South Carolina's WBB Program Loses Assistant Coach
Dawn Staley has a lot of key pieces that she'll have to replace this offseason after overseeing one of the greatest runs in the program's history. All of the members of the widely renowned freshies are heading onto the WNBA, a group that includes four-year starters in Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke and Brea Beal.
Combine this with other starters in Victaria Saxton and Kierra Fletcher exhausting their eligibility, and the team is guaranteed to look vastly different from a personnel standpoint this coming season. The national title winning coach, however, will now also have to find a new assistant to fill out her coaching staff, as it was announced on Saturday morning that Fred Chmiel was leaving to become the head coach of Bowling Green's women's basketball program.
Dawn Staley reacted to the news shortly afterwards on social media, lauding Fred's coaching ability.
Fred was a key member on South Carolina's staff, due to his ties with Dawn Staley that dated back to her twilight years in the WNBA in 2005. Chmiel then went with Dawn to Temple over the next seasons, before bouncing around to three other jobs and then, eventually, reuniting with coach Staley in Columbia in 2015.
According to his coaching profile on South Carolina's website, Chmiel was instrumental in coaching the Gamecocks frontcourt during his time in Columbia, meaning he worked closely with the likes of Aliyah Boston, A'ja Wilson, Alaina Coates, Kiki Herbert Harrigan and Victaria Saxton.
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