June 5, 2014
AUBURN, Ala. - Auburn women's basketball assistant Caroline McCombs has been named the head coach at Stony Brook University, the school announced Thursday.
McCombs recently completed her second season at Auburn where she served as the team's recruiting coordinator and coached Auburn's perimeter players. During her two seasons on the bench, she helped guide the Tigers to 38 wins and back-to-back berths in the WNIT.
"I'm very excited for this opportunity for Caroline. She has worked at extremely hard as an assistant coach over the last several years," Auburn head coach Terri Williams-Flournoy said. "She has proved that with me as well as the other schools she has been at, that she deserved this great opportunity. Stony Brook should be proud of hiring Caroline, and I think she will do an outstanding job there."
"As our recruiting coordinator, she knew what exactly kind of players to recruit for our system. She worked with our guards, helping them develop as players and the results showed on the court."
Last season, the Tigers led the SEC with 354 steals, averaging 10.4 per game as Auburn advanced to the WNIT quarterfinals. Auburn set a school record with 402 steals during the 2012-13 season and also forced 701 turnovers, which ranks second all-time.
During her time as an assistant coach, McCombs has helped lead four different teams to postseasons, including previous stops at Pittsburgh, Northwestern and Valparaiso. She joined the Auburn staff after two years as an assistant at Northwestern. During her time at Pitt, Combs helped the Panthers to five-straight postseason appearances from 2005-10, including back-to-back Sweet 16 appearances in 2008 and 2009. In 15 seasons as an assistant coach, she has helped her team advance to the postseason 11 times.
McCombs, a native of Medina, Ohio, graduated from Youngstown State in 1998 with a degree in dietetics. While attending Youngstown State, McCombs earned an impressive list of accomplishments for the Penguins' basketball team, including places on the Mid-Continent Conference Second Team in 1996 and 1998, and on the Mid-Continent All-Tournament Team three consecutive years from 1996-98.
She also left her mark in the record books as player at Youngstown State. At guard, she started 112-of-115 career games and scored 1,577 career points, finishing her career as the school's sixth-leading scorer. McCombs is also among the school leaders with 146 career three-pointers, 493 assists, and 236 steals.
After McCombs graduated from Youngstown State, she played European professional women's basketball, competing in the Czech Basketball Federation and European Cup in 1998. She continued her education, receiving her master's degree from Valparaiso in 2001.
McCombs will be formally introduced as Stony Brook's head coach at a press conference on Friday at 10 a.m. ET. The Seawolves finished the 2012-13 season with a 24-13 record, including an appearance in the WNIT.
For complete coverage on the Auburn women's basketball team, visit AuburnTigers.com, follow on Twitter @AuburnWBB and `like' the Auburn Women's Basketball page on Facebook.