Georgia women’s basketball hires McNeese’s Ayla Guzzardo as head coach

Ayla Guzzardo is on the move from McNeese State.

Georgia has hired Guzzardo as the next head coach of its women’s basketball program. Guzzardo’s deal to coach the Bulldogs is for five years.

After making the NCAA Tournament this season as a No. 7 seed, Georgia and former head coach Katie Abrahamson-Henderson mutually agreed to part ways on Saturday morning. Abrahamson-Henderson was hired at Georgia in 2022 to succeed Joni Taylor, who left for Texas A&M. Abrahamson-Henderson had previously been at UCF, where she led the Knights to the NCAA Tournament in three of her last four seasons at the helm.

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Georgia made two trips to March Madness in four seasons under Abrahamson-Henderson. She had an overall record of 69-59 and went 25-40 in SEC play.

Georgia athletic director Josh Brooks moved quickly, hiring Guzzardo less than 48 hours after announcing Abrahamson-Henderson would not return as head coach.

He and Guzzardo are both natives of Hammond, Louisiana.

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Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma bring intensity to SC‑UConn. See photos

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Women’s Final Four showcases top-ranked teams going head-to-head

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Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma bring intensity to SC‑UConn. See photos

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Women’s Final Four showcases top-ranked teams going head-to-head

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Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma bring intensity to SC‑UConn. See photos

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Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma bring intensity to SC‑UConn. See photos

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Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma bring intensity to SC‑UConn. See photos

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Dawn Staley and Geno Auriemma bring intensity to SC‑UConn. See photos

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Women’s Final Four showcases top-ranked teams going head-to-head

Guzzardo completed her first season as head coach at McNeese State, where she won the Southland Conference’s regular season title and guided the Cowgirls to a program-record 29 wins. McNeese played in the WBIT and defeated Texas A&M in the first round.

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Before jumping to McNeese, Guzzardo coached at Southeastern Louisiana State and was easily the most successful head coach in program history. Guzzardo guided the Lions to their first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2023, and in the 2024-25 season won a program-record 26 games. She inherited a program that hadn’t won double-digit games in a single season in four years, and built the Lions into the two-time champs of the Southland Conference.

Guzzardo has been named Southland Coach of the Year three times.

In nine years as a Division I head coach, Guzzardo is 151-111, but has thrived in this new era of college basketball, going 95-34 in her last four seasons — winning 73.6% of her games. Guzzardo was a popular name in coaching searches this season and also interviewed for the opening at Alabama.

Before becoming the head coach at Southeastern Louisiana, Guzzardo got her start in coaching as an assistant at Akron, her alma mater. She’s fifth all-time in assists in program history for the Zips.

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Guzzardo takes over a Georgia program with a proud history in women’s basketball. Under longtime coach Andy Landers — who oversaw the Bulldogs from 1981 to 2015 — Georgia went to five Final Fours and eight SEC titles.

While the Bulldogs have been decent since Landers’ retirement — going to six of the last 10 NCAA Tournaments — they haven’t been to the second weekend of March Madness since 2013, when they lost to Cal in the Elite Eight.

Guzzardo will be the fourth head coach in program history.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Georgia women’s basketball hires McNeese’s Ayla Guzzardo as head coach