Coach Clint Allard Chats About Triton Basketball’s Historic Year

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This story appears in the spring 2025 issue of UC San Diego Magazine as “First Dance.”

On March 30, Clint Allard ’08 was promoted to head coach of the men’s basketball team at UC San Diego. A Triton basketball player himself, Allard’s basketball roots run deep on campus with nearly 20 years of experience as a coach and player. He has seen the team evolve from Division II to Division I, persevere through the pandemic, and now play a fantastic season culminating in their win in The Big West championship game,* earning them a spot in the NCAA’s March Madness.

As the associate head coach during the 2024 season, Allard was one of six full-time coaching staff and was responsible for leading the team’s defensive strategy — which was ranked among the top in the nation. UC San Diego Magazine caught up with Allard after the historic run that the men had in their first year of full qualification in the NCAA’s DI and their extremely close game against Michigan in the first round.

* In a historic and exciting development, the women’s basketball team also won its division championship game this year. Go Tritons!

1. It’s been an intense few years: What’s the experience been like for you and for the players?

When you live through this four-year transition period to DI, it can feel kind of long. And it was. But it was a really good learning time for us to identify who we wanted to be and how we wanted to do things. We found the recipe that works for us. Each step along the way felt like a small change, but when we look back, we’ve come a long way.

2. What is your coaching style?

As coaching staff, we take a very data-driven, analytical approach. And we pair that with having great player-coach relationships. We foster tight relationships between the players and coaches to build a tight team camaraderie and to show how much we care about them. That carries over onto the court and allows us to enjoy the process, the successes and the game.

3. Take us into the locker room at The Big West final. What was the overall feeling among the players, knowing that they were going to move on to March Madness?

There’s actually a lot more than I realized that happens immediately on the court, rather than in the locker room. You cut down the nets, you are on a platform taking pictures, there are interviews for individual players and the head coach, and everyone is hugging their families. That was really the time that was “Yeah!”

It was maybe 40 minutes later that we all made it to the locker room, and the sentiment was relief — we did it. We accomplished our goal.

4. If you had to describe this men’s team in three words, what would they be?

Relentless. Competitive. Spirited. When you’re at a mid-major program where we play with targets on our backs, knowing that a loss could lower our standing, it can be hard to keep focusing on the next success. And the guys just had the right approach and mindset. Every day. It was so impressive and so consistent. Even in our last game of the season versus the University of Michigan, our guys fought until the final shot rimmed out, never giving up hope or belief in themselves.>

5. What’s next for men’s basketball?

We’re excited about the team that we’ll have next year. We have experienced guys ready to step into bigger roles and hungry to get back out there. We’re looking to add the final pieces with a couple of recruits, and the wins have really helped show them who we are.

And I love all the support from the campus community and alumni nationwide — it’s been a dream.

Read more about the Allard era at ucsdtritons.com.