If there is one certainty about new women’s basketball head coach Megan Gebbia, it is her experience winning.
“It’s a business. We’re trying to win games and it’s about whatever it takes to do that,” she said.
AU’s Director of Athletics and Recreation Billy Walker announced that Megan Gebbia would be AU’s new women’s basketball head coach on Aug. 12. Gebbia replaces former head coach Matt Corkery who became the associate head coach at Texas Tech University.
While serving as an assistant women’s basketball coach at Marist College for the past 10 years, Gebbia has been a vital part of nine MAAC Championships and a Sweet Sixteen NCAA Tournament appearance. Most importantly, Gebbia learned the ins and outs of running a collegiate basketball team from Marist head coach Brian Giorgis .
“Coach Giorgis has had a tremendous influence on my coaching career,” Gebbia said. “He is a good Christian guy, and he does things the right way. He wins the right way.”
In addition to enthusiasm and winning experience, Gebbia brings a new system to AU that is similar to the one she helped run at Marist College.
“It’s more of a motion offense involving various screens where players have to read the defender and make calls based on how they are being played against,” she said. “Our defense is now playing a sort of saggy man defense; our job is to keep the ball out of the paint, force difficult perimeter shots and they[the opponent] better have a good shooting night to beat us.”
So far the players have been quite enthusiastic about the new system.
“Everyone is buying into the system,” senior guard Alexis Dobbs said. “I’m excited to see what we can do this season for my last year.”
To help the players in their transition to the new system, coach Gebbia brought in coaches who had experience and understood the system including assistant coaches Nikki Flores and Emily Stallings from Marist College and assistant coach Tiffany Coll. Coll has nearly ten years of collegiate coaching experience and was a part of three 20 win seasons at Lehigh, before coming to AU.
“The leadership that came in was really inspiring for all of us,” sophomore forward Abigail Fogg said. “Having people who have been to the tournament before coach us, that’s really important.”
Their adjustment to the system, however, has had its ups and downs.
“What we struggle with mostly right now, is being disciplined on defense. We’re still not where we should be in rebounding and defending in the paint,” Gebbia said.
Despite their flaws in practice, Gebbia is confident that her team will gain better understanding and confidence of her system as the season progresses.
“It’s just a matter of putting that system in place and having them run that system day in and day out so that when the end of the season comes and the tournament comes they will be ready,” Gebbia said.
In their first two exhibition games, the AU women’s basketball team showed tremendous offensive firepower, scoring 76 and 77 points, respectively. Dobbs will be a key asset for the Eagles’ success this season due to her scoring abilities. In their recent preseason game against Messiah College, she tallied 16 points, seven rebounds and two assists.
“Alexis is the head to the body on our team. As she goes, we go,” Gebbia said.
Once the Eagles learn to execute Gebbia’s style of defense and continue to improve in the team’s new “read and react” offense, AU will be a force to be reckoned with.
“We are talented enough to compete for the championship,” Gebbia said. “If the team could give up every individual award they have to win a championship that would mean everything to them.”
Flores acknowledges that if one coach can bring the Eagles a championship, it is Gebbia.
“Gebbia is one of the best coaches that I’ve ever been around as far as teaching and making sure you understand what’s going on,” Flores said.
AU’s first game of the season will be on Nov. 12 at home in Bender Arena against University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
Eric Saltzman contributed to this story
