University of Northern Iowa Athletics
Men's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach / General Manager
- Email:
- abraham.woldeslassie@uni.edu
Abe Woldeslassie joined the Panther staff as assistant coach and general manager in April 2026 with 16 years of experience across the Division I and Division III landscape. The Minneapolis, Minnesota native spent the 2025-26 season as an assistant coach under Tim Bergstraser at Denver, where the Pioneers tied for fourth in the Summit League standings with their best finish in the last eight years.
Prior to his stint at Denver, Woldeslassie spent seven seasons as the head coach at his alma mater, Division III Macalester College in St. Paul, Minnesota. Taking over a program that had won just 35 games in the previous ten seasons prior to his arrival, Woldeslassie nearly doubled that total, recording 66 wins. The Scots became the first six-seed to reach the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Tournament title game in league history in 2022 with a 15-win season with Woldeslassie earning D3Hoops.com Region 9 Coach of the Year honors. A year later, Macalester reached the 15-win milestone once again and placed fourth in the conference standings for the program’s best league finish since 2003-04. The back-to-back 15-win campaigns were the third-most in a two-year span in the team’s 40-year history.
Woldeslassie also spent two seasons as an assistant coach at Siena from 2016 to 2018, helping the Saints reach the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Tournament championship game in his first season. His first Division I experience came serving as Director of Basketball Operations in two saints, including at Davidson (2013-16) with three national postseason tournament appearances, two conference regular season championships and two NIT berths, as well as at Dartmouth (2012-13).
Woldeslassie’s first stint in college coaching came at Division III Bowdoin College in Maine, where he spent two seasons as an assistant coach (2010-12). He also spent time at Impact Basketball Academy in Las Vegas, as well as the Basketball Training Institute in Pasadena, California.
In his playing career, Woldeslassie spent two seasons at Macalester after transferring from St. Thomas (MN). A two-time All-MIAC guard, he led the conference in assists both seasons. In his 50 career games, Woldeslassie averaged 17.2 points and 5.4 dimes.
