LA JOLLA, Calif. – His teammates knew all the attributes that made Clint Allard a good player and captain for UC San Diego – smart, hard-working, competitive, passionate, detailed – would translate into coaching.

He just wasn't thinking about that career path.

"While I was playing it wasn't really on my mind," said Allard, a four-year starter and three-time captain for the Tritons' basketball team from 2004-08.

And then, when it was, the person who could make it happen tried to say no.

"When he expressed a desire to go into coaching, I actually tried to talk him out of it," said Chris Carlson, UC San Diego's coach for Allard's final season (and five more after that).

Not because Carlson didn't think Allard would be a good coach. But because he thought he was capable of more.

"He's a really smart guy and part of me was like, you should go somewhere else and rule the world. Don't do what I'm doing," Carlson said. "But he wanted to be in basketball and he wanted to be in coaching and so for me it was an easy decision to bring him on."

And so began a journey of nearly two decades that has taken Allard to where he is today: Head coach at his alma mater.

After four seasons of working as an assistant for Carlson and two for Greg Kamansky at Cal Poly Pomona, and then spending the last 11 seasons as associate head coach under Eric Olen, Allard was promoted March 30 when Olen left UC San Diego for New Mexico. 

"It's just a tremendous honor and I'm really thrilled," Allard said. "I pinch myself. It's like a dream job for me. This is where I want to be."

Allard takes over at a time when UC San Diego is coming off the best season in its history – 30-5, Big West regular-season and tournament champions, playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time (and nearly defeating Michigan).

"I feel a heavy responsibility of continuing the upward trajectory," said Allard, who will turn 40 in August. "I think that now that we've gotten some attention and everything like that, that we can keep moving forward. We've got to keep the ball rolling and that's kind of been a lot of my focus.

"As I've taken over as the head coach, I'm mindful of what got us here. And it's filling our program with players that reflect the student body, which is high IQ, highly skilled, competitive with a chip on their shoulder and something to prove. That's what I want to continue to be our identity. I don't want to lose sight of that. I want to continue the positive momentum. 

"It's going to be a challenge. We have set the bar high, but I am really, really excited to take over."

RIGHT MAN, RIGHT PLACE

Those who know Allard and know UC San Diego have no doubt he will succeed.

"He's going to have success because he cares about this place," said Bill Carr, general manager of UC San Diego's basketball programs and the head coach during Allard's first three years as a Tritons player.

"He's very competitive, very smart, great IQ for a basketball player. That's going to translate to coaching," Carr said.

Jon Ward, a teammate for Allard's final three seasons as a Triton, said Allard was "one of the most competitive people I've ever met."

Added Ward: "From ping pong and video games to pick-up to practice to even walk-throughs at shootaround, he was always trying to win and would get the best out of those around him."

Brett Stuckey, who was on two of those Tritons teams with Ward, said no teammate could outwork Allard.

"He was 6 foot and maybe 170 pounds and he would beat the big guys in box-out drills," said Stuckey, who was about five inches taller and 50 pounds heavier than Allard. "Defensive drills I would go up against him and there was no going around him because he knew how to guard every position."

Allard displayed his leadership qualities early; he was the Tritons' team captain as a sophomore.

"Definitely someone wiser than his years," Ward said. "You could tell he had a true passion for the sport."

HOOP DREAMS

Born and raised in San Jose, Allard played multiple sports as a kid but said basketball was always his love, even though he was no one's idea of what a basketball player looked like.

"I grew up pretty small, which was great because I got to be a guard my whole life," he said, laughing. "There was no question about that. I was like 5-foot-3 going into high school. So there wasn't anybody's big expectations of, oh, he's going to be the next thing. I was a decent basketball player but I was a little undersized."

He had a natural progression at Archbishop Mitty High School from freshman team to JV to varsity as a junior. That team wasn't great – though he recalls a win in the league tournament over Serra High with Barry Bonds watching in the stands – but Allard got a lot of opportunity to play and also in a way received his first exposure to his future career from coach Brian Eagleson.

"He was the first analytical mind I'd come across," Allard said. "For a high school coach it was amazing, breaking down film, opponent tendencies. And he really lived the (coaching) life and I think the way he looked at the game was kind of the first time where I thought, this is how I like it. This is how I like to find where you can create an advantage. I really enjoyed that."

In Allard's senior season – and see if this sounds familiar – the Monarchs came from nowhere (in this case last place the prior season) to advancing to a Northern California regional championship game for the first time in a decade.

