Lafayette girls basketball’s Allison Tate Denton ends historic coaching career
For 25 seasons, there’s been no mistaking who was head coach of the Lafayette High School girls basketball team.
Allison Tate Denton’s high intensity in high heels made an impression on her players, her opponents and anyone else in the gym.
“Coach Denton is the perfect example of a leader and role model for young women,” Lafayette athletic director Dallas Kingsolver said Monday after Denton announced her retirement from coaching. “She belongs on the Mount Rushmore of Lafayette High School coaches. Replacing her will be impossible.”
That’s lofty praise for a school that has Boys’ Sweet 16 championship coaches Ralph Carlisle, Jock Sutherland and Don Adkins in its yearbooks.
But no Lexington girls coach has won more games than Denton. Her 482-276 record included eight district championships and the 2014 11th Region championship and corresponding run to the Girls’ Sweet 16 quarterfinals. That marked the program’s first state tournament trip in 30 seasons.
She ranks 24th on the KHSAA’s all-time girls coaching wins list and is second only to former Franklin County coach Joey Thacker’s 538 wins in the 11th Region. Her 21 winning seasons include the last 16 in a row.
“One thing I respect about her more than anything else is that she managed to do it at a place that had struggled for a little while,” said Thacker, who stepped away from coaching himself a year ago. “She came in and brought them continuity and long-term success at a high level for a long time. We knew when we were on our runs to win the 11th Region, we would have to go through Lafayette a lot of those years, and that’s a credit to her tenacity and dedication to building what she built over there.”
Denton informed her players and the school of her decision Monday.
“It was a little emotional. It was a little tough,” she said. “It just seemed like the right time to pass the torch on to somebody else.”
Denton made light of her status as the city’s all-time wins leader.
“That’s probably just because I stayed,” Denton said with a laugh. “I never even thought when I started this what the end would look like. But I’m very at peace, and I’m content with my decision.”
Learning to compete in a tough environment
Denton’s retirement from coaching coincides with her daughter Anna Clay Denton’s senior year. Anna Clay played point guard for her mom but is a standout shortstop on the softball team and an Evansville signee in that sport. Denton’s son, Tate, begins sixth grade in the fall.
Coincidentally, softball brought Denton to Lafayette in 2000 when she was offered the opportunity to take over the Generals’ powerhouse fast-pitch program, a two-time defending region champion at the time.
A basketball player first at Paul Laurence Dunbar with all-city honors to her credit, Denton continued her playing career at Carson-Newman University and returned to Dunbar as a teacher and freshman girls’ basketball coach. She got offered the Lafayette softball job soon after.
After a year at Lafayette, Denton took over its girls basketball program and set softball aside.
Her varsity basketball coaching career began in an era of private-school domination. Lexington Catholic won state titles in 2005 and 2006. Lexington Christian won it all in 2007.
“In the beginning, gosh, it was tough,” Denton said. “But we competed. We never ran away from it.”
Generals hit their stride
Denton had five winning seasons in her first nine campaigns and claimed her first district title in her 10th season in 2011.
Her 2013-14 Girls’ Sweet 16 team featured three eventual Division I players — future Miss Basketball finalist Dee Givens (Western Kentucky) and Ashanti Thomas (Penn State, Butler), both juniors, and senior Sarah Cooley (Canisius). It also got a huge contribution from freshman Kiara Pankins (Lindsey Wilson), a future two-time city player of the year.
“They were loaded and huge,” Thacker said. “They had like 6-4, 6-1, 6-1. It was like playing against the ‘86 Celtics.”
After her college playing career, Cooley helped out at Lafayette through law school and took a larger assistant role in recent years. Playing for Denton, “she treated us like family,” Cooley said. Coaching with Denton has felt the same.
“I would not be the person I am today without all of her intensity and taking real-life lessons from basketball and seeing those come to fruition going into my career,” Cooley said.
In all, 51 of Denton’s players continued their athletic careers in college, Kingsolver said.
The Generals won five straight 43rd District titles from 2013 to 2017 and Denton accumulated a winning record against all of Lafayette’s district rivals: LCA (41-12), Tates Creek (42-17), Lexington Catholic (29-20) and Dunbar (34-33).
“In three of the four years I coached in the 43rd District, one of our teams — Dunbar or Lafayette — was playing in the 11th Region championship game. That tells you how strong and competitive the district was during those years, and she was a big reason why,” said Sarah Bridenbaugh, a KHSAA deputy commissioner who coached Dunbar from 2011 to 2015. “Every time our teams met, you knew it was going to be a battle. When you look at the number of wins she’s had in her career, it speaks to the consistency, passion and commitment she brought to the game.”
Coaching about more than wins
Denton’s milestone 400th win came as Lafayette reclaimed the 43rd District title in 2022 after a four-year drought. That team featured another Miss Basketball finalist, Anaya Brown (UT Martin, Southern Methodist).
On that night and Monday, Denton said her real achievements aren’t measured on the court.
“I would say I’m most proud of the relationships that I have with players and families. The competition is what drove me into being a coach,” she said. “I even knew as a player that this is what I wanted to do, because I love to compete, and I love the sport. But, you know, at 22 when you start doing that, you don’t really even understand what you’re doing.
“Coaching is about the relationships, and just hoping that you instill something into these young women to make them strong women. Because it’s more than basketball. It’s about life, and how to fight through things when they’re not going your way. That’s what sports teach you.”
