team.She was runner-up to Jackie Stiles for the MVC's Player of the Year award in 2000 and named The Valley's Defensive Player of the Year.   Pohlman capped her career by ranking second in UNI history with 1,463 points, third with 711 rebounds, second with 274 steals, fifth with 278 assists, and the school record holder for free throws made, free throws attempted, offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds, double-doubles and steals per game. Pohlman was inducted into the UNI Athletics Hall of Fame in the fall of 2011.   The Wellsburg, Iowa native and her husband, Kirk, have triplet daughters, Quinn, Rubie and Sidny. Pohlman holds a bachelor's of science in Dietetics and a master's degree in Health Education from UNI.  

Rotert joins Drake after four seasons leading the women's basketball program at Northwestern College in Orange City, Iowa. Rotert took over at NWC in 2021 as the team's eighth head coach in program history. She amassed a career record of 80-44 during her four seasons and led the Raiders to four berths in the National Association of Intercollegiate (NAIA) Tournament.   Rotert's tutelage has also bred two NAIA All-Americans and 13 All-Great Plains Athletic Conference selections, including four First Team honorees. In her first season at the helm, Rotert guided Northwestern star Molly Schany to All-American Honorable Mention status and has since helped produce multiple Academic All-District and All-America performers. A native of Salem, S.D., Rotert moved to Orange City after serving as the Director of Basketball Operations at South Dakota State University for three years. She was on staff at SDSU for the Jackrabbits' Sweet 16 run and Summit League title in 2019. Rotert was also a standout student-athlete at South Dakota State, where she graduated in 2011. Rotert lettered for the Jackrabbits from 2007-11 and finished her collegiate career tied for the program's all-time lead in made 3-pointers and eighth in scoring.   Prior to joining the SDSU staff, Rotert was the head coach for the South Dakota Attack AAU program for four years. During her stint on the AAU circuit, Rotert was also the Reach and Rise Youth Mentoring Director at the Aberdeen Family YMCA in Aberdeen, S.D. She served as an instructor with Warwick Workouts both in Sioux Falls and Aberdeen.

Carlsen joins assistants Kelli Greenway, Whitney Moia, and the newly-hired Kristin Rotert, as well as Director of Operations Cortni Rush and Director of Basketball Analytics & Player Development Becca Hittner, on staff.   Carlsen joins the Bulldog staff after a lengthy head coaching career at three previous stops. Most recently, Carlsen spent the last 10 seasons at Northern Illinois where she led the Huskies to a 147-155 record. Prior to her time at NIU, Carlsen led Division II squad Lewis to a 148-89 over eight seasons after starting her head coaching career with a 4-year stint at Omaha. Overall, she served as an NCAA head coach for 22 years and amassed a record of 331-318.   While leading the Huskies, Carlsen led NIU to a national postseason tournament for the first time in six years with a berth into the Women's Basketball Invitational. Her squads were also excellent academically with multiple teams finishing inside the top 10 in collective grade point average while leading the fast-paced Huskies on the hardwood.   In her eight seasons at Lewis, she headed the Flyers to four NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and a pair of Great Lake Valley Conference championships.   Her first head coaching gig came at Omaha where she was promoted to the top job after serving as an assistant on the Mavericks' staff. She guided Omaha to its best finish in a decade and postseason play in 2003. After her tenure at Omaha, Carlsen served as an assistant at Winona State for three seasons before returning to the head coaching ranks.   Lisa is the mother recent Bulldog player addition Lexi Carlsen, who began her collegiate career playing for her mom at Northern Illinois before transferring to Drake earlier this spring. A native of Earling, Iowa, Carlsen graduated from Northwest Missouri State University in 1992. While at NWMSU, she was a four-time all-conference honoree on the basketball court and earned All-Conference and All-Region honors on the softball diamond. During her senior season, Carlsen was recognized as the 1992 Championship NCAA Female Athlete of the Year.   She eventually earned her master's degree from the University of Nebraska Omaha in 1994 and continued to play basketball professionally for the Nebraska Express of the Women's Basketball Association where she was named an All-Star in 1995.   Prior to coaching collegiate hoops, Carlsen was the head softball coach at the College of St. Mary (Neb.) from 1994-97 and earned the Midlands Collegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year twice. She then served as an assistant volleyball coach and head softball coach at Wayne State (Neb.) from 1997-98.

