Iowa State women’s basketball head coach Bill Fennelly has named Caroline McCombs as associate head coach. McCombs will begin her duties with the Cyclones immediately. McCombs spent the 2025-26 season at Auburn as an assistant coach, helping the Tigers to a win over No. 21 Alabama and an SEC Tournament victory over Texas A&M.
“I am very excited to add Caroline McCombs to our staff,” said Fennelly to Cyclones.com.
“I have known Caroline for years and have the utmost respect for what she has done throughout
her career. She is known as one of the hardest workers in the profession and one of the best recruiters in the game. I have always been impressed with how Caroline is able to develop relationships with players and those she works with on a daily basis. This is a major addition to Cyclone Women’s Basketball,” he said.
McCombs spent four seasons as the head coach at George Washington, where she led her teams to 55 wins, rebuilding a program that had not had a winning season in the three seasons prior to her arrival. McCombs’ leadership helped produce historic numbers for Mayowa Taiwo, who finished with 1,037 career rebounds, the third-most in program history for a single player. Taiwo was also named to the Atlantic 10’s Preseason All-Conference All-Defensive Team, while sophomore guard Nya Robertson was named to the league’s All-Conference Third Team.
McCombs’ first two seasons at GW resulted in a run to the quarterfinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship. During her first year in Foggy Bottom, McCombs helped lead a team that ranked first in program history in points allowed in a season (55.2) and upset No. 5 La Salle to reach the Quarterfinals of the 2022 A-10 Women’s Basketball Championship.
Her team set an all-time school record for made three-pointers in a single season in 2022-23 and saw three players decorated with All-Conference honors, including first-year Nya Robertson, a former top 50 recruit, who was named the league’s Sixth Woman of the Year.
A proven winner at every stop during her coaching career, McCombs arrived at GW after seven years as the head coach at Stony Brook where she led the Seawolves to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 2021.
The 2020 America East Coach of the Year, McCombs won 130 games in seven years at Stony Brook. In 2021, she led the Seawolves to a 15-6 mark, winning the America East Tournament Championship and earning a No. 14 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
McCombs had the Seawolves on the precipice of an NCAA Tournament berth in 2020, winning the program’s first-ever America East regular season championship and advancing to the America East Championship game with a 28-3 record before the remainder of the season was canceled due to COVID-19.
The Seawolves won 22 consecutive games in 2019-20, garnering votes in the national polls for the first time in program history. McCombs left Stony Brook as the program’s winningest Division I coach and second-winningest overall, having coached 19 all-conference selections.
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 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.
Prior to becoming a head coach, McCombs gained experience as an assistant coach for 15 years at the Division I level. She assisted four different programs and appeared in five NCAA tournaments, including two Sweet 16 appearances. She has also developed a pair of AP All-Americans and three WNBA players.
