George Washington University

July 6, 2012

WASHINGTON - George Washington head women's basketball coach Jonathan Tsipis attended the fourth session of the Women's Basketball Coaches Association's Center for Coaching Excellence (CCE) last month.

The CCE was an elite invitation-only leadership program held on the campus of Columbia University in New York. To date, 115 college women's basketball coaches have completed the two-and-a-half-day seminar since its inception in 2011, with two sessions taking place each summer.

Tsipis was one of 30 coaches selected for the second session in 2012, which took place June 11-13, and he was one of just two first-year head coaches in the program, joining Adrian Wiggins of Ole Miss.

"I was honored to be selected by the head of our coaching association to attend the Center for Coaching Excellence," Tsipis said. "They value the moral and ethical background I bring as a head coach, and I'll be able to pass that along to my staff in the future. The self-assessment that we performed as part of the CCE allowed me to look at my personality and will help me be able to better communicate with my players and coaching staff and the athletic department administration."

The idea for the Center for Coaching Excellence began while GW athletics director Patrick Nero served on the WBCA Board of Directors. Established to safeguard the integrity of college women's basketball, the CCE is dedicated to providing coaches with the professional skills and personal ethics training necessary to be exceptional leaders in the sport.

Developed by the WBCA in partnership with Columbia University, the CCE aims to cultivate exceptional leaders in college women's basketball by building and sustaining a better understanding of ethical practices in coaching. The CCE seeks to provide its participants with greater self-awareness, which will help them as leaders and mentors.

The Center for Coaching Excellence provides an unparalleled exclusive learning experience. Utilizing collaborative and interactive learning sessions along with lectures and panel discussions featuring experts in college athletics and women's basketball, the CCE provides coaches valuable networking opportunities with their peers and top industry leaders.

The faculty for the CCE was comprised of NCAA officials, athletics directors, conference commissioners and head women's basketball coaches, including Hall of Fame coach Geno Auriemma of the University of Connecticut, who will lead Team USA at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.

"The Center for Coaching Excellence gets better every session," said WBCA CEO Bethe Bass. "The Center for Coaching Excellence was outstanding to begin with, and program facilitators Dr. M. Diane Murphy (Columbia Director of Athletics) and Dr. Cathie T. Siders (clinical psychologist and executive coach) fine-tune the curriculum to pointedly address the hot topics facing college women's basketball today. The result is a two-and-a-half day program that leaves our coaches educated, motivated and rejuvenated."

Jonathan Tsipis was named head coach at GW in April following nine seasons on the coaching staff at University of Notre Dame, including the last four as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator. Tsipis helped lead the Fighting Irish to nine straight NCAA Tournament berths, including five Sweet Sixteen appearances and back-to-back national championship games in 2011 and 2012.

June 2012 Center for Coaching Excellence Attendees
Jane Albright, University of Nevada
Richard Barron, University of Maine
Joan Bonvicini, Seattle University
Pam Borton, University of Minnesota
Cori Close, UCLA
Tricia Cullop, University of Toledo
Kathy Delaney-Smith, Harvard University
Tonya Edwards, Alcorn State University
Patricia Fabbri, Quinnipiac University
Terri Williams-Flournov, Auburn University
Nicci Hayes Fort, Colgate University
Stephanie Glance, Illinois State University
Kellie Harper, N.C. State University
Jim Jabir, University of Dayton
Dave Magarity, Army
Maureen Magarity, University of New Hampshire
Melissa McFerrin, University of Memphis
Muffet McGraw, University of Notre Dame
Sytia Messer, Georgia Tech
Nitra Perry, Kennesaw State University
Rick Pietri, University of South Alabama
Autumn Rademacher, University of Detroit
Nike Reid Geckler, Howard University
Michele Savage, Davidson College
Davna Smith, Cornell University
Jonathan Tsipis, George Washington University
Sharon Versyp, Purdue University
Chris Wielgus, Dartmouth College
Adrian Wiggins, University of Mississippi
Terry Zeh, Canisius College