Matt Huddleston named Eagles’ head coach

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (August 8, 2019) – Tallahassee Community College director of athletics Rob Chaney has announced the hiring of Matt Huddleston as the Eagles' head women's basketball coach. 

Huddleston is the fourth head coach in school history and succeeds Franqua "Q" Bedell, who stepped down in April to become an assistant coach at Missouri State University.  

"We are excited to welcome Matt to the TCC Athletics family," said Chaney. "His regional identity and extensive recruiting network, particularly in the AAU Circuit, made him an ideal candidate and positions him well to continue building upon the foundation that Q established."

A native of Atlanta, Ga., Huddleston comes to Tallahassee after spending the 2018-19 season as associate head coach at St. Francis (Pa.) University, where he helped guide the Red Flash to within one victory of the NCAA Tournament, finishing as runners-up in the Northeast Conference Tournament. 

His resume also includes a three-year (2012-15) stint as assistant coach at Winthrop University, two separate one-year stops in Georgia's high school ranks (Decatur High School, 2010-11; Vidalia High School, 2017-18) and parts of 19 seasons with the renowned Georgia Metros Basketball Club, one of the top girls AAU programs in the country. 

Beginning as a volunteer coach in 1993, Huddleston served in various capacities with the Atlanta-based Metros, eventually ascending to Co-Director and Director of Coaching from 2015-17. During his AAU coaching tenure, he coached 25 AAU All-Americans, 12 NIKE All-Americans, four McDonald's High School All-Americans and more than 100 players earned college scholarships, most notably Maya Moore, who enjoyed a legendary career at the University of Connecticut and later in the WNBA. 

Huddleston was also the owner and operator of Top Prospects Basketball, a training program for male and female players pursuing basketball opportunities at the collegiate and professional levels. Through Top Prospects, he organized and operated events that targeted the high school basketball community, including Maya Moore's Christmas Skills Clinic for the Jordan brand. 

Huddleston is a graduate of Valdosta State University, where he earned a degree in education. His sister, Julia, is the head women's coach at Lynn University in Boca Raton, Fla. 

TCC will formally introduce Huddleston at a later date.