2011-12: Vanderbilt's women's basketball program has been a model of consistency under 10th-year Head Coach Melanie Balcomb. In nine seasons at the helm, Balcomb has guided the Commodores to nine NCAA Tournaments, nine 20-win seasons, eight top 25 finishes, three SEC Tournament Championships and four Sweet 16 appearances.
Since her hiring in 2002, Balcomb has elevated an already tradition-rich program and guided it to new heights. Just last season, Balcomb became the third coach in school history to reach 200 career wins, while also becoming the fastest to reach the milestone. Balcomb accomplished the feat in 275 games, five games sooner than Jim Foster.
With a 215-84 record at Vanderbilt, Balcomb's winning percentage of 71.9% is greater than any coach in school history. In her nine seasons at the helm, Balcomb has averaged 23.8 wins per season, won 83.0 percent of games played at Memorial Gym, posted an 8-1 record in the NCAA first round, developed eight WNBA Draft picks, and most importantly, graduated 100% of her players.
An 18-year head coaching veteran, Balcomb is a renowned offensive strategist. In her nine seasons at Vanderbilt that reputation has only been enhanced. Each season under Balcomb, Vanderbilt has ranked in the top 20 in field-goal percentage and has an average national ranking of 8th (47.5%). The offensive success also extends beyond the arc where the Commodores have an average national rank of 14th (38.1%) in three-point field goal percentage.
The Commodores have finished in the top five nationally in field-goal percentage four times and in the top five in three-point field-goal percentage three times under Balcomb. Her teams have also finished in the top five in assists per game, free-throw percentage and scoring offense.
Balcomb's teams have found success throughout every season on West End, but specifically seem to click down the home stretch. In nine seasons, Balcomb's teams have won 73.6% (56-20) of its final nine regular season games.
Balcomb's success as a head coach is not limited to Vanderbilt. Before arriving at Vanderbilt, Balcomb had successful coaching tenures at Ashland (Ohio) and Xavier. In total, she has coached 500-plus games, winning 67% of the time and averaging 22 wins per season.
Last season featured many obstacles that Balcomb successfully maneuvered through to reach another NCAA Tournament and finish third in the SEC. Injuries took an unfortunate toll on the team throughout the year with at least one of Vanderbilt's five leading scorers unavailable for 14 out of the team's 32 games. Injuries coupled with matching Georgia for the fewest upperclassmen in the SEC challenged Balcomb to use different personnel groupings regularly.
Despite the challenges, Balcomb again reached 20 wins, finishing 20-12 and 10-6 in the SEC. Individually, Balcomb helped Jence Rhoads earn honorable mention All-America honors from the Associated Press in addition to first team All-SEC recognition. Rhoads was also a WBCA Region 3 All-American. Freshman center Stephanie Holzer was named honorable mention All-SEC, SEC Sixth Woman of the Year and to the SEC All-Freshmen team. Freshman point guard Jasmine Lister was also named to the SEC All-Freshman Team.
Balcomb started at Vanderbilt in 2002 and wasted no time in implementing her own style of winning. Working to transition veteran players into a new system while building new team chemistry, Balcomb's first year saw the Commodores win six of their last seven regular season games, earn an NCAA Tournament berth, and lead the nation in field goal percentage (51.3) against the fourth toughest schedule in the country. She was named a finalist for the Naismith Coach of the Year award.
In 2003-04, Balcomb led the Commodores to their fourth Southeastern Conference Tournament title. She masterfully balanced strong upper-class leadership with exciting freshmen talent, winning 10 consecutive games and advancing to the program's 11th Sweet 16 appearance. One year later, her team made its second consecutive trip to the NCAA Sweet 16. The Commodores posted the most wins (10) in the program's history in Southeastern Conference play finishing with a 10-4 record.
The Commodores were ranked seventh in the final AP poll of the 2006-07 season, and earned a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament after winning another SEC Tournament title. That Vanderbilt squad was the nation's best three-point shooting team, and ranked among the top 10 in points scored. The team's 28-6 mark was the best record for a VU squad in 14 years.
The 2008 season was also one of Balcomb's most impressive coaching jobs. Despite graduating three All-SEC seniors, she led the Commodores to a 25-9 record and the school's 13th appearance in the NCAA sweet 16, all with two freshmen and no seniors in the starting lineup.
In 2009, Vanderbilt won its sixth SEC Tournament title, the third for Balcomb in the last six years. The team also advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 for the 14th time in school history -- Balcomb's fourth trip with the Commodores. Vanderbilt finished the year ranked No. 8 in the ESPN/USA Today Coaches Poll after narrowly missing an upset of No. 1 seed Maryland in the Raleigh Regional Semifinal.
National accolades came flooding in for Vanderbilt, including senior Jennifer Risper being named the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) National Defensive Player of the Year. Risper and classmate Christina Wirth, who herself was named an All-American and the SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year, were both selected in the 2009 WNBA Draft.
In 2010 Balcomb was faced with one of her most challenging tasks. Faced with replacing National Defensive Player of the Year Jennifer Risper and All-American Christina Wirth, Balcomb guided an undersized team back to the NCAA Tournament, where they narrowly missed advancing to their third consecutive sweet 16.
Despite having to overcome numerous injuries throughout out the season and a size disadvantage in almost every game, Vanderbilt finished the season 23-11 overall. Individually, Balcomb helped junior point guard Jence Rhoads earn first team All-SEC honors, while senior shooting guard Merideth Marsh earned second team All-SEC accolades. Elan Brown and Tiffany Clarke were also named to the SEC All-Freshman Team.
