Caroline McCombs looks to return George Washington to its former glory
WASHINGTON — In her first season as head coach of George Washington University’s women’s basketball team, coach Caroline McCombs has made it clear that she’s building, not just for this season or the next, but for the foreseeable future.
“I’m not expecting something to happen overnight,” McCombs said. “Mastery is going to take some time. We have a tough non-conference schedule that will help prepare us for A-10 play. We’re going to take it day by day, game by game, and just build it as we can. That’s the exciting part about coaching.”
Joining George Washington this offseason, following leading Stony Brook to its first NCAA Tournament in 2021, McCombs faces a new challenge in restoring George Washington to its former glory.
With four Sweet Sixteens and 10 second round appearances since 1995, George Washington has gained a reputation as a consistently competitive team coming out of the Atlantic 10 Conference.
However, things have slowed in recent years, making just three tournament appearances since 2008, all resulting in first round eliminations.
Her work to turn George Washington back into a contender will seemingly be starting from scratch.
Last season’s leading scorer, A-10 All-Rookie team center Ali Brigham (11.4 ppg, 50.4 field goal percentage), left George Washington for Penn State in a transfer this offseason. Without her, the team will face the challenge of filling a massive scoring void this year.
Coach McCombs sees this lack of a set primary scorer as an opportunity to build a strong team-centric play style on her new team.
“This team isn’t going to have a superstar, but we are going to have a team of players that know what their role is,” McCombs said. “When you have that, there’s not just going to be one person that you have to commit to stopping, one go-to player. But we’re going to have a really good cast of players that can score in a variety of ways.”
However, if someone does step forward as a leading scorer, McCombs isn’t going to be the one to hold them back.
“Again, maybe somebody will prove me wrong!” a smiling McCombs said. “We haven’t played a game yet. These guys are new, they’re learning me just like I’m learning them. So if somebody wants to come out and average 20 and they shoot a high field goal percentage, then let’s go!”
That energy to support her players to push to be the best they can has become a key part of McCombs’ mantra as a coach.
This year, former George Washington center Jonquel Jones took home WNBA MVP and has become an example for this team that hard work could take anyone to their goals.
“About Jonquel’s growth as a player, I think it was maybe Dianne Richards, former assistant here and now the head coach at Towson, said she was always in the gym, getting shots,” McCombs said. “What she did is possible for anybody on our roster. Right now, if you want to be great, you want to be elite, you put in the work. Anything is possible. See what these young women have done that have come before you and just know that whatever your dream is, it’s possible to achieve it.”
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