City of Basketball Love

By Josh Verlin (@jmverlin)
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Lauren Stackhouse was all set for the season ahead.

The West Chester Rustin girls’ coach was heading into her sixth season, her middle daughter Mackenzie starting her freshman year at Rustin right as Riley, her oldest, began her college career at Widener.

Then her former college coach, Delaware Valley’s Laura Hogan, announced her retirement midway through August after a 28-year career. Less than three weeks later, DelVal announced Stackhouse as Hogan’s replacement, her career changing course at an unexpected time.

“I’d considered (college coaching) in the past but never really felt like there was a right time,” Lauren Stackhouse told CoBL by phone on Sunday, two days after her new position became official. “And honestly I don’t think there’s ever a right time for anything, there’s always going to be a player to stay for, things like that. 

“I felt like it was a time in my life where it was a now-or-never.”

There’s no doubt the placement played a major role. 

Stackhouse, then Lauren Snyder, set the DelVal program rebounding record (951, currently second all-time) despite being a 5-foot-6 guard; the Upper Merion product also scored 1,185 points in a four-year career that ended in 2002, and she’s 10th in program history in assists (240). 

Perhaps most importantly, DelVal is where she met her husband, Jason Stackhouse, a standout baseball player for the Aggies. The pair were both inducted into the school’s athletics Hall of Fame; Jason in 2007, Lauren in 2014. 

“I absolutely loved it there, I was fortunate to be part of a strong team with a group of teammates that are still my lifelong friends,” Stackhouse said, mentioning former teammate and current Widener head coach Alisa Kintner. “It definitely played a huge part in my life. [...] We’ve had family pictures taken on the campus.”

The day Hogan announced her career was ending, on August 19, Stackhouse was at Widener with her oldest daughter, helping her move into her college dorm. Her phone was “blowing up,” Stackhouse said, but she was too distracted with family matters to really think about it seriously.

After talking about it with her family, as well as with her former coach, Stackhouse decided to toss her hat in the ring. A couple interviews with DelVal AD Dave Duda and a visit to campus later, and she got the job. 

It meant having to give up her position as a middle school math teacher, the coaching position coming with employment at DelVal. She’ll be overseeing the work-study program as well as helping with gameday operations across the athletic department, the sports world now her full-time job.

“That was definitely one of the biggest parts that brought me the most excitement,” Stackhouse said. “The fact that I can do nothing but basketball all the time. I love my time as a teacher but basketball’s always been my passion: coaching, building relationships with players, I’m excited for that part of it.”

Lauren Stackhouse (above) and Riley (left) will go head-to-head this preseason. (Photo: Josh Verlin/CoBL)

For Stackhouse, leaving Rustin also meant giving up the opportunity to coach Mackenzie in high school like she had for four years with Riley, the pair winning a District 1 5A title in 2023 with a big assist from Drexel’s Laine McGurk. Lauren Stackhouse is also her daughters’ coach with the Delco Goats — including fourth-grader Madison, her youngest — and plans on continuing the grassroots program she founded seven years ago. 

“I told all my [Rustin] players ‘this isn’t goodbye, this is just me in a different role, that’s all,’” Stackhouse said. “‘I’ll still be cheering you on, still be guiding you, if you need anything I’m still here.’ So as many evenings as my schedule allows, I will be there.”

In her 28-year career, which makes her the longest-tenured coach of any in DelVal’s athletics history, Hogan won 321 games, including a 16-9 (7-7 MAC Freedom) finish last season. Though she never made it to the NCAA Tournament, Hogan did get the Aggies into the ECAC playoffs six times, winning once.

Stackhouse inherits a team that returns leading scorer Haley Keenan (17.0 ppg, 7.2 rpg), an all-MAC Freedom First Team honoree in 2023-24 and a fifth-year senior guard. Three other starters, all juniors, return as well: forward Alexis Wright (13.6 ppg, 7.6 rpg) and guards Ciana Feliciano (7.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and Aubrey Ennis (6.6 ppg, 3.1 apg). 

“I definitely want to keep the same culture that (Hogan’s) created, a positive environment for kids to play basketball, expectation of winning and those types of things,” Stackhouse said. “I definitely want to revamp the social media aspect for the players, to be able to step up the recruiting process a little bit. 

“They were 16-7 last year, I’m really returning a nice core group which I’m excited about, Haley Keenan is back for her fifth year which is fantastic, so I’m just really looking forward to building what she’s already started there. Big shoes to fill, but I’m looking forward to making her proud.”

This season will also bring a curveball for Stackhouse in the form of a preseason game against Widener, pitting mother against daughter in a most unexpected matchup. Lauren Stackhouse was relieved the game was taking place before the season got underway, not having to gameplan against her daughter in a game that really mattered. 

“That is the best-case scenario for sure,” Stackhouse laughed. “In all my years I’ve never coached against her, so that’ll be fun. It’ll be interesting, but it’ll be fun. It’ll be different.”