Tracey Paschal and Brittany Jarrard were the only Augusta State women's basketball players to serve on a nine-member committee charged with identifying the team's next coach.
The job included a heap of responsibility -- and plenty of early wake-up calls.
They were exhausted the morning they met Tes Sobomehin. It was 8 a.m., and they were shocked at Sobomehin's enthusiasm.
"She was just so excited, smiling and everything," Paschal said.
Sobomehin was beaming again Tuesday, this time behind a dais as she was introduced as Augusta State's women's basketball coach. Sobomehin, 30, is the first minority coach in the program's 34-year history and its seventh coach overall.
A college head coach for just three seasons -- she went 15-60 at Kalamazoo College -- Sobomehin received strong recommendations from a variety of sources, athletic director Clint Bryant said.
She was a student manager at the University of Virginia under coach Debbie Ryan, and she has already developed plenty of contacts as a member of three national coaching associations.
"She brings an incredible amount of energy and an engaging personality," Bryant said.
"I believe she will become an asset to our program."
Sobomehin, known as "Coach Sobo," replaces Greg Wilson, who resigned on March 21 to become director of the Greater Augusta Fellowship of Christian Athletes. The Jaguars were 20-10 in Wilson's ninth and final season.
Sobomehin said she was impressed with the team's balance and was eager to start working.
"At some point (Tuesday), I'm going to get in the gym, find my office and go to work," she said.
Bryant said he interviewed four candidates out of the more than 165 who applied for the position.
He said Sobomehin stood out for her personality and sterling recommendations, which came from people like Dave Leitao, the Virginia men's coach who's also on the board of directors for the Black Coaches Association, and Keisha Campbell, an NCAA staff member.
Sobomehin, an Indiana native, said her mother planned on following her to Georgia. Her brother lives in Atlanta.
But as she concluded her first action as Augusta State's coach, addressing the school's community, she glanced at the players who had gathered at one end of the ballroom.
"These young ladies will be my family," she said.
Reach Matt Middleton at (706) 823-3425 or matt.middleton@augustachronicle.com.
TES SOBOMEHIN
EDUCATION: Earned a B.S. in education and M. Ed in teaching from the University of Virginia in 2000
COACHING CAREER: Head coach, Robert E. Lee High School in Springfield, Va., 2002-2003; Assistant, Oberlin (Ohio) College, 2003-2005; Head coach, Kalamazoo College, 2005-2008
NOTABLE: Was head manager for the Virginia women's team during college. ... Graduate of Gary (Ind.) West Side High, where she earned Northwest Indiana all-star honors. ... Has been a staff member at numerous basketball camps, including ones at Tennessee, Duke and Notre Dame.
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