Chandler McCabe enters her first season with the Knights in the 2023-24 season. McCabe was added to the UCF Women’s Basketball coaching staff as an assistant coach in June 2023.
McCabe comes to UCF from George Mason, where she aided a program turnaround from 10-19 and 3-12 in conference play to 16-15 overall and 8-8 in league action over the span of just two seasons.
McCabe served as associate head coach and recruiting coordinator for the Patriots and predominantly worked with the post players. While at George Mason, she coached and recruited all-conference selection Nalani Kaysia, as she was part of the Atlantic 10 All-Rookie team for the 2022-2023 season. She also recruited and coached transfer Amaya Scott, who averaged 15.8 points per game in her senior campaign for the Patriots in 2021-2022.
Before George Mason, McCabe served as the associate head coach and recruiting coordinator at Bethune Cookman in Daytona Beach, Florida, for seven seasons. She helped lead Bethune-Cookman to a 120-65 (.649) overall and 77-19 (.802) MEAC record in six seasons (All B-CU athletics were suspended for the 2020-21 academic year due to the Covid-19 Pandemic). She also recruited and coached 14 MEAC All-Conference selections, as well as three defensive players of the year and one player of the year.
Over the span of five seasons (2015-20), Bethune-Cookman posted four 21+ win seasons, four MEAC Regular-Season Championships, one MEAC Tournament Championship, and five postseason berths.
In 2019-20, the Wildcats finished 23-6 overall and 15-1 in MEAC play for its fourth regular-season championship in the last five years. The season prior, Bethune-Cookman defeated Norfolk State to clinch the program's first tournament championship since 1984 and its first NCAA Tournament berth in program history.
During the 2017-18 campaign, McCabe gained both national exposure and a unique opportunity for her first division I head coaching experience. For four games, she handled head coaching duties with Blair-Lewis on maternity leave. The Wildcats won three of those four games, including an overtime win at Morgan State and a quarterfinal victory over Maryland-Eastern Shore at the MEAC Tournament.
McCabe was recognized by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association as one of its Thirty Under 30 honorees presented by Marriott Rewards, a program created to recognize 30 up-and-coming women's basketball coaches age 30 and younger at all levels of the game. Each honoree has exemplified their involvement in community service, mentorship, professional manner and professional association involvement.
McCabe came to Bethune-Cookman after two seasons as a graduate assistant at Henderson State, where she worked with the post position players, aiding in player development through both practice and strength and conditioning workouts. She also proved instrumental in developing the program's volunteer work for breast cancer awareness and organizing the inaugural team "Pink Out" event.
While at Henderson State, McCabe earned her master's degree in sports administration with a perfect 4.0 grade point average in May 2014.
A 2012 graduate of Providence, McCabe appeared in 110 games for the Friars. She served as a team captain in her senior season (2011-12) and was a member of the NIT Elite 8 Providence squad in 2009-10. A Dean's List student at Providence, she received her bachelor's degree in social work with a minor in business management.
McCabe was honored as a member of the Providence College Chi Alpha Sigma Athletic Honors Society and was named a member of the Big East All-Academic Team during the 2010-11 and 2011-12 seasons.
A native of Orlando, she is a graduate of Bishop Moore Catholic High School and won a state championship in 2008.
McCabe is the daughter of Carl Koechlin and the late Wendy McCabe, who worked in Orlando at the local PBS station, WMFE.