Spencer Allen is the 26th head baseball coach of the Northwestern program. He was named to the position on June 14, 2015. He coached his fifth season for the Wildcats in 2020.
Dunn led all everyday Northwestern players in several offensive categories: batting average (.314), runs scored (42), hits (61), and steals (21). His 21 steals were tied for sixth-most in the Big Ten.
Dunn also played stellar defense all year, earning a .982 fielding percentage, making 136 assists, and committing only four errors all year at shortstop. As a team, the Wildcats posted a .977 fielding percentage, the third-best mark in the Big Ten, and committed the second-fewest errors in the conference with only 21 on the season.
In 2017, Allen coached Northwestern to its first appearance in the Big Ten Tournament since 2010 and a run to the Big Ten Tournament championship game for the first time since 1984. The Wildcats were one win away from the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1957.
Allen turned the team around from a 6-18 start and posted a 21-12 record the rest of the way, including a 13-11 record in Big Ten play.
Allen oversaw the meteoric rise of Joe Hoscheit, who was the 2017 Big Ten statistical champion, after batting .468 in 24 conference games with 44 hits, 10 doubles and 29 RBI. His average in conference play was the highest by any Big Ten player in the last 18 seasons.
In addition to Hoscheit, Allen coached senior Matt Hopfner to another strong year behind the dish and incorporated talented first years Alex Erro and Leo Kaplan to the lineup in 2017. Hopfner hit .301 for the season, Kaplan batted .287 and Erro mashed .275 from the leadoff spot.
Allen captured his first Northwestern victory in his head coaching debut on Feb. 19, when the Wildcats swept a doubleheader against Nevada in Mesa, Arizona. In his first campaign, Allen christened Northwestern's new Rocky and Berenice Miller Park with an 11-5 victory over Chicago State on March 30.
Following the 2016 season, Allen was tabbed by USA Baseball to lead one of its teams at the 2016 Tournament of Stars. The tournament featured the top U-18 talent in the country and was used to help select the USA BAseball 18U National Team.
Allen came to Northwestern after serving as an assistant coach at Illinois in 2015. He helped the Fighting Illini set the school record with 50 wins and win the first NCAA Regional in program history. Illinois won its 30th Big Ten championship this spring, and it earned the No. 6 overall seed for the 2015 NCAA Baseball Championship, marking only the second time that a Big Ten program earned a national seed.
Under Allen's tutelage, the Illini ranked near the top of the Big Ten in numerous offensive categories, leading the league in hits, runs, RBIs, total bases, home runs and slugging percentage in 2015. The team won a school-record 27 consecutive games between March 30-May 20, falling only seven games shy of matching the NCAA record of 34.
Prior to his stint with Illinois, Allen served a two-year stretch as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Creighton. The Bluejays won 62 games in 2013-14 and the BIG EAST regular-season championship during its first season in the league in 2014. That was Allen's second stay in Omaha, as he also worked on staff during the 2005 and 2006 seasons. The 2005 squad won 48 games and the first Missouri Valley Conference championship in program history.
From 2010-12, Allen worked as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Washington State University, where he helped those squads average more than 30 wins per season.
Before returning to his home state, the Olympia, Wash., native spent time on staff with another Big Ten program, Purdue. Allen was the recruiting coordinator for the Boilermakers during the 2008-09 campaigns. Additionally, he has worked as a scout in the Detroit Tigers organization, and as a volunteer coach at Iowa (2004). Allen's coaching career began at Edmonds Community College in 2002, where he was an assistant coach.
Allen played three seasons at Iowa State from 1999-2001. He was a team captain during his final season and a 2001 All-Big XII Academic selection.
Allen is married to the former Jessica Draemel, a former softball student-athlete at Stanford University, where she helped the Cardinals reach the 2001 Women's College World Series. The couple has one daughter, Jada, and a son, Cole.
The 2019 season was full of accolades for Allen’s Wildcats. Seniors Jack Dunn and Alex Erro were both named First Team All-Big Ten, while first-year Shawn Goosenberg was named to the Third Team. Goosenberg and catcher Michael Trautwein were both named to the All-Big Freshman Ten team as well.
