With head coaching credentials that include stops at women’s basketball powers in the Pac-10 and the Atlantic Coast Conference, Chris Gobrecht came to Yale in 2005 with a reputation for turning programs around.

Gobrecht guided the Bulldogs to their first-ever appearance in the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT) to cap off a successful 2010-11 season. The Bulldogs finished with a 14-15 overall record, which is Yale's highest win total since the 2001-02 season (14-13). Gobrecht coached the Bulldogs to the biggest win in program history, a 91-85 win over then-No. 14 Florida State. It was Yale's first win over a nationally ranked opponent in the program's 38-year history. She followed that historic victory by guiding the Bulldogs to a 10-4 finish in Ivy League play, which matched the most wins for Yale in League play (10-4, 1988-89). The 2010-11 Ivy League season included Yale's first sweep of Harvard since the 1993-94 season, which helped the Bulldogs finish in second place in the Ivy League standings for the first time since 1988-89, clinching the Ivy League's automatic berth in the WNIT.

In 2009-10, Gobrecht guided the Bulldogs to a 13-15 finish, the highest win total since the 14 victories in the 2001-02 season. Yale closed the 2009-10 campaign with an 8-6 record in Ivy League play, the best conference record since the 2001-02 season. It was the second time that Yale finished as high as fourth place in the Ivy League since 2001-02.

After posting a 3-24 mark in her first season with the Bulldogs, Coach Gobrecht led the team to 12 wins in the 2006-07. The nine-win improvement was one of the best in Division I that season. The 2006-07 season was highlighted by a six-game winning streak and a 15-point victory over a Marist squad that would reach the Regional Semifinals (Sweet 16) of the NCAA Tournament. Yale was also the only Ivy League team to defeat league champion Harvard. In 2007-08, Gobrecht led the Bulldogs to a 7-7 record and fourth-place finish in the Ivy League, their best conference finish since 2001-02.

Though the 2008-09 Bulldog squad was hampered by a multitude of injuries, Gobrecht led her team to an 11-17 record, the team’s second-highest win total in the past seven seasons. 2008-09 also featured a landmark victory for the program over North Carolina State, Yale’s first win over an Atlantic Coast Conference opponent. Gobrecht also reached a milestone 450th career coaching win last season.

Now in her 32nd season as a head coach, Gobrecht enters the 2011-12 season with an overall record of 487-416 (.539), ranking her 30th among active coaches in career victories. The ninth coach in the 39-year history of Yale women’s basketball, Gobrecht has more career Division I victories than any other active basketball coach in the Ivy League, men or women. In her tenure at Yale, she has coached an Ivy League Rookie of the Year (Melissa Colborne, 2006-07) and three first team All-Ivy players (Megan Vasquez, 2010-11; Colborne, 2007-08; Erica Davis, 2006-07). Prior to Gobrecht’s arrival in the Elm City, a Bulldog player had not earned first team All-Ivy accolades since Katy Grubbs in the 1997-98 campaign.

“I believe Yale is one of the finest institutions in the world, and to be involved with this university is a privilege,” Gobrecht said upon her arrival in New Haven. “I think my career has been leading up to this.”

After turning around the Cal State Fullerton program, Gobrecht moved on to the University of Washington. In 11 years, her teams went to the NCAA Tournament on nine occasions. The Huskies reached the NCAA Regional Semifinals four times during her tenure, and advanced to the Regional Finals (Elite Eight) in 1990. She won at least 16 games every year at Washington, including eight 20-win campaigns (six consecutive), and is the Huskies’ all-time winningest coach with 243 victories. Washington won three conference championships and finished second four times during her tenure. A two-time Pac-10 Coach of the Year, Gobrecht led Washington to a school-record 28 wins and a number-three national ranking in 1989-90. The Huskies were the only team to beat eventual NCAA Champion Stanford that season.

