Head Coach Austin Parkinson

Austin Parkinson was selected to lead the Butler women's basketball program on April 8, 2022.

The Bulldogs set a single-season attendance record in 2023-24, averaging 1,141 fans per game. 20,541 total fans gathered at Hinkle Fieldhouse over 18 games to see BU in action. Butler went 15-17 overall with a 6-12 record in the BIG EAST standings. They were 9-9 at home and were able to host two WNIT games after receiving an at-large bid to the postseason tournament. Butler defeated Bowling Green in Round 1 of the WNIT. The victory went down as Parkinson’s 250th career win as a head coach.

Postseason accolades went to Caroline Strande and Riley Makalusky. Strande was an All-BIG EAST Second Team selection, becoming just the third player in program history to be selected to the second team. Makalusky was voted onto the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team.

The Bulldogs finished the 2023-24 campaign ranked fifth in the nation in team 3-point field goal percentage. BU shot 38.3% from behind the arc and had four of the top ten 3-point shooters in the BIG EAST Conference.

Highlights from the regular season included a road win at Wisconsin, four-straight victories in the month of February and a victory at Wintrust Arena. Parkinson helped Butler orchestrate a win at DePaul for just the second time in program history.

Parkinson guided the Bulldogs to an 11-19 record in his first year as head coach at Butler. The team won 10 more games than the previous season and put together a four-game winning streak in February. That stretch of action helped the Bulldogs secure the No. 8 seed in the BIG EAST Conference tournament. The Bulldogs also had a player make the BIG EAST All-Freshman Team at the conclusion of the regular season.

Prior to Butler, Parkinson was the all-time winningest coach in IUPUI women’s basketball history. In his 12 seasons leading the Jaguars program, Parkinson posted a record of 224-141. Parkinson’s Jaguars earned the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance by winning the 2022 Horizon League Tournament. IUPUI had a record of 24-5, including a win over nationally-ranked Iowa. It was Parkinson’s eighth 20-win campaign. IUPUI also won the 2020 Horizon League Tournament and earned a berth in the 2020 NCAA Tournament, which was ultimately canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During the 2021-22 season, Parkinson saw graduate student Macee Williams earn AP All-American Honorable Mention honors and win Horizon League Player of the Year for the fourth consecutive year. Williams was then selected by the Phoenix Mercury in the third round (32nd overall) of the 2022 WNBA Draft, becoming the first Jaguar to hear her name called in the WNBA Draft in IUPUI history. She was also one of five student-athletes nationally to be named to the 2021-22 Senior CLASS Award First Team.

Parkinson inherited a three-win team when he took over as the head coach days prior to the start of the 2010-11 campaign. In his third season, Parkinson’s Jaguars posted a 20-win season. Six times he led IUPUI to the WNIT in addition to the two NCAA Tournament berths. Parkinson has been selected by his peers as the conference Coach of the Year three times – once in the Summit League and twice in the Horizon League.

Prior to leading the women’s basketball program, Parkinson served as an assistant coach of the IUPUI men’s basketball staff for two seasons.

Parkinson was a four-year letterwinner at Purdue from 2000-04 and closed his career tied for tenth on the Boilermakers’ all-time assist list. Additionally, he led the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ratio in each of his final three seasons. He received both his B.S. (‘04) and Masters (‘06) from Purdue in Organizational Leadership and Supervision.

Parkinson comes from an impressive basketball pedigree as his father, Bruce, is Purdue’s all-time assist leader and a member of the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame. His grandfather, Jack, played at Kentucky and is a member of both the Indiana and Kentucky Basketball Halls of Fame.

Parkinson and his wife Whittney are the proud parents of Wren, Pearce, and Jones.