American University Athletics announced today that Tiffany Coll will be promoted to head coach of the women’s basketball team:
Coach Coll has been an assistant coach with the Eagles for nine years and associate head coach for the last four. This blog mentioned her as a leading candidate for the opening, and it’s no surprise she is the one selected to fill Megan Gebbia’s old post.
This was a pretty quick hire – it sort of needed to be, given that we’re well into the summer – so I will obviously be scrapping the candidate previews I had planned. Instead, let’s dig it a bit on Coach Coll.
A Brief History
Coach Coll has been involved in competitive basketball (college or above) for 23 years. Starting in 1999, she played for the UMBC Retrievers (University of Maryland-Baltimore County, for the uninitiated) for four years. During her first three years there, she was in fact coached by Megan Gebbia. (Gebbia left for Wright State Coll’s senior year.)
After graduating, Coach Coll played overseas for two years, before returning stateside as a grad assistant for St. Johns. After two years, she left St. John’s with a master’s degree in sociology and began her coaching career in earnest.
Coaching History
As mentioned above, Coll has been associate head coach for AU for the last four seasons. During that time, she’s helped American achieve a 65-41 record (61.3% winning percentage), including a 44-21 (67.7%) record in the Patriot League.
Coll originally came to AU as part of Coach Megan Gebbia’s first coaching staff in 2013. Prior to that move, Coach Coll had spent one year at Towson, four at Lehigh, and one more at Navy as an assistant coach.
While there are many factors that contribute to a team’s wins and losses, Lehigh saw a definite run of success while Coach Coll was on staff (her years at Lehigh in bold):
| Year | Overall Record | Conference Record |
| 2013-14 | 13-18 (41.9%) | 5-13 (27.8%) |
| 2012-13 | 14-16 (46.7%) | 6-8 (42.9%) |
| 2011-12 | 17-13 (56.7%) | 9-5 (64.3%) |
| 2010-11 | 21-11 (65.6%) | 10-4 (71.4%) |
| 2009-10 | 29-4 (87.9%)* | 13-1 (92.9%)^ |
| 2008-09 | 26-7 (78.8%)* | 12-2 (85.7%)^ |
| 2007-08 | 18-13 (58.1%) | 9-5 (64.3%) |
| 2006-07 | 11-19 (36.7%) | 5-9 (35.7%) |
^Regular season Patriot League champions
Coll was the only new coach hired for the 2008 season, so that uptick is probably at least somewhat attributable to her.
As she has at other coaching stops, Coach Coll focused on post players while at Lehigh. During her time with the Mountain Hawks, Coll coached Alexa Williams, who ranks #4 in program history in rebounds and #5 in blocks and blocks/game.
Her influence seems to have led to high rebound marks for the whole program, as she coached the squads that rank #4, #7, and #9 in all-time rebounds at Lehigh.
Looking Forward
The Eagles are getting a head coach who clearly can make an impact in team performance. Her long tenure at the school and working with Coach Gebbia gives American a chance for a bit of continuity from the most successful era in this program’s history.
First objective is likely to retain Coach Nikki Flores. Flores works primarily with the guards, and is therefore a nice compliment to Coll. She has also served as recruiting coordinator for the past four seasons, and has assembled talented and balanced squads.
Due to where we are in the calendar, it may prove to be a challenge to assemble the rest of her staff. Having been in the Patriot League and the DC area for so long, however, will likely prove to be an asset, as she presumably has plenty of connections.
Overall, this looks like a great hire for American. Coach Coll has the potential to be an extremely successful coach for the Eagles. Here’s hoping she gets every opportunity to fulfill that potential.