In December, Signe Coombs was selected as the next director of athletics at Truman following a nationwide search.
A former Division I student-athlete, she previously served as the senior associate director of athletics and senior woman administrator at Georgia Southwestern State University.
“Not only does Signe have a wealth of experience in athletics, she has the integrity, energy and focus that aligns perfectly with our program,” said University President Susan L. Thomas. “Truman Athletics has much of which to be proud, and with Signe, we will become an even greater force in Division II athletics.”
In her most recent role at GSW, Coombs was tasked with directing and coordinating internal and external operations that included compliance, student-athlete academic services, sport and personnel oversight, fundraising, and campus and community partnerships. During Coombs’ leadership, the GSW HERricane women’s sports initiative launched to empower female student-athletes through personal and professional development opportunities. The programming has since grown to serve all GSW student-athletes, local youth and Sumter County organizations to provide comprehensive education focused on overall well-being. Under her guidance, student-athletes also ha record-setting academic performance streaks, and several athletic programs experienced unprecedented competition success. With more than 4,000 community service hours logged per year through the NCAA TeamWorks competition implemented by HelperHelper, the department ranked No. 1 in the country twice in the last four years and ranked in the top five since 2019.
During Coombs’ tenure, GSW’s athletics saw corporate partnerships increase more than 100%, revitalization of the booster club, implementation of premier courtside seating, growth in signature fundraising events and secured funding for significant capital improvements.
Coombs’ involvement with college athletics started at the University of Iowa where she earned a Bachelor of Liberal Arts degree in communication studies and was a Big Ten All-Academic selection while competing for the Hawkeyes volleyball team. She also has a Master of Applied Science in sports and fitness management from Missouri Western State University. She began her collegiate career as an assistant at Missouri S&T in 2012 where the Miners won the Great Lakes Valley Conference West Division title, five players were named all-conference and had the GLVC Freshman of the Year selection. While earning her master’s degree, Coombs served as an assistant coach for the Griffons, helping the team reach back-to-back 20-win seasons for the first time in nearly two decades, and producing 16 All-MIAA selections, an AVCA First Team All-American, and two Academic All-American selections.
