Kenyon College Athletics

Head coach Suzanne Helfant enters the 2019-20 season, her 25th at Kenyon, with an overall record of 393-240, making her, by far, the most successful coach in the history of the 44-year-old program.

A season ago, the Ladies finished in a tie for third in the NCAC before being upset at home in the quarterfinal round of the NCAC Tournament. It marked just the second time in the last 15 seasons that the team didn't make it to the tournament's semifinal round or beyond. 

In 2017-18, Kenyon had an outstanding season a year ago, posting a 21-6 mark while advancing to their third straight semifinal appearance in the NCAC Tournament. Kenyon's 21 wins tied for the third-most in single-season history. The campaign prior, Helfant and her team turned in another successful season, going 19-8. Among the highlights of the year, included a seven-game winning streak, and a 70-64 victory over then 10th-ranked DePauw University on February 11. 

In 2015-16, the Ladies had a surprising season shocking many while advancing to the semifinal round of the NCAC Tournament. Kenyon posted a record of 18-9 while finishing in third in the North Coast Athletic Conference. Three seasons ao, Helfant led the Ladies to a 16-10 record and semifinal finish in the NCAC Tournament. It was the 10th straight year Kenyon advanced to the semifinal round.

In 2011-12, Helfant led Kenyon to a second-place tie in the North Coast Athletic Conference and an eighth-straight trip to the NCAC's tournament semifinals. Four seasons prior, she directed the Ladies through one of their most impressive seasons ever. Her squad finished with 20-7 overall record and won the regular-season NCAC title with a perfect 16-0 record. For her efforts, Helfant was recognized with her third conference Coach of the Year award. She previously earned the award in the 2004-05 and the 1996-97 seasons.
 
During the 2012-13 season, Helfant and the Ladies stormed to the NCAC Tournament championship game behind the team’s second straight 20-win season, only to fall to the eventual Division III national champion DePauw Tigers. Over the course of the season, she witnessed NCAC Player of the Year Kayla Ernst break the single-season record for points scored and field goals made as part of seven different program records broken that year. The Ladies finished 2012-13 as the nation’s top free-throw shooting team in Division III.

Success is nothing new to Helfant and her program. During the 2004-05 season, she guided the Ladies to a 22-5 record and a conference title. She was named WBCA District Six Coach of the Year.

Helfant began her tenure at Kenyon in 1995-96 and promptly produced an 18-8 season, the most wins ever by a KC team at that time. She followed up by directing the 1996-97 team to a 26-2 record that included the program's first-ever NCAC championship and NCAA Division III tournament berth.

Helfant then guided the 1999-00 squad to a 21-7 record, along with an NCAC tournament championship and another NCAA tournament berth. Prior to her arrival, the Kenyon Ladies had just four winning seasons dating back to the program's inception in 1973. Since then, Helfant has more than doubled that number. She's coached four NCAC Players of the Year, several National Merit Scholars, and the team's first-ever Marshall Scholarship recipient.

Her coaching talents have also netted several other awards. At the conclusion of the 2001-02 season she was presented with the NCAC Coaching Legend Award and was also named a national Sports Ethics Fellow by the Institute for International Sport. In the 2005-06 season she became a member of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association Victory Club after collecting career win No. 200. During the 2011-12 season, she netted her 300th career victory in the Ladies' 70-53 victory over Wooster in Gambier. 

Helfant worked as the head basketball coach at Marietta College before taking on her current position at Kenyon. She inherited a 5-20 team there and in three short seasons turned around the program with a 13-12 record. Her coaching experience also expands to assistant positions at both Lycoming College and John Carroll University.

In her playing days, Helfant was a three-year starter at point guard for the Allegheny College Gators. During her four-year career, the Gators went a combined 95-15. Helfant was named to the All-NCAC Team three times, including being named the conference's Player of the Year in 1988. During that same season, she was selected as both a Kodak All-America and an American Women's Sports Foundation All-America. In 1995 she was named to the NCAC's Tenth Anniversary Team and in 1998 she was inducted into the Allegheny College Hall of Fame.

Helfant, who also serves as the Kenyon athletic department's senior women's administrator, graduated from Allegheny in 1988 with a bachelor's degree in communications.