The basics – examining the AD’s history
With Coach Megan Gebbia moving on to Wake Forest, American University’s athletic department begins its search for a new coach. This is not a new position for Athletic Director Dr. Billy Walker – he has frequently hired head coaches during his tenure at AU. Not only did he hire two basketball coaches in his first year as AD, but all except two current head coaches were hired by Dr. Walker. Those include:
- Men’s & women’s cross country & track coach Sean Graham
- Men’s & women’s swimming & diving coach Garland Bartlett
- Men’s soccer coach Zach Samol
- Men’s wrestling coach Jason Borrelli
- Women’s lacrosse coach Lindsay Teeters
- Women’s soccer coach Marsha Harper
- Men’s basketball coach Mike Brennan
- Outgoing women’s basketball coach Megan Gebbia
Of those eight, four had prior ties to AU:
- Sean Graham was a grad assistant in 2009-2011 and an assistant coach here for the 2012-2013 season.
- Garland Bartlett was an assistant coach from 2016 until 2021, when she was elevated to interim head coach. The interim tag was removed two months later.
- Mike Brennan was an assistant coach 2007-2009.
- Megan Gebbia was an assistant coach for the 1995-1996 season
Three others had coaching experience in the region, with Zach Samol coming from Georgetown and Lindsay Teeters having coached at Virginia Tech, George Washington, and James Madison. Marsha Harper had bounced around a bit, but had coached at Richmond and UMass before coming to AU.
The lone Walker-hire currently at AU who had no ties to American or other schools in the region is Jason Borrelli, hired from Stanford. Walker has a wrestling background himself, so I would consider this hire an outlier. Being intimately familiar with wrestling, it would make sense for Dr. Walker to go about a coaching search differently for that sport.
Obviously, this likely goes beyond Walker’s tendencies; candidates are more likely to agree to interview or accept an offer if they have some connection to the school or area. Whether the bias exists on the AD’s end or with the candidates – most likely, it’s a bit of both – I will mostly be considering candidates who have AU ties or are currently working in the region.
The candidates
Right now, there are four active coaches in the region who have ties to AU. Associate Head Coach Tiffany Coll and Assistant Coach & Recruiting Coordinator Nikki Flores have both been a part of Coach Gebbia’s staff for years. (Emily Stallings, the third assistant on those teams, seems to have followed Gebbia to Wake Forest.) Current Canisius head coach Sahar Nusseibeh, a forward for the Eagles from 2005 to 2009, is tied for 9th all-time in career blocks with 54 and made the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll three years while at AU. Allie Bassetti was the director of basketball operations under Coach Gebbia for her first three years at American and is now an assistant coach for the Manhattan Jaspers.
There is a fifth candidate who used to coach at AU that I would classify as a longshot. Belle Koclanes, former assistant under Matt Corkery (Gebbia’s predecessor), was most recently the head coach of Dartmouth before leaving to head up a non-profit called Strive. It would be unusual for the president of an organization to leave after a little more than a year on the job. If you’re Dr. Billy Walker, however, you need to have her on your list.
There are also assistants at schools nearby (and not-no-nearby) worthy of a look, including George Washington, Georgetown, Maryland, Richmond, and Radford, among others. The athletic department has stated that this will be a national search. Time allowing, I’ll treat it that way, exploring candidates coast-to-coast. To start, however, we’ll be digging in next week on candidates that most closely fit Dr. Walker’s tendencies. Watch this space.