Three ‘Cats moved to the professional level in 2019, with pitcher Nick Paciorek (6th round), Erro (17), and Dunn (20) all being selected in the MLB draft, marking the first three players to be selected under Allen’s tutelage.
The 2018 season saw Allen mentor one of the Big Ten’s top infielders in Jack Dunn. The junior from Alpharetta, Georgia earned Third Team All-Big Ten honors while setting career highs in batting average, hits, RBI, runs scored, stolen bases, slugging percentage, and on-base percentage.Dunn led all everyday Northwestern players in several offensive categories: batting average (.314), runs scored (42), hits (61), and steals (21). His 21 steals were tied for sixth-most in the Big Ten.
Dunn also played stellar defense all year, earning a .982 fielding percentage, making 136 assists, and committing only four errors all year at shortstop. As a team, the Wildcats posted a .977 fielding percentage, the third-best mark in the Big Ten, and committed the second-fewest errors in the conference with only 21 on the season.
In 2017, Allen coached Northwestern to its first appearance in the Big Ten Tournament since 2010 and a run to the Big Ten Tournament championship game for the first time since 1984. The Wildcats were one win away from the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1957.
Allen turned the team around from a 6-18 start and posted a 21-12 record the rest of the way, including a 13-11 record in Big Ten play.
Allen oversaw the meteoric rise of Joe Hoscheit, who was the 2017 Big Ten statistical champion, after batting .468 in 24 conference games with 44 hits, 10 doubles and 29 RBI. His average in conference play was the highest by any Big Ten player in the last 18 seasons.
In addition to Hoscheit, Allen coached senior Matt Hopfner to another strong year behind the dish and incorporated talented first years Alex Erro and Leo Kaplan to the lineup in 2017. Hopfner hit .301 for the season, Kaplan batted .287 and Erro mashed .275 from the leadoff spot.
Allen captured his first Northwestern victory in his head coaching debut on Feb. 19, when the Wildcats swept a doubleheader against Nevada in Mesa, Arizona. In his first campaign, Allen christened Northwestern's new Rocky and Berenice Miller Park with an 11-5 victory over Chicago State on March 30.
Following the 2016 season, Allen was tabbed by USA Baseball to lead one of its teams at the 2016 Tournament of Stars. The tournament featured the top U-18 talent in the country and was used to help select the USA BAseball 18U National Team.
Allen came to Northwestern after serving as an assistant coach at Illinois in 2015. He helped the Fighting Illini set the school record with 50 wins and win the first NCAA Regional in program history. Illinois won its 30th Big Ten championship this spring, and it earned the No. 6 overall seed for the 2015 NCAA Baseball Championship, marking only the second time that a Big Ten program earned a national seed.
Under Allen's tutelage, the Illini ranked near the top of the Big Ten in numerous offensive categories, leading the league in hits, runs, RBIs, total bases, home runs and slugging percentage in 2015. The team won a school-record 27 consecutive games between March 30-May 20, falling only seven games shy of matching the NCAA record of 34.
Prior to his stint with Illinois, Allen served a two-year stretch as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Creighton. The Bluejays won 62 games in 2013-14 and the BIG EAST regular-season championship during its first season in the league in 2014. That was Allen's second stay in Omaha, as he also worked on staff during the 2005 and 2006 seasons. The 2005 squad won 48 games and the first Missouri Valley Conference championship in program history.
From 2010-12, Allen worked as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Washington State University, where he helped those squads average more than 30 wins per season.
Before returning to his home state, the Olympia, Wash., native spent time on staff with another Big Ten program, Purdue. Allen was the recruiting coordinator for the Boilermakers during the 2008-09 campaigns. Additionally, he has worked as a scout in the Detroit Tigers organization, and as a volunteer coach at Iowa (2004). Allen's coaching career began at Edmonds Community College in 2002, where he was an assistant coach.
Allen played three seasons at Iowa State from 1999-2001. He was a team captain during his final season and a 2001 All-Big XII Academic selection.
Allen is married to the former Jessica Draemel, a former softball student-athlete at Stanford University, where she helped the Cardinals reach the 2001 Women's College World Series. The couple has one daughter, Jada, and a son, Cole.