In nine seasons at Vanderbilt, Balcomb has won 12 games in the NCAA Tournament, which ranks 13th among active coaches for most wins in the NCAA Tournament during that time. She holds a winning percentage of 67.1 against SEC opponents. In all, Balcomb owns series advantages over 10 of the 11 schools in the SEC.
Before arriving at Vanderbilt, the Cranbury, N.J., native spent seven seasons at Xavier University. Beginning in 1995, her up-tempo style wreaked havoc on the Atlantic 10 while building the Musketeers into a national contender. In 1998, Xavier recorded its second postseason appearance in school history with a selection to the Women's National Invitational Tournament. Each of the next three seasons, Xavier competed in the NCAA Tournament, capped in 2001 by a victory over perennial power Tennessee and a run to the Elite Eight.
En route to earning three invitations to the NCAA Tournament and compiling a 136-78 record during her tenure, Balcomb's offensive schemes helped push Xavier onto the national stage. Musketeer field-goal percentages ranked among the top three in the nation during three different seasons while the 1999 squad led the country in 3-point accuracy at 40.1 percent. Her 2000-01 squad averaged 79.4 points per game, the highest total in program history. Individual records were rewritten as well. Of the 15 Musketeers who have scored at least 1,000 points in a career, six of them played on Balcomb-coached teams.
Before her accomplishments at Xavier, Balcomb took her first head coaching position at Ashland University. Prosperity was immediate as Balcomb's first unit matched the best record in school history at 18-9 while registering its first winning season in the Great Lakes Valley Conference with an 11-7 mark.
Prior to becoming a head coach, Balcomb served three years as an assistant at Providence College (1990-93), during which the Lady Friars went 62-30, made two NCAA Tournament appearances and once (1990-91) led the nation in scoring while they amassed a 26-6 record. In 1989-90, Balcomb was an assistant at Ohio University and she began her coaching career with a four-year stint (1985-89) on the staff at Niagara University.
In all, Balcomb has coached 19 players who have received All-SEC accolades. Nine of her players have been drafted by the WNBA, including VU's Chantelle Anderson, Ashley McElhiney, Jenni Benningfield, Ashley Earley, Carla Thomas, Dee Davis and Christina Wirth. Her Xavier teams won two league tournament titles (2000 and 2001) and one regular-season championship in the Atlantic 10 Conference (2001).
Xavier's successes during the Balcomb era helped push for construction of the Cintas Center, a state of the art facility which became home to Xavier basketball at the start of the 2000-01 season and - ironically - was dedicated with a victory over Vanderbilt. That season the program posted a school record for attendance with a total of 40,098 fans, who thrilled in the Musketeers' style of play and their results. Commodore followers have enjoyed the entertainment as well.
Her basketball education began at an early age among some of the most well respected coaches in the game. Balcomb's father, Alan, was a varsity boy's coach for 30 years at South Brunswick (N.J.) High School, and then served as an assistant for four years at Princeton University under Pete Carril, the master of the half-court game.
For Balcomb, however, a complete education goes far beyond the hardwood. Every eligible, four-year player during Balcomb's coaching tenure has earned her degree. In May of 2011, Balcomb's team earned a Public Recognition Award for finishing among the nation's top 10 percent in multi-year Academic Progress Rates (APR). Six of seven squads at Xavier earned team grade point averages that ranked in the Top 25. In 2004-05, 40 percent of the Commodore basketball team was named to the Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll. Vanderbilt led the SEC with eight players being named to the honor roll in 2003-04.
Two Commodores have been named SEC Scholar Athletes of the Year under Balcomb. Hillary Hager received the honor in 2004 and Christina Wirth won it in 2009. With was also named a 2009 Lowe's Senior CLASS All-American, while receiving WBCA and NCAA post-graduate scholarships. Hager recently returned to Vanderbilt and received her doctorate in 2010.
Balcomb also stresses the importance of community service to her teams. VU logged more than 95 hours of community service last season, including numerous opportunities to visit with young patients at the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. After the devastating Nashville flood in 2010, Balcomb and her coaching staff volunteered in helping to clean up flood-damaged areas. Balcomb herself has been active in outreach to the surrounding area, participating in numerous fundraising events for local and national organizations, including Coaches vs. Cancer, the Race for the Cure, Mercy Ministries, Vanderbilt Children's Hospital and the Girl Scouts of America. She joined colleagues to represent the SEC in the 2008 4Kay Golf Classic to benefit the Kay Yow Cancer Fund.
An avid golfer, Balcomb finds time to make it to beach on her rare weeks off, and also enjoys reading.
BALCOMB'S ACCOLADES
• 12 NCAA Appearances, including nine straight at VU
• Five NCAA Regional Semifinal appearances
• Three SEC Tournament championships
• 2003 Naismith Coach of the Year Top 25 finalist
• Two Atlantic 10 Tournament championships (2000, '01)
• 2001 NCAA Regional Finals appearance
• 2001 Atlantic 10 regular season championship
• 2001 Atlantic 10 Coach of the Year
• 2001 March of Dimes Greater Cincinnati Coach of the Year
• 2001 Naismith, ESPN Coach of the Year finalist
• Inducted into Greater Cincinnati Basketball Hall of Fame, 2001
BALCOMB BALL AT VU
• Three SEC Tournament titles
• Fastest Vanderbilt coach to reach 200 wins (275 games)
• VU-record 11 SEC wins in 2008
• 8-1 record in NCAA First Round
• 23.8 wins/year -- most by VU coach
• Four Sweet 16 appearances
• Eight WNBA Draft picks since 2003
• 100% graduation rate
• 83.0% winning percentage at home
• 8th - average national rank in field-goal percentage
• 14th - average national rank in 3-pt FG percentage
