Cal State Monterey Bay women’s basketball added another Dawn Staley protégé to its bench as Head Coach CJ Vaifanua-Pace (@CoachCj_MB) tabbed Lady Comfort to be her lead assistant coach for the 2021–22 season.
Comfort comes to the Otters with extensive experience both as a player and in player development. She signed a rookie contract with the Los Angeles Sparks of the WNBA to start a pro career that led to stops in Serbia, France, Portugal and Spain. While playing in Europe, Comfort earned Rebounder of the Year honors in both France (2010) and Spain (2014) while earning MVP honors in the 2013 Tournament of the Americas in Ecuador.
“I am excited to have Lady join the staff. She understands what it takes to compete and win at a multitude of levels, from her playing background and even as a coach,” says Vaifanua-Pace. “She has a tireless work ethic, understands how to motivate and teach the right way and an awesome attitude about life. I am confident that she will instill the same mentality into our players.”
As a collegiate student–athlete Comfort helped the Owls to three Big Five championships and three appearances in the NCAA Tournament. She left as the program’s career leader in field-goal percentage, ranked 25th on the career scoring list, eighth in rebounds and seventh in blocked shots. Comfort led the Owls in field-goal percentage three straight seasons, and paced the team in blocks twice.
She began her coaching career as an assistant at Northwest Florida State where she helped the Raiders go 47–22 in 2016 and 2017. She then moved to the NCAA Division II level as an assistant at Tusculum University, where the Pioneers went 37–20 during her two seasons on the bench.
Comfort has spent the last two seasons working in player development. She worked directly with the College of Southern Nevada as its player development coach in 2020–21.