“My observation of Chris goes back to my days in the Pac-10 when I saw how well she developed the program at the University of Washington,” Athletic Director Tom Beckett said. “She did a great job with the Huskies, and now she’s a Bulldog. We think it’s an absolutely perfect connection, and it’s definitely the right move for us.”

After 11 years at Washington, Gobrecht took over a struggling Florida State program in 1996. The Seminoles went 5-22 in Gobrecht’s only season before she left Tallahassee to take over at her alma mater, Southern California.

With USC’s win over Pepperdine on Dec. 4, 2002, Gobrecht became the 33rd active coach to reach the 400-win mark. In seven seasons with the Women of Troy, Gobrecht posted a 95-108 record. USC posted three winning seasons during her tenure, including a 15-13 mark in her final year, 2003-04. Two of her recruiting classes were ranked among the best in the country, and her teams regularly faced some of the best competition in the nation, including Pac-10 rival Stanford. In 2002-03 alone, the Women of Troy faced three of the previous four national champions: Connecticut, Tennessee and Notre Dame.

Gobrecht began her Division I coaching career with a struggling Cal State Fullerton program in 1979-80. She coached the Titans for six seasons, posting an 84-82 record. She led Cal State Fullerton to an 18-12 record in her third season on the job. In the 1984-85 season, Gobrecht’s last with Cal State Fullerton, the Titans posted a 19-11 record and made their first appearance in the WNIT, making her a finalist for national Coach of the Year honors.

She served as an assistant for a USA Basketball select team which played in Czechoslovakia and Italy in 1990. In addition, six of Gobrecht’s former players have played professionally in the WNBA and ABL.

Her coaching career began in 1978 at Santa Fe Springs (Calif.) High School, where her team went 20-4 and made the CIF AAA playoffs. The next year, Gobrecht led Pasadena City College to a 25-5 record, a conference championship and second place in the state junior college tournament.

A Toledo, Ohio native and a graduate of Huntington Beach (Calif.) High School, Gobrecht earned a bachelor’s degree in public affairs from USC in 1977. Then known by her maiden name of Chris Geiger, she was a three-year starter for the Women of Troy from 1974-76 and also played two seasons of volleyball at USC. After graduation, she spent a year volunteering in the Peace Corps, where she worked as an English teacher at St. Mary’s College in Apia, Western Samoa.

She and her husband, Bob, the President and Managing Director of Special Olympics North America, have two children, Eric, 25, and Madeline, 22. Eric is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy and a recent graduate of the Air Force's flight school. He will be stationed in Dover, Del., after completing C-5 pilot training. Mady graduated from Yale in 2011 after four standout seasons on the women's basketball team. She is currently the head coach of the varsity girls basketball team at Episcopal High School in Alexandria, Va.

Allison Guth begins her second season as an assistant coach for the Yale women's basketball program. She was named an assistant coach in July 2010 after two seasons as the Director of Basketball Operations for the DePaul University women's basketball team.

Guth is in charge of coordinating all recruiting efforts for the women's basketball program as well as all game preparations and player development. She was recently named a Resident Fellow for Yale's New Residence Hall (Swing Space), where she will serve as a mentor to the students who live there.

In her first season with the Bulldogs, Guth helped guide the team to a 14-15 overall record, including a 10-4 record and second-place finish in the Ivy League, which matches Yale's best record in League play (1988-89) in the program's history. The second-place finish earned Yale an automatic berth in the Women's National Invitational Tournament, the Bulldogs' first-ever appearance in the WNIT.

During her time at DePaul, Guth handled the Blue Demon summer camps, video exchange, scouting and was involved in all on-campus recruiting. She helped DePaul reach the Big East and NCAA tournaments both seasons in Chicago.

Guth was a Missouri assistant coach and helped with recruiting for the 2007-08 season. The Tigers pulled off one of the nation's biggest victories with a win over Oklahoma in the first round of the Big 12 Conference Tournament, the first time in Big 12 history that a 12th seed defeated a No. 5.

