Leah Szabla begins her first season with Augustana Women’s Basketball for the 2024-2025 season, and her eighth year overall coaching collegiately. She is an experienced coach at all levels, Szabla played at the DI level, assisted at the DII level, and served as a head coach at the DIII level. She is the lead assistant coach, and her role consists of: coordinator of recruiting, director of camps, and manager of team apparel. She also oversees community engagement, practice and game schedules, opponent scouting efforts, and mental health programming.
Szabla arrives to Augustana following a pair of seasons as the head coach at DIII North Central University, a private institution in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She finished with a 34-27 overall record in her two seasons at the helm. Szabla led her team to back-to-back UMAC postseason appearances, a UMAC Championship appearance in 2022-23, two straight NCCAA North Region Championship titles and two NCCAA DII National Tournament appearances. She also had five student-athletes named UMAC All-Conference and one NCCAA All-American honoree.
In the 2021-2022 season, Szabla served as the head women’s basketball coach at Crown College where they showed tremendous improvement and set the foundation for a very bright future. They tallied their highest win total in over four seasons, broke school records and earned multiple UMAC awards. The 2021-2022 season was highlighted by a first-ever victory over St. Scholastica, a sweep of conference foe, Northland College, and a trip to the Conference Tournament. Two players accomplished UMAC all-conference awards, set game records of points in a game and field goals made. Szabla’s team saw huge improvements over the course of the season.
Prior to her time as head coach at Crown College, Szabla served as an assistant coach at North Central University. During her time as an assistant at NCU, the team won their first UMAC championship in school history. Szabla was a key piece to their success as she oversaw their defensive efforts, player development, and coordinated their recruiting efforts. Szabla spent the 2019-2020 season as the recruiting coordinator at Wayne State College. She coached three All-NSIC players and a Division II All-American. Szabla first began her coaching career at Black Hill State where she served as a graduate assistant from 2017-2019. There, she oversaw their player development, academic services, and camp and tournament operations. The 2017-2018 season was historic as they received an at-large bid to the NCAA DII tournament. Her coaching career has been marked by strong recruiting efforts and Midwest ties, leadership development and culture-building, and passion for winning and game strategy.
Szabla’s playing career took place at the University of North Dakota where she competed at the DI level in the Big Sky Conference. She was an instrumental member of two championship seasons and was the starting point guard for four years for the Fighting Hawks. She was a two-time team captain, 1,000-point scorer, and UND Athletics Unsung Hero recipient in 2016. She received her undergraduate degree in Psychology from North Dakota in 2017 and her master’s degree in Strategic Leadership from Black Hills State in 2019. She is a graduate of Providence Academy high school in Plymouth, MN.
Szabla coached AAU basketball with the MN Metro Stars AAU club from 2021-2024. She received the Minnesota AAU Coach of the Year award in 2023, where her team finished third in the State. She has directed Midwest Basketball’s “Her Time to Play” Camp since 2020, as well as dozens of Breakthrough Basketball Camps and Clinics. She has served with Athletes in Action as an Intern, Fellowship of Christian Athletes Keynote Speaker, and Simba Ministries Sports Trip to Kenya, Africa. She is an active member of Central Church in Sioux Falls, SD.
