Russell Allen is in his fifth season at the helm of the Canisius women's lacrosse program. Allen was officially named the fourth head coach in program history on July 23, 2021.
In his first year, Allen led the Griffs to a 10-6 record, marking the first time that the program finished with a winning record since 2018.
Allen guided Canisius to an 8-8 mark in his second season, reaching the first round of the conference tournament. He coached Skylar McArthur, who put up a 45-goal season in 2023 to earn an invitation to the IWCLA North-South All Star Game in Sparks, Maryland.
He turned in his best year in 2024, leading Canius to an 11-win season for the first time since 2018. Allen helped Maddie Fitzgerald have a standout freshman season, scoring 41 goals to become the third Griff in program history to garner MAAC Rookie of the Year honors.
Canisius has seen the women's lacrosse program earn 16-or-more selections to the MAAC All-Academic Team each season under Allen's leadership. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must complete two semesters at their institution and hold a cumulative grade point average of 3.20 on a 4.0 scale.
Not only has Allen helped student-athletes succeed in the classroom but on the field as well. Since his arrival, seven Griffs have been selected to All-MAAC First Team and two more earned All-MAAC Second Team recognition.
Allen took over the Canisius women’s lacrosse program after spending the three previous seasons (2019-21) as the head coach at Concordia University Chicago in River Forest, Ill. There, he led the Cougars to a 25-8 overall record with a 12-6 mark in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) play. The 2021 edition of Concordia University Chicago posted a school-record 14 victories, highlighted by an appearance in the NACC championship game, the first in program history. A total of 10 Concordia University Chicago players earned all-conference honors following the 2021 campaign, and Allen was recognized as the Concordia University Chicago Coach of the Year, as voted on by athletic department staff members and the school’s student-athletes.
In addition to his collegiate coaching duties, Allen also serves as the assistant head coach for the Puerto Rico Women’s Senior National Team, a position he has held since the summer of 2020. In that role, he develops offensive strategies for the team in preparation for the World Games, which will be held in Baltimore, Md., next summer.
Allen is no stranger to the city of Buffalo and the women’s lacrosse scene in Western New York, having served as the head coach for the Medaille women’s lacrosse program from 2014-18. In his time as the head coach of the Mavericks, the Orange, Conn., native guided the program to a pair of regular-season Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference (AMCC) championships in both 2017 and 2018, with the team setting program records for wins in each season (12 in 2017, 14 in 2018). Allen was awarded the Coach of the Year honors in both the AMCC and the North Eastern Athletic Conference in 2018, the latter of which Medaille has a dual affiliation in lacrosse. His four-year record as a head coach at Medaille was 44-22, and his winning percentage of .667 stands the highest of any coach in the program's history.
A two-sport student-athlete at Medaille, Allen was a member of the school’s men’s soccer team where he played in 57 games and contributed to a pair of conference championships, including the 2006 team that set the program's single-season record for wins with 20 victories. As a men’s lacrosse player, Allen played midfield and defender, ranking nationally in NCAA Division III in ground balls during the 2007 season. He is eighth on Medaille's career list with 148 ground balls and he is ranked 10th in the school’s record books with his 4.48 ground balls per game. He graduated from Medaille in 2008 with his undergraduate degree in liberal studies.
Allen, who started his coaching career in 2009 at the Buffalo Seminary School has also coached with the Empress Lacrosse Club, one of the top club programs in Western New York. While at Concordia University Chicago, Allen served as the head coach of True Lacrosse Illinois program, which is based out of Chicago.