Guth, who led Buffalo Grove (Illinois) High School to the 2000 Class AA State title, started her coaching career as an assistant at Loyola-Chicago from 2005-07. She also served as recruiting coordinator with the Ramblers and worked with backcourt players.

The three-time letterwinning University of Illinois player and 2004 graduate helped the Illini reach the 2003 NCAA Tournament after earning a spot as a walk-on and then winning a scholarship. Guth, an Academic All-Big Ten selection, also played a season with the Illinois women's golf team. She earned a bachelor of science degree in marketing before getting her master's degree in educational leadership from DePaul in 2010.

Jarietta Benton joined the Yale University women's basketball coaching staff in May 2011 after one year as an assistant coach at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) and a four-year stint with the Saint Louis University women's basketball program.

In her one season as an assistant under head coach Austin Parkinson, Benton was charged with assisting with post player development, scouting and video breakdown of opposing teams, and coordinating team travel arrangements. During her tenure at IUPUI, Benton was instrumental in the team's recruiting efforts, with a focus in Southern Indiana, Kentucky and Illinois.

Prior to joining the IUPUI staff, Benton spent three seasons as the Director of Basketball Operations on the Saint Louis University women's basketball staff. She began her coaching career as a graduate assistant coach with the Billikens. In addition to assisting Saint Louis Head Coach Shimmy Gray-Miller with daily operations, Benton oversaw the Billikens' community service projects, coordinated video operations and film exchange, assisted with travel arrangements, supervised student managers and served as summer camp director.

Benton was a member of the DePaul University basketball team that qualified for the NCAA Tournament four straight years. As a senior and team captain in 2006, she helped the Blue Demons post a 27-7 record and reach the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, where they fell to top-seeded Louisiana State University. Benton was presented the Maggie Dixon Captain's Award. Benton scored 261 points and distributed 72 assists during her DePaul career.

A native of Houston, Texas, Benton finished her prep career at Nimitz High School with 1,447 points, 887 rebounds, 327 steals and 205 blocks. As a senior, she led the Houston area with 19 points and 9.7 rebounds per game while shooting 44.0 percent from 3-point range. Benton was an honorable mention All-State selection by the Texas Sports Writers Association and twice was tabbed second-team All-State by Texas Basketball magazine.

Benton graduated from DePaul in 2006 with a degree in fitness management. She earned her Master's of Arts in Higher Education from Saint Louis in 2010.

Kelly Rotan joined the Yale University women’s basketball coaching staff in August 2011. After a successful playing career at Juniata College in Pennsylvania, Rotan spent the 2010-11 academic year working at Penn State University as a marketing coordinator in the athletic department, where she helped organize events, promotions and fundraising efforts for the basketball teams and other Olympic sports.

Rotan joins a Bulldog staff that is coming off of its first-ever appearance in the Women’s National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). She will assist in the development of the Bulldogs’ post players, as well as all facets of game preparation.

Rotan joins the Bulldogs’ coaching staff after graduating from Juniata in 2010. She led the Eagles to an NCAA Division III appearance (2008) and two consecutive ECAC South Region Tournament appearances (2009, 2010), including the 2009 ECAC South Region Championship, which was the first postseason championship of any kind in the history of women’s basketball at Juniata. During that tournament, Rotan shot a stellar 13-for-16 from the field (81.3 percent) and averaged 9.3 points over the three games in the tournament.

Rotan, originally from Atco, N.J., averaged 8.2 points and 7.1 rebounds during her senior season while serving as Juniata’s team captain. Primarily a forward for the Eagles, Rotan scored 590 points and grabbed 465 rebounds during her career and helped Juniata earn three Landmark Conference postseason berths during her four seasons. She also earned a place on the Landmark Conference's All-Academic Team in 2010 and was a three-time Academic Honor Roll choice as a sports management major.