POUGHKEEPSIE, NY (May 29, 2009) – After turning around the Manhattanville College women’s basketball program in three seasons, taking a team that won nine games her first year to 18 wins this past season, Candice Brown was named head women’s basketball coach at Vassar College following a national search. The announcement was made by Sharon Beverly, Director of Athletics & Physical Education.
Brown is the tenth head coach in the program’s history and will first take the court with the Brewers on November 15, 2009 as Vassar opens up its season at home against Centenary College. With a young
squad made up of no seniors and just one junior, the Brewers were 4-21 last year, ending the season on a high note with a double overtime win at Clarkson University. Vassar returns two All-Liberty League selections, in Co-Rookie of the Year and All-League Honorable Mention point guard
Brittany Parks and All-League Second Team forward
Emily Haeuser.
A two-time All-American as a student-athlete at Marymount University, Brown led Manhattanville to an 18-11 record and second place finish in the Freedom Conference in 2008-09. Brown was named the Freedom Conference Coach of the Year, leading the Valiants to a 12-4 conference record and the Freedom Conference Tournament championship game. The 18 wins are tied for the fourth-most in a single season at Manhattanville and it was the most wins by a Valiant squad in a quarter century, since the 1983-84 team won 19.
The Valiants won 11 of their final 12 games of the regular season, amassing an eight-game winning streak, the fifth-longest streak in program history. The team’s eighth win in that streak came in the Freedom Conference semifinals, as the team outlasted Alvernia University for its first-ever conference title game appearance.
In 2007-08, her second season at Manhattanville, Brown led the team to its first winning record since 2003-04 with a 13-12 mark. After a season-opening loss, the team strung together four consecutive wins, the program’s longest winning streak in three years and the best start to a season since 1983-84. The Valiants also closed the season with a flourish, winning five of their last seven games.
In her first season at Manhattanville, Brown began to mold a very young Valiant team in her hard-working, defensive style, giving fits to some of the top teams in the Skyline Conference. Her first Manhattanville squad picked up one of the program’s signature wins by upsetting seven-time league champion Mount St. Mary on the road on December 6, 2006.
Brown was named the tenth head coach in Manhattanville women’s basketball history on June 28, 2006, joining a program that had only two winning seasons in the previous ten years.
A native of Arlington, Virginia, Brown graduated from Marymount in 2002 and moved into the coaching ranks immediately at Division II Southern New Hampshire University. After two seasons she joined legendary head coach Bill Finney as an assistant at her alma mater.
With the Saints, Brown helped Marymount to a 37-19 record, including the Capital Athletic Conference Tournament Championship and a berth in the NCAA Tournament in 2005-06.
Brown has also worked several camps and is still active on the camp circuit. Brown has worked camps at Bentley College and Marymount and at the prestigious Point Guard College.
As a player, Brown had a very decorated career for the Saints, leading Marymount to the only Final Four appearance in program history as a senior. Brown graduated with her name scattered throughout the school’s record books, earning a pair of First Team All-America commendations and two Capital Athletic Conference Scholar Athlete honors.
In three seasons with Marymount, Brown finished with 1,130 points, ninth in school history, and averaged 12.0 points per game. But it was her ability as an all-around player – she ranks 13th in rebounds (650), 21st in assists (182) and fifth in steals (270) at Marymount – that made her such a dangerous player on the court.
In 2000-01, Brown earned Kodak first-team All-America honors, was a first-team All-Capital Athletic Conference selection and was a finalist for the Jostens National Player of the Year award while leading the Saints to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. One season later, Brown again picked up Kodak first-team All-America and All-Conference honors, while also earning All-Tournament honors in the NCAA Sectionals en route to the Final Four.
Before arriving at Marymount, Brown played one season at Division II Catawba College.