San Diego Athletics

Samantha Guastella joined San Diego women's basketball in May 2025 as an assistant coach. She will enter her second season with the program in 2026-2027.

Guastella completed her first season on Blanche Alverson's staff at San Diego in 2025-26, helping guide the Toreros to an 11-22 overall record and a 4-14 mark in West Coast Conference play. Picked 11th in the 12-team WCC preseason poll, San Diego improved by four wins overall and doubled its league win total from the previous season before advancing to the second round of the 2026 WCC Tournament with a 66-62 first-round win over Saint Mary's at Orleans Arena.

The Toreros built their identity on the glass, ranking second in the WCC and 65th nationally in offensive rebounds per game (13.6) and third in the conference in rebound margin (+4.2) while holding opponents to 39.6 percent shooting, the fifth-best mark in the league.

Under her guidance, two San Diego players earned All-WCC recognition on the year. Sophomore guard Kylie Ray was named to the All-WCC Second Team after finishing fourth in the conference in scoring at 15.9 points per game and ranking 15th nationally in free throw percentage at 89.5 percent, while freshman guard Olivia Owens landed on the All-WCC Freshman Team, averaging 11.4 points and 5.7 rebounds and leading the team in both steals and assists. Five Toreros also earned WCC All-Academic honorable mention recognition.

Guastella came to USD after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at her alma mater Quinnipiac, where she was the program's recruiting coordinator for the 2024-25 season. A standout on the East Coast coaching circuit, Guastella has experience at four previous Division I institutions and played professionally in both Australia and Luxembourg. 

During her time at Yale, Guastella helped create an alumni mentorship program and excelled at developing student-athletes on and off the court while playing a key role in recruiting efforts and developing scouting reports for game preparation. 

"I am honored and grateful to be able to join Blanche, her incredible staff and the USD community!" Guastella said. "Blanche is an outstanding leader, mentor and human being. She is truly what is right in this business! Her values and dynamic energy, combined with the academic excellence of the university, have me extremely excited to get started. This program has the tools for success, and I am so excited to be a part of the process! Go Toreros!" 

Prior to her time at Yale, Guastella spent two seasons at Temple helping the Owls to a pair of American Athletic Conference tournament appearances, and spent two years at La Salle as a graduate assistant as well as one season as an assistant coach. Guastella in her first season as an assistant coach helped La Salle double their overall win total and conference win totals competing in the Atlantic-10. 

A standout player during her time in college, Guastella helped lead the Bobcats to the postseason in all four of her collegiate seasons which included two trips to the NCAA Tournament and a pair of appearances in the WNIT. In her final year of eligibility, she paced the Bobcats to their best record in program history at 31-4 that included an undefeated 20-0 conference record and the team's first ever MAAC Championship. 

An outstanding shooter with defensive versatility, Guastella holds the Quinnipiac record for most career three-point makes at 225, and is the Bobcats' Division I leader in blocks with 179 total during her four years. 

Guastella graduated from Quinnipiac in 2015 with her bachelor's degree in health science and was an MAAC All-Academic selection. She earned her master's of business administration degree in marketing from La Salle in 2020.