Toby Wagoner enters his fourth season in 2018-19 as an assistant coach for the Georgia Southern women's basketball program. Wagoner joined the Eagles in 2015 season after five seasons as an assistant coach at Division II institution Georgia College. Wagoner is instrumental in all aspects of the day-to-day operations of the program including handling the Eagles’ team camp and helps with recruiting. He is also instrumental in running practices, scouting opponents and monitoring the student-athletes’ academic progress.
The Eagles were 5-25 overall and 2-16 in the Sun Belt Conference in 2017-18, but improved greatly over the second half of the Sun Belt season, averaging more than five points per game and five percent better shooting from the floor over the final nine games of the league slate. GS took sixth-seeded Louisiana to triple overtime in the first round of the 2018 Sun Belt Tournament, falling 88-81 in the longest game for the Eagles since 1998.Â
Georgia Southern went 13-17 overall and 9-9 in the Sun Belt Conference in 2016-17 - improvements of six overall and five league wins from his first season in 2015-16. The nine league wins were the most for an Eagle women's basketball team since the 2010-11 season. Georgia Southern earned the sixth seed in the Sun Belt tournament and made its first appearance in the league's postseason. Seniors Patrice Butler and Angel McGowan each earned All-Conference honors on the year and the team enjoyed the friendly confines of Hanner Fieldhouse, going 8-6 on the season at home.
While with the Bobcat women in Milledgeville (2010-15), Wagoner helped direct the team to back-to-back Peach Belt Conference (PBC) Championship game appearances in 2013-14 and 2014-15. In his final year in Milledgeville, the Bobcats went 16-13. He also helped lead GC to the PBC Tournament Championship in 2010-11. Wagoner was instrumental in recruiting and coaching the program’s all-time leading scorer and two-time Capital One Academic All-American, Shanteona Keys.
Wagoner worked with a mixture of players while with the Bobcats and served as the program’s recruiting coordinator. His strong ties assisted in bringing in top-level talent both locally as well as from the Midwest and Northwest.
Prior to his time with the Bobcat women, Wagoner was a graduate assistant with the Georgia College men’s basketball team. The Bobcat men went 22-6 in 2009-10, picking up a PBC West Division title. The men’s squad also advanced to the NCAA Tournament for the second-straight season while Wagoner was with the program.
Wagoner joined Georgia College in 2010 after serving as the head boys’ basketball coach at Bishop McNamara Catholic High School in Kankakee, Ill. starting in 2006. Prior to that he spent two seasons at the helm of the Athens High squad in Athens, Ill.
Wagoner is originally from Hoopeston, Ill. A graduate of Eastern Illinois University with a Bachelor of Science in Physical Education, he then went on to earn a Master of Education from the University of North Dakota (UND). At UND, he worked for two years as a graduate assistant coach for the NCAA Division II men’s basketball program. After finishing at UND, he moved on to Division II Tusculum College, working for another two seasons in men’s basketball as the Pioneers’ assistant coach.
He and his wife, the former Kimberly Benedict, live in Statesboro.
