On May 13, 2013, Ripon College officially announced the hiring of Lauren (Johnson) Busalacchi as the third women's basketball coach in program history.
The eighth-winningest women's basketball coach in Midwest Conference history, Busalacchi enters the 2024-25 season with a career coaching record of 159-101 in her 11 seasons. The last seven years have been particularly impressive, winning at least 17 games in each season (not including the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season) and going 133-57 during that span, including 114-14 in conference games, while winning the MWC championship six consecutive years (2018, 2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024), which is the longest such streak in the league's history. The Red Hawks have gone 70-20 at home during the last seven years, making Weiske Gymnasium one of the toughest places to play in the MWC, while appearing in the four-team MWC Tournament in each of the last eight seasons and hosting it the last six (not including the COVID-shortened 2020-21 season).
Busalacchi has coached 14 All-Conference players during her time at Ripon, including nine First Team selections, while also coaching two Academic All-Americans, one MWC Player of the Year, one MWC Newcomer of the Year and one D3hoops.com Central Region Rookie of the Year.
A five-time MWC Coach of the Year (2019, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024), Busalacchi coached Ripon to the 2019 NCAA Division-III Tournament, which was their first such appearance in 10 years. Ripon finished with a 19-9 record that season, which is tied for the fifth-most wins in program history, while going 16-2 in the MWC, setting a program record for most conference wins in a single season. The team also set a school record for rebounds with 1,151, and finished the season by winning 16 of their final 18 contests, including winning streaks of nine and seven games. The Red Hawks went 12-1 at home that season.
In 2024, Ripon returned to the NCAA Tournament, winning the Midwest Conference outright with a 14-2 record while earning hosting duties for the MWC Tournament. Ella Ten Pas was named the MWC Player of the Year -- Ripon's first since 2006 -- and was also named a D3hoops.com second-team All-Region selection. In the process, Ten Pas set Ripon's single-season rebounding record (247) and was named the WBCA Division III Private School Women's Player of the Year. Ripon set a program record with 1,861 points scored and 411 free throws made while entering the program record books in single-season free throws made, single-season wins, single-season field goal percentage, single-season made three-pointers, single-season free throw percentage, single-season rebounds, single-season steals and single-season blocks.
The Red Hawks followed a historic 2022 campaign with an even better 2023 season, winning 20 games for the first time since 2020. The 14-game winning streak from January 3 to February 25 is tied for the longest winning streak in school history. Alison Leslie wrapped up her career with 214 made three-pointers in her career, setting a new school record.
In 2022, Busalacchi again led Ripon to the NCAA Division-III Tournament with an 18-10 overall record and a 15-1 mark in the MWC. The Red Hawks finished that season winning 14 of their final 16 games, including a 10-game winning streak, which is the third-longest winning streak in program history. That season, Ripon broke the school record for 3-pointers in a season with 143.
In her first season at the helm, Busalacchi led the Red Hawks to a 10-13 record (10-8 MWC), which was followed by a 2-21 (2-16 MWC) season in her second year. She then led Ripon to the greatest turnaround the MWC had seen in 10 years, as the team finished 14-10 (10-8 MWC) in 2015-16, including a berth in the four-team MWC Tournament for the first time in six years.
Busalacchi came to Ripon after spending one year as an assistant coach at Coe College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where her duties included recruiting, academic coordinator, film coordinator, fundraising coordinator, while also serving as an instructor of Exercise Physiology and the Director of Intramurals. Prior to her time at Coe, Busalacchi spent three years as an assistant coach at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa and one year as an assistant at East Texas Baptist University in Marshall, Texas.
A native of Black River Falls, Wis., Busalacchi earned her B.S. in Athletic Training from Clarke College in 2008, before going on to earn a Doctor of Physical Therapy in 2010. As a member of the Crusader's women's basketball team, Johnson was named Honorable Mention All-Conference in 2006. As a junior during the 2006-07 season, Johnson earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team at the Ripon College Tournament. As a team captain that year, Busalacchi was named Team MVP, while also winning the Leadership Award. She finished her career at Clarke ranking in the school's top 10 for scoring, steals, assists, 3-point field goals, free throw percentage and minutes played.
Busalacchi and her husband Mark currently reside in Hartford. They have three children: Shea, Sophie and Jhett.