Former Drake women's basketball star player Becca Hittner joined the Bulldogs' coaching staff in 2021 as the team's graduate assistant. In 2023, Hittner's title was changed to her current role as the Director of Basketball Analytics & Player Development. The Dowling Catholic graduate has served a versatile role in the Drake program with impacts on team preparation, marketing and communcations, and gameday execution. Hittner returned to her alma mater after playing one season of professional basketball in Spain's LF Endesa. She is one of the most decorated Drake women's basketball student-athletes on the basketball court and in the classroom. Hittner was a two-time honorable mention all-American, a two-time CoSIDA Academic All-American in the classroom, three-time MVC Jackie Stiles Player of the Year award winner and her name is found all over the Drake and MVC record books, including points, three-pointers made, three-point percentage and scoring average.  

Greenway joined Drake in 2022 after five seasons as the head coach of Grand View University. During her tenure as a Bulldogs, Greenway has helped lead Drake to another historic season in 2022-23 as the team took down No. 22 ranked Nebraska 80-62 early in the season and eventually captured their seventh MVC Tournament championship and their 14th NCAA Tournament berth in program history. The Bulldogs traveled to Austin, Texas for the NCAA Tournament where they battled No. 5 seed Louisville to the last possession. Greenway then helped guide the Bulldogs to the program's 10th MVC Regular Season championship in 2023-24. It was the eighth MVC Tournament championship and second in a row for Drake, who visited Manhattan, Kan. for their second straight NCAA Tournament berth. In her time at Grand View, she led them to three NAIA National Tournament appearances, coached the 2021 Heart of America Player of the Year, and held a 97-60 record. She also spent three seasons as an assistant coach at Grand View prior to becoming head coach.Prior to her stint with the Vikings, she spent six seasons with North Iowa Area Community College – three years as an assistant coach and three years as head coach. During her time with the Trojans, she led them to the Regular Season and Tournament Champions in 2014 when they were ranked No. 1 for 11 out of 13 weeks.   She earned her bachelor's degree from Iowa in 2008 where she spent three years as a Manager for the Hawkeye women's basketball program. She also holds an associate degree from NIACC where she was a member of the basketball team for two years. She earned the 2005 Female Student-Athlete of the Year.

Whitney Moia was added the Drake Women's Basketball staff as an assistant coach in 2021. Moia's first year in Des Moines was also the first year of the Allison Pohlman head coaching tenure. Moia has had major impact on the success of Drake forwards during her time as a Bulldog, coaching the likes of All-MVC players Anna Miller, Grace Berg, Maggie Bair, and others. She has helped lead the Bulldogs to a WNIT (2022) run and back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances (2022-23, 2023-24).    Moia joined Drake after spending two seasons as a graduate assistant at Missouri Western State University. Prior Missouri Western, she played four seasons at Mid-America Nazarene University. Moia, a forward, received Heart of America Athletic All-Conference honors three times in her career with the Pioneers. During the 2018-19 season, she was named the Heart of America Athletic Conference Defensive Player of the Year. She was a member of the 2016 Mid-America Nazarene team that captured the 2016 NAIA National Championship.   “Whitney is a compassionate and caring coach,” Pohlman said. “She brings a back to the basket perspective, understands how to connect and make student-athletes better and is a tireless worker. Whitney has an infectious personality and we’re ecstatic to have her at Drake. She is a great fit for our program!” Moia graduated from Mid-America Nazarene with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in business administration. She earned her master’s of business administration from Missouri Western in May, 2021.

Cortni Rush, a Mason City, Iowa native and a three-year Drake women’s basketball letterwinner, joined the Drake women’s basketball coaching staff in 2018.   Rush coordinates all aspects of the program's travel during the season, manages its equipment and uniforms and helps schedule and coordinate community service for the program. In addition, she assists with the Bulldogs' summer camps. She has been a key piece of Drake's successful puzzle over the last several seasons as the Bulldogs have produced multiple All-MVC performers and captured back-to-back MVC titles in 2022-23 and 2023-24.   Rush played in 83 career games with 10 starts for the Bulldogs over three seasons after she transferred to Drake after an All-American freshman season at North Iowa Area Community College. She scored 219 points, grabbed 208 rebounds, handed out 86 assists and made 39 three-pointers for the Bulldogs. Rush was a member of the historic 2016-17 Drake team, which tied a school record with 28 wins, went 18-0 in Missouri Valley Conference play, claimed the MVC regular season and tournament titles and made the school’s first trip to the NCAA Tournament since 2007. In her three seasons, Drake won 71 games and qualified for postseason play three times. Following her senior season, Rush was awarded the program’s Charles E. Leonard award. The Charles E. Leonard award is given to a student-athlete who embodies a positive, enthusiastic attitude towards basketball and life. She graduated in May, 2017 with a bachelor’s degree in health sciences. Later, Rush earned her master's degree from Drake in leadership development. Prior to her return to Drake, Rush was an assistant coach at North Iowa and coached club basketball with the North Iowa Fire. In her one season on the NIACC coaching staff, the Trojans finished second in the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference.