Wake Forest Athletics
Garcia Accepts New Position at Auburn
4/12/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Basketball
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeWBB)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – After three seasons with the Wake Forest women's basketball program, assistant coach Clarisse Garcia has accepted a new position as an assistant coach at Auburn, the school announced Tuesday. With the Tigers, Garcia will serve as the team's recruiting coordinator, among other responsibilities.
In her time with the Demon Deacons, Garcia coached Wake Forest's post players and helped the progression of Dearica Hamby over the course of her final two seasons before assisting Milan Quinn in her breakout season in 2015-16. This past year, Quinn posted the first 11 double-doubles of her career while averaging 10.7 points and 9.1 rebounds per contest.
"I am very excited for the new journey Coach Garcia is set to take on," said Demon Deacons' head coach Jen Hoover. "Though she is leaving our program, Clarisse is moving on to another great opportunity because people recognize her talents and skills as a coach and as a mentor for young ladies. We thank her for the energy and contributions she brought to our program over the past three years and will miss her tremendously but wish her the best of luck at Auburn."
In Garcia's three seasons, Wake Forest went 45-52, but the Deacs posted a 17-16 record in 2015-16 to mark the first winning season for the program since 2011-12. While reaching the second round of the WNIT last month, Wake Forest also won six ACC contests throughout the regular season and extended the ACC-best streak of consecutive years winning a game in the ACC Tournament to eight after taking care of Clemson in the first round.
Garcia's position at Auburn will mark her second with an SEC program. Prior to coming to Wake Forest in 2013, Garcia spent one season as an assistant at Alabama.
Auburn is led by Terri Williams-Flournoy, who just finished her fourth season at Auburn. In 2015-16, the Tigers went 20-13 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament, topping St. John's 68-57 in the first round before losing to No. 1 seed Baylor in the second round.
