Kristin Ison, who spent the two seasons as an assistant women's basketball coach at nearby North Central College, has been named head coach for the Chaparrals, as announced today by Ryan Kaiser, COD Director of Athletics and Recreation.

"I'm incredibly honored and excited to be named the next Head Women's Basketball Coach at College of DuPage,'' Ison said. "This is an incredible opportunity to build something special with a group of talented local student-athletes. I'm looking forward to creating an extraordinarily supportive and successful culture here at COD." 

At North Central, she also served as recruiting coordinator for head coach Maggie McCloskey-Bax's program. She contributed to academic support initiatives, in addition to scouting and opponent film breakdown.

Prior to North Central, she spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Lake Forest College. She performed year-round recruiting efforts, while managing administrative duties that included travel, fundraising, and scouting.

"Kristin's coaching experience, knowledge of the game and ability to build programs stood out and impressed the search committee,'' Kaiser said. "The potential of our program is in good hands with Kristin and we look forward to her developing a winning program on the court and in the classroom.''

She brings a wealth of coaching experience at the high school level, directing programs in Arizona, California and in Illinois.

Ison played four seasons of basketball at Northwestern, where she led the Big Ten and established the NU single-season free throw percentage record (87.4 percent) her junior season. She ranks third in career free throw percentage (82.7 percent) and 12^th in career games (120) for the Wildcats.

Ison, a Lake Forest native, earned her bachelor's degree in communication studies from Northwestern in 2010. She is working toward her MBA at North Central.