Southeastern women’s basketball head coach Ayla Guzzardo has been hired by McNeese as the head coach of the McNeese Cowgirls women’s basketball team.

The news comes after the Lady Lions had one of the best regular seasons in program history. In 2025, they set a school record with a 19-game winning streak and clinched the No. 1 seed in the Southland Conference after going undefeated in conference play. The Lady Lions also made their first appearance in the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament.

A day after the team’s loss to Colorado in the first round of the WBIT, the official X page of the McNeese women’s basketball team announced Guzzardo’s hiring.

Guzzardo began her career with the Lady Lions in 2016 as the lead assistant before becoming the program’s seventh head coach in 2017.

She has led the team to multiple successful seasons and has not had a losing record in regular-season and conference play since 2019-20. She was named Southland Conference Coach of the Year in both 2023 and 2025, becoming the first-ever Southeastern women’s basketball head coach to receive the award.

In the 2022-23 season, Southeastern became the first women’s basketball program in Southland Conference history to win both the regular-season title and conference tournament championship in the same season. Guzzardo also guided the team to its first appearance in the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament in 2022-23.

Guzzardo wrapped up her tenure at Southeastern with a 122-105 overall record and an 87-54 mark in Southland Conference play.

In an Instagram post, Guzzardo thanked Southeastern for its support, saying, “I know I have said it a lot, but THANK YOU again to our families, fans, PRIDE, and administration at SLU. You have been our backbone through it all. You all have given us a true HOME COURT advantage.”

She replaces Lynn Kennedy, whose contract was not renewed by McNeese after four seasons and a 41-80 overall record.