Tyler Patch, previously an assistant coach at Brown from 2014-18 and an assistant at Merrimack from 2018-20, and Ugo Nwaigwe, previously a part of the staff at Iowa and a member of the Nigerian National Team, will join the Brown University women’s basketball staff as assistant coaches, head coach Monique LeBlanc announced on Tuesday.
Patch returns to Brown after spending two seasons as an assistant women’s basketball coach at Merrimack College. In Merrimack’s inaugural Division I season in 2019-20, Patch helped lead the team to a 20-9 overall record and 13-5 Northeast Conference mark, placing third in the conference’s regular season standings. He mentored Denia Davis-Stewart who earned both NEC Player of the Year and NEC Defensive Player of the Year accolades. The Warriors’ 2018-19 season featured the fourth 20-win season in school history and first in 14 years while Davis-Stewart garnered NE10 Defensive Player of the Year honors.
During his first stint at Brown, Patch and the Bears won their second straight Ocean State Tip-Off Tournament title in 2017-18 and began the year with a program-best 12-1 start. The Bears finished above .500 for the third straight year with a 15-12 overall record. During the 2016-17 season, Patch aided Brown to an appearance in the inaugural Ivy League Tournament and to a spot in the Women’s Basketball Invitational, gaining the program’s first-ever win in a national postseason tournament, while also winning the inaugural Ocean State Tip-Off Tournament.
Prior to Brown, Patch served as the Director of Women’s Basketball Operations at UMass Lowell (2013-14). Seekonk High School’s all-time leading scorer with 1,746 points, Patch earned All-State recognition from the Boston Globe and Boston Herald before playing stints at Keene State College (2008-09) and the Community College of Rhode Island (2009-10). Patch earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education from Rhode Island College in 2014.
Nwaigwe served as the Director of Women’s Basketball Operations at the University of Iowa from 2019-21. During the 2019-20 season, she helped Iowa post a 23-7 overall record, 14-4 Big Ten mark, and 15-0 record at home. Prior to Iowa, Nwaigwe spent one season as an assistant coach at Graceland University in 2018-19.
Nwaigwe gained extensive playing experience at the professional level from 2016-18 competing in Portugal, Angola, Argentina, and Spain. She played for G.D. ESSA in Portugal in 2018 after competing for First Bank Club of Nigeria in Angola in 2017, winning a bronze medal at the AfroCup. She also played for Club Atletic Lanus in Argentina in 2017 and SPAR Gran Canaria in Spain in 2016-17. A member of the Nigerian National Team from 2016-17, Nwaigwe won a championship at the FIBA Women’s AfroBasket in 2017 in Mali. She also competed at the 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in France.
At the collegiate level, Nwaigwe played for Wagner College from 2011-15 before completing her career at Temple University in 2015-16. While with the Seahawks, she earned 2014 Northeast Conference Defensive Player of the Year honors in addition to a spot on the 2014 NEC All-Defensive Team. In the 2013-14 season, she ranked first in the NEC and fourth nationally with 3.8 blocks per game. While with the Owls, she helped the team reach the quarterfinals of the 2016 Women’s National Invitation Tournament.
