After another first place finish, head coach Megan Gebbia proved that she had exceeded the expectations set by her five-year extension in 2018. This past week, Gebbia inked a one-year extension that will keep her at the helm through the 2024-2025 season.
"My time here at American University has been so rewarding, and I am so grateful to [Athletic Director] Dr. Billy Walker," said Gebbia of the extension. “I believe this is an exciting time to be a part of the AU community."
It’s impossible to argue with the decision that the University has made. Gebbia’s list of accomplishments is almost as long as the terms of her deal: she has attained 117 wins (the third most in school history), she is a two-time Patriot League Coach of the Year and most notably, she coached the team to its first two trips to the NCAA Tournament.
After signing a five-year extension last November, Gebbia continued to prove why she deserved it. Despite having lost six seniors from the prior year, the Eagles found their footing early in the conference play. The Eagles ran through the league with a 16-2 Patriot league record en route to a co-first place finish with Bucknell. While the season ultimately ended in a first-round WNIT loss to Penn, the season hardly ended on a sour note. Freshman and seniors alike played key roles, a rarity for a team atop the conference.
Gebbia has stuck around the Atlantic Coast region for almost her entire basketball career, save for a year of coaching at Wright State. Gebbia played for four years at Towson before beginning her coaching career as an assistant at AU under Jeff Thatcher, whom Gebbia called “a mentor” for her coaching career. After a 10-year tenure with Marist College, Gebbia signed on to AU for her first head coaching gig in 2013. She hasn’t looked back since.
Gebbia has built an undeniably great culture for this team both on and off the court, and there is little doubt that her six-year extension is well earned. It will be interesting to see if Gebbia is able to eventually bring her squad to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. No team in the Patriot League has done so since Holy Cross in 1991.
"I feel we can continue down this path to success both regionally and in the Patriot League,” said Gebbia of the team’s previous season.
While the team will lose several key seniors, the Eagles will continue to cruise ahead with Gebbia in the driver’s seat.
snusbaum@theeagleonline.com