"We were like a bunch of Div. II players, you know; there weren't really any major recruits," Allard said. "We were kind of like 6-1 across the board, but we had a really good year and it was fun. The school hadn't really seen it in a while, so the fan support was awesome and all that kind of stuff."

When it came time to pick a university to attend, Allard wasn't heavily recruited. He said he had some interest from some Div. III schools but his priority was picking a school where he'd want to be even if basketball was not part of the equation.

"This place was at the top of the list," he said.

He also thought he could play for the Tritons, but he received no promises from head coach Greg Lanthier, who told Allard he wasn't sure if he'd have any roster spots, "But if you decide to come to school here, let us know."

Allard did. As he said, laughing at the thought of where the program is now, "It was a different time." 

He arrived on campus, sent Lanthier an email and the response was good enough: "Yeah, one person isn't coming back, we have a spot for you. Can you join today?"

With that, Allard was a member of the Tritons' basketball family.

He red-shirted his first year, used the time to physically develop and work on his game, and when Carr took over the next season, Allard was ready. He started 18 of the 26 games he appeared in and led the team in scoring.

He would wind up playing 112 games as a Triton, and in the school's Division II-era (2000-01 through 2019-20), Allard ranks first in steals and in the top 10 for points, field goals made, three-point field goals made, three-point field goal percentage, rebounds and assists. As a senior in 2007-08, Allard was named to the All-CCAA Second Team and helped the Tritons to their first conference tournament championship.

But he was more than a good player or a tough competitor. He was detail oriented. He was a leader. Carr said once he learned the system the coach installed, Allard could teach it to teammates. Ward said Allard knew opposing scouting reports "better than anyone I played with. Random eighth guy off the bench at Humboldt State, Clint would be like 'OK, he likes to go left' and things like that."

STAYING IN SPORTS

Allard graduated with a degree in Management Science but he knew he wanted to work in sports, which led to his conversation with Carlson and, eventually, a job.

He took a two-year detour to Cal Poly Pomona – Carlson said Kamansky called him and said he had an opening and was thinking of talking to Allard but to give him some other names and Carlson said, "There are no other names; you gotta hire Clint" – but returned two years later when Olen gave him the opportunity to be associate head coach.

"I think there were a ton of factors including just my pride in this place and wanting to see it succeed at the highest level," Allard said.
 

Obviously that happened this season, culminating in a 15-day span in which the Tritons wrapped up the regular-season Big West title, won the conference tournament championship and faced Michigan in the NCAA Tournament.

"For me," Allard said, "standing in Ball Arena in Denver and looking up and seeing the crowd (of almost 20,000) and everything like that, I was like, 'This was the vision. We made it here.'

"I was welling up before the game. It was just so cool, and I think the pride in the alma mater and being a part of that journey just really came to me in that moment."

Now it's his turn to keep it going. Allard said he believes Olen prepared him well for this opportunity due to "the level of ownership and responsibility and autonomy he gave me to work at all aspects of the program."

And Olen said he believes "there is no better person to lead the program into this next iteration of Triton basketball. I know that he is going to only build on what we've done to this point, and truly the future could not be brighter."

One advantage Allard has is that he knows the territory. Stuckey compared it to when Olen was promoted from Tritons assistant to head coach.

"It's having somebody that's familiar with the program," Stuckey said. "Somebody that is familiar with the university, the administration, the fan base, as well as being so smart with the X's and O's …it just seems like the right fit."
 
"It may be when you have that extra little motivation that so much of your life is due to this institution," Stuckey said. "I think that's something that you can't really put a price tag on and we'll see if it pans out, but it's something that I would vote for anytime in a replacement coach."

Allard also spoke of his institutional knowledge giving him an edge.

"I just really believe in what this place could be," he said. "Like I really see the vision of what it deserves. I mean, it's special. You feel it walking around campus. You feel the energy. You feel like a lot of students are impressive and have something to prove and are so smart and are going to go on and do great things. 

"And I think our part as sports and especially men's basketball is to bring some recognition to the school as a whole. This year was a prime example. … Whatever work I can do to pay that off, that's what it's going to take."

He knows he'll have support at home. His wife, Sara (Robinson), played softball at UC San Diego and has worked in several roles in the athletic department, including assistant coach for the 2011 national championship softball team. Last year she was promoted to Deputy Director of Athletics. They have a 9-year-old daughter, Everly, and a 5-year-old son, Reid.

"This is just as special a place for Sara as it is for me, and she's as invested as anybody in the success," Allard said.

About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 24-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among public institutions in Divisions I and II.