Women's Basketball
- Title:
- Assistant Coach
Clarisse Garcia spent three seasons with the Demon Deacons from 2013 to 2016 after being named an assistant coach in June of 2013. Garcia came to Wake Forest after one season on the women's basketball staff at Alabama. She left the Demon Deacons after the 2015-16 season to become an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Auburn.
Garcia worked with Wake Forest's post players, including All-American Honorable Mention and WNBA first-round draft pick Dearica Hamby and Milan Quinn. Hamby went on to be selected by the San Antonio Stars at No. 6 overall in the 2015 WNBA Draft and Quinn posted the first 11 double-doubles of her career in 2015-16 while averaging 10.7 points per game and 9.1 rebounds per contest.
In her one season with the Crimson Tide, Garcia helped the team to a 13-18 record including a win over ACC-foe Virginia and a tournament title at the Bank of Hawaii Rainbow Wahine Invitational. She was primarily responsible for recruiting in addition to coaching, player development, elite camp and scouting.
From 2010-12, Garcia served as the head coach at Palm Beach Atlantic University, an NCAA Division II institution in West Palm Beach, Fla. In May of 2010, she took over a team that had six wins the previous year and increased that total immediately. The Sailfish closed out the 2010-11 campaign on a five-game winning streak en route to capturing the Independent Invitational Classic Tournament Championship in Washington, D.C.
The fall of 2012 saw Palm Beach Atlantic get off to the best start in program history, winning four of its first six contests. Under Garcia's watch, Sailfish student-athletes set several program bests including the all-time three-point scoring leader and single-season three-point scoring leader, the all-time leading rebounder, and the all-time blocking leader. She also had two student-athletes named to the Independent Collegiate Athletic Association (ICAA) second team and another two named to the All-ICAA third team.
In addition to their success on the court, Garcia's teams excelled in the classroom as she oversaw an increase in the team's overall GPA from below a 3.0 to 3.2. Throughout her tenure, she had two student-athletes with 4.0 GPAs, attaining President's List status, two qualifying for the Provost's List (3.5-3.9) and six on the Athletics Director's List (3.0-3.4).
Prior to Palm Beach Atlantic, Garcia spent one season as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at Stetson University. During her time in Deland, Fla., she recruited and signed a nationally-ranked student-athlete and helped coach the team to an appearance in the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament.
Garcia began her coaching career as a graduate assistant at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Pa. In her two seasons with the Griffins, she assisted in the mentoring and development of student-athletes, which could be seen both on and off the court. In her final season at Seton Hill, Garcia helped coach the team to a fourth-place finish in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Association (WVIAC) Conference tournament, in addition to helping the Griffins rank third nationally for team GPA in NCAA Division II. In 2009, Garcia was named the Women's Basketball Coaches Association/Women's Sports Foundation graduate assistant of the year.
Garcia was an accomplished player at Villanova University. During her four-year career (2003-07) with the Wildcats women's basketball team, she was a three-time BIG EAST All-Academic team member as well as a three-time member of the Villanova dean's list. She served as team captain her senior season and helped the Wildcats advance to the NCAA Tournament in 2004, as well as the Women's National Invitation Tournament in 2005 and 2006.
Garcia also has been involved in several camps and clinics including the Prohoops Camp at the Final Four, Leadership Through Basketball Camps in Morocco, University of Pittsburgh Summer Camps, Harry Perretta Basketball Clinics, Nike Basketball Camps and the Philadelphia Big 5 Clinics.
