By: Sean Moylan
While coaching was always in Melanie Balcomb’s blood, it took a twist of fate to bring it out of her.
After spending a short stint in college at Georgia Southern University, Balcomb, who was a star point guard for the Hightstown High girls’ varsity basketball team from 1976 to 1980, transferred to Trenton State College (now the College of New Jersey), where she began to make her mark, on a national level, as a basketball player ( she set a school record for career assists, steals and she scored over 1,000 points). However, it was something she did in her spare time which ultimately changed the course of her life.
"Her first coaching job was when she was at Trenton State College. She coached as an assistant for my dad Al Balcomb at South Brunswick High School," said Balcomb’s older brother Al Jr.
Balcomb’s father was no ordinary coach. Al Balcomb was a local legend at South Brunswick and he also had coached under Pete Carrill at Princeton University. Melanie Balcomb caught the coaching bug that season. And after her playing days at TSC ended, she took a job as an assistant coach at Niagra. While her initial head coaching job was as at Ashland in 1993, Balcomb first drew national attention as the head coach of Xavier, where she compiled a 136-78 record and her team was invited to three NCAA tournaments.
Just when it appeared that Balcomb had reached the apex as a head coach, she accepted a job as Vanderbilt’s head coach. She has led Vanderbilt to five straight 20-plus seasons. This season she coached Vanderbilt to a 27-5 record and her Commodores recently won an SEC title with a 51-45 win over LSU.
This Sunday, Balcomb’s Vanderbilt women’s basketball team will make its fifth straight appearance in the NCAA Tournament. Vanderbilt, which is seeded second, will take on Delaware State (15) in the Greensboro Region. The winner of that contest will then move on to play the winner of the Bowling Green (7) and Oklahoma State (10).
Balcomb has led a few of her teams to the Sweet 16. And in 2001, her Vanderbilt team made the Elite 8.
A winner of several Coach of the Year awards over the years, Balcomb may very well be the most successful coach, on a national scale, that Hightstown High has ever produced.
Balcomb held the Rams’ scoring record when a young lady by the name of Vicky Picott came along in 80’s and broke it. Picott would go to score 2,279 points at Hightstown and many still consider her to be the greatest basketball player in the school’s history.
While she was at Xavier, Balcomb had a chance meeting with Picott, who was coaching at Temple at the time. Balcomb had been looking for someone who could help her coach the post players. So she kept Picott in mind and when she took the coaching job at Vanderbilt, she asked Picott to join her staff. So now there are two Rams’ legends at Vanderbilt.
Balcomb is a tremendous offensive coach and her teams have routinely been ranked in the Top 5 in the nation in field goal percentage each year. An Academic All-American herself, she makes sure that "all" of her players graduate.
When she was at Hightstown Balcomb was well-known for her kindness. And her brother Al says she hasn’t changed at all in that respect.
"We had a basket in our front yard and she would play," added Balcomb’s brother "She understood the game. As a point guard, she could see things on the court."
Balcomb still sees the court well. Only now it as one of the most successful women’s basketball coaches in the entire country.

