Sydney Gouard joined the Bellarmine University women’s basketball staff as its director of operations prior to the 2024-25 campaign.
Gouard was not far removed from her playing career upon becoming a member of the staff. The former guard played at Oakland University for three years from 2019-22 before playing a final season at Bellarmine’s ASUN counterpart, Stetson, in 2022-23 as a graduate transfer.
Before arriving at Bellarmine, Gouard had already gained experience in coaching and team management responsibilities. In 2023-24, she was a varsity assistant coach and the freshman head coach at Decatur Central High School in Indianapolis while also being an AAU coach for Ty Harris Elite. In 2021-22, she was a head coach at Sacred Heart Middle School in Rochester, Michigan.
Gouard earned a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Oakland in three years and obtained a master’s degree in business administration with a concentration on finance from Stetson. At the former, she was a Scholar Award and High Honor Roll selection, a three-year academic letter recipient and received the Excellence Award in Geometry Scholar Award, while at the latter she was an ASUN Honor Roll recipient.
In her four college seasons, Gouard appeared in over 100 games with Oakland and Stetson. She may have only been 5-foot-8, but the native of Danville, Illinois, was a proficient rebounding guard, hauling in 4.4 per game in 16.3 minutes per contest as a junior at Oakland and 3.1 in 12.6 minutes per outing as a senior at Stetson. She also shot 75 percent or better from the free-throw line in three of her campaigns.
In high school, Gouard helped lead Danville Schlarman to the 2018 and 2019 Illinois 1A State Championship as a junior and senior. In her final season, she was named second-team IBCA All-State 1A/2A, first-team Vermilion Valley All-Conference, first-team News Gazette All-Area, second-team Commercial News All-Area and 42nd News-Gazette All-State honorable mention 100.
In total, Gouard was a three-time IBCA All-State selection, a four-time Vermilion Valley All-Conference recipient, a three-time Commercial-News All-Area honoree and a three-time News Gazette All-Area selection.
Gouard is the niece of Southern Indiana men’s basketball head coach Stan Gouard, who was a two-time Division II National Player of the Year with the Screaming Eagles in the mid-1990s when Bellarmine head coach Chancellor Dugan was the head coach of USI’s women’s basketball team.
