Sports

Domond’s hard work pays off

Head women’s basketball coach Nadine Domond works tirelessly day in and day out with her team of Lady Tigers at Grambling State University, and her hard work is paying off.

Domond has been recognized by the Southwestern Athletic Conference as Coach of the Year for her outstanding leadership and coaching skills during the 2015-2016 basketball season.  

CEONTE HOUSE/Courtesy photo Grambling State women’s basketball coach Nadine Domond has been named SWAC Coach of the Year.

FILE PHOTO
Grambling State women’s basketball coach Nadine Domond has been named SWAC
Coach of the Year.

“It is a huge understatement to say that I am grateful for this experience. I am truly humbled by this honor. This is only the beginning,” said Domond, a former WNBA player in her second year as head coach at GSU.

At Grambling State, people are excited about the women’s basketball team’s success, and thrilled that Domond has been recognized for all she’s done since arriving.

“This is much deserving for Coach Domond, who has been building her team since last year,” said Wanda Currie, GSU’s senior women’s athletics administrator. “It’s rewarding for her.”

Obadiah Simmons, the interim athletics director at the school, noted that 

Domond’s recognition is based on the work she does with her staff and team.
 

“The athletic department was thrilled to learn of Coach Domond’s selection as Coach of the Year in the SWAC. Coach Domond and her staff have developed a young talented squad that  improved as the season progressed playing at a high level each week,” he said.

“Their brand of basketball was exciting to watch all year long during the regular season.”

A high school All-American, Domond is a former professional basketball player, chosen in the second round of the 1998 WNBA draft by the New York Liberty and she played with the Sacramento Monarchs. 

Domond arrived at Grambling State in 2014 with one mission: “The Rebirth of a Legacy.”

“I want to restore the championships we used to have, bring everything back home to Grambling, something that former coaches (David “Rusty”) Ponton and (Patricia Cage) Bibbs were doing while they were coaches,” said Domond, referencing two of her more successful predecessors.

With a young team of players, including SWAC Freshman of the Year Jazmin Boyd and second team player Shakyla Hill, Domond strategically works on basketball fundamentals during practices as she runs the team as hard as she wants them to play during games. “We want to be able to provide a brand a basketball that people will enjoy to see,” she said.
 

Though some regular season games were closer than others, and in some games the GSU Lady Tigers fought to come back to win, Domond aims for balanced, high scoring along with strong defense and limiting fouls.

In a Feb. 27 matchup between the Lady Tigers and Lady Golden Lions of the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff, the team burned the court with a 69-47 victory — and eight of her 11 players scored.

Domond and her team were successful during conference play with 13 wins this season. They went on a five-game winning streak in the closing days of the season until the streak was ended by Alabama State University Saturday (March 5). 

The Lady Tigers enter the 2016 Toyota SWAC Basketball Tournament in Houston as the #4 seed, playing Prairie View A&M University on Thursday (March 10) at 8:30 p.m.
 

The team plans to run hard, play hard, stay focused, trust the Domond system and win, in part to show why Domond is the coach of the year.

“She turned a losing program into a winning program within two years,” said Boyd. “She knew what pieces to the puzzle she was missing, and found them. Since day one she knew we were going to be a special team.”