Mount Holyoke College Director of Athletics Andrea Ricketts-Preston announced Abby Wemhoff as the basketball program’s new head coach on Tuesday – the 14th in program history.

Wemhoff served as the top assistant coach on the Juniata College (Huntington, Pa.) women’s team from 2018 to this past season ending in 2024. She also had experience as a graduate assistant coach at Waynesburg University in Waynesburg, Pa.

With a handful of experience as an assistant, Wemhoff makes the jump to head coach for the first time in her career with the Lyons.

“I'm thrilled to accept this position, and I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to the entire Mount Holyoke College athletic department for providing me with this opportunity,” Wemhoff said. “I am honored to work alongside Andrea Ricketts-Preston as we lead the basketball program to new heights. This next step in my career is exciting, and I can't wait to hit the ground running for the Lyons.”

After back-to-back seasons with identical 2-23 records, Mount Holyoke decided it was time for a change at the top, and the athletics department chose Wemhoff, a former Division 3 player herself at the University of Mount Union in Ohio. A four-year member of the basketball team, Wemhoff started every game her senior season and helped Mount Union win the 2016 Ohio Athletic Conference title and advance to the NCAA Tournament.

She hopes she can take what she’s learned playing at a high level and quickly translate it into coaching the Lyons.

“I am excited to get to know the team and be on the court with them,” Wemhoff said. “I'm committed to fostering a culture built on hard work, accountability and building strong bonds on and off the court. The future is bright for this team, and we will achieve great things together.”

In Wemhoff’s six seasons at Juniata, she was involved in the many different intricacies of coaching – including program management, operations, recruitment coordination, skill development, film breakdown and analysis, weekly meetings and team travel logistics.

Wemhoff organized the program’s alumni game weekend event and also was in charge of creating social media content for the team. All of her hard work made it worthy of a head-coaching gig, according to Ricketts-Preston.

“I'm excited to have Abby join our staff as our new basketball coach,” Ricketts-Preston said. “Having observed her work ethic for the past several years, she has earned the opportunity to lead her own program. I know she will give everything she has to develop our current players and to recruit outstanding scholar-athletes to the Mount Holyoke community to move our program forward.”