Aaron Coombs, enters his fifth season as the assistant coach at Missouri Western.
The fourth season with Coombs on the bench saw MWSU knock off its first Division I opponent for the first time in 36 years as it beat SIU-Edwardsville. 2016-17 also saw the Griffons beat Nebraska Kearney and Missouri Southern as both teams finished in the top four of the MIAA standings. Individually, Cole Clearman earned All-MIAA status while he led the conference in three-point shooting and minutes played.
In his third year at Missouri Western, the Griffons went 12-18, qualifying for the MIAA Tournament where they pulled off one of the greatest upsets in MIAA Tournament history by defeating Washburn in the first round. Aaron Emmanuel was named honorable mention All-MIAA.
In his second season with the Griffons he went 12-15 overall and earned a 8-11 record in conference. The Griffons lost in the first round the MIAA Tournament to Central Oklahoma. He helped coach Cortrez Colbert to All-MIAA Honorable Mention. Also, Brandyn Chambers and Wes Mitter each earned MIAA academic honor roll.
Coombs helped the Griffons to the MIAA Tournament in his first season. He also helped coach Ryan Devers to an Honorable Mention All-MIAA honor.
He previously was the assistant coach at Missouri S&T from 2012-13.
Prior to his stint at Missouri S&T, Coombs was Weiberg’s assistant at Northern Oklahoma College from 2010-12.
While at Missouri S&T and NOC, Coombs worked exclusively with the team’s forwards and post players. He also handled the team’s game day walk-through sessions and the defensive strategies in its game preparation. He was responsible for the team’s strength and conditioning program and served as a marketing instructor at NOC.
Prior to his two years at NOC, Coombs spent a year as an assistant coach for the AAU Flight 22 team in Wilmington, North Carolina, where he handled individual instruction for the post players and handled the defensive aspects for that team.
Coombs, who is originally from Sugarland, Texas, played his collegiate basketball at UNC Wilmington, where he played for two teams that reached the NCAA Tournament after winning the Colonial Athletic Association championship.
While at UNC-W, Coombs was named as his team’s most improved player in the 2004-05 season and was chosen to the National Strength and Conditioning Association’s All-America team in 2003. He played for Jerry Wainwright, former head coach at DePaul University and Brad Brownell, the current head coach at Clemson University.
Coombs continued his playing career overseas, playing for the Saint-Charmond, Saint-Etienne and Longwy basketball clubs in France, averaging nearly 15 points per game in that three-year span and leading two of those squads in scoring. He then played one season for Tirgu-Mures Basketball Club in Romania where he was the team’s top rebounder and second-leading scorer with averages of 14 points and eight rebounds per game in the 2008-09 campaign.
In the 2005-06 season with Saint-Charmond, he averaged 17 points and nine rebounds a game which put him among the top five in the league in both categories.
Coombs earned his bachelor’s degree in marketing in 2005 from UNC Wilmington and earned his masters degree in 2016 in Sport and Recreation Management from Missouri Western.
Coombs and his wife Signe, the Director of Academic Services for Athletics at MWSU, reside in St. Joseph with their daughter.
