SEWANEE, Tenn. – Women's lacrosse head coach Michele Dombrowski announced the hiring of former player Carly Grimm Normandeau (C'11) as an assistant coach for the 2024 season.
The South Salem, N.Y., native was a member of the first recruiting class for the Tigers in 2007 and played from 2008-11 for the program. Her career culminated with the team winning the inaugural SCAC (Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference) championship in 2011. She earned First Team All-Conference honors as a senior for the Tigers.
"I'm incredibly excited for this opportunity. From being a part of Michele's first recruiting class at Sewanee to now being able to coach alongside her, it's truly a full circle moment," Normandeau said. "I can't wait to get back on the mountain and get to work."
Normandeau has served the last four years as head coach at Franklin High School in Franklin, Tenn., winning state championships with the Admirals in 2021 and 2022. Her duties at FHS have included practice planning, film breakdown and scheduling while also creating and implementing a full-year schedule for summer and fall workouts as well as winter strength and conditioning.
She was named the 2022 USA Lacrosse Tennessee Coach of the Year and 2021
Tennessean Midstate Coach of the Year. She represented the Central South Region on the Tennessee Girls Lacrosse Association Board the last two years and began her tenure at Franklin as an assistant coach for one season before taking over the head coaching duties.
Normandeau has also worked the last five years with No-Excuse Lacrosse as a coach for Tennessee's Premier lacrosse travel teams for girls and boys, coaching summer and fall tournaments and assisting with the recruiting process for players within the program.
"Watching Carly develop into the leader and mentor that she has become with her programs has been amazing," Dombrowski said. "I am completely confident that her passion for lacrosse, dedication to her players, and love of Sewanee will allow her to hit the ground running. She shares our vision for the direction and future success of the team; we can't wait to have her exciting energy and wealth of knowledge, back home at Sewanee."
She co-founded Nashville Field Hockey in 2017, expanding the program from one-to-four teams, one youth travel club and one adult travel team in five years. Franklin High onboarded as a new partner in 2022.
Normandeau previously worked one year as an assistant lacrosse coach at Pope John Paul II Preparatory School in Hendersonville, Tenn., helping the Knights advance to the semifinals