Matt Bollant has a 454-274 record in 23 seasons as a women’s college head coach, including a 15-13 mark this past season at Bryan College of Dayton, Tenn. His teams have recorded 11 20-win seasons and reached the postseason on 11 occasions, including four NCAA Tournaments, two Women’s NIT events, three NAIA National Tournaments and two National Christian College Athletic Association events.
Bollant, 54, had his greatest success while coaching at Wisconsin-Green Bay from 2007-12. There, his Phoenix went 148-19 in five seasons with five Horizon League championships, four NCAA Tournament berths, one Women’s NIT appearance and a 34-2 campaign in 2010-11 when his squad reached the NCAA Sweet 16 and he was named Kay Yow National Coach of the Year.
He was voted Horizon League Coach of the Year four times at UWGB, where he guided eight players to first-team HL honors, three HL Players of the Year, one All-American and Wade Trophy finalist (Julia Wojta) and two additional honorable mention All-Americans (Rachel Porath, Celeste Hoewisch).
From there, Bollant moved to Illinois, guiding the Fighting Illini to a 61-94 ledger from 2012-17 with a Women’s NIT berth in 2013 and one honorable mention All-American (Karisma Penn). While in Champaign, he was named winner of the 2015 Kay Yow Heart of a Coach Award presented by the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.
Bollant coached the next seven seasons at Eastern Illinois University, from 2017-24, taking over a struggling Panthers’ program and leading it back to relevance. After going 3-26 in 2017-18, his squad went 93-86 over the next six years highlighted by a 21-8 mark in 2022-23. During his time at EIU, his mentored seven first-team all-Ohio Valley Conference players (Lariah Washington three times, Macy McGlone twice, Karle Pace and Abby Wahl), an OVC Player of the Year (McGlone in 2023-24) and an OVC Freshman of the Year (Washington in 2019-20).
A Minnesota native, Bollant excelled in basketball and tennis at Winona High School. He played both sports at Winona State University, earning a bachelor’s degree in business education in 1994. He later earned a master’s degree in instructional technology from American Intercontinental University in 2006.
He began his coaching career at Tigerton High School in Wisconsin, guiding its girls’ basketball team to a 63-10 record from 1994-97. He then moved to the college ranks, assisting Wisconsin native Kathi Bennett from 1997-2000 at the University of Evansville and assisting Bennett again from 2000-02 at Indiana University.
Bollant landed his first head coaching position at Bryan College, guiding the Lions to a 134-36 record from 2002-07. His tenure there included three NAIA National Tournament berths, an NAIA Sweet 16 spot in 2006, and two National Christian College Athletic Association postseason appearances. His teams boasted four conference Player of the Year honorees and three NAIA All-Americans.
He then was off to Green Bay for five seasons, Illinois for five seasons, Eastern Illinois for seven seasons and back to Bryan College this past season. Over the years, he also twice was an NCCAA regional Coach of the Year, was an NAIA Region 6 Coach of the Year and the 2007 Appalachian Athletic Conference Coach of the Year. In addition, Bollant’s 2010-11 team was inducted as a team into the UWGB Athletics Hall of Fame in 2024.
Bollant and his wife, Kari, have five daughters – Jo, Regan, Marita, Merari and Flor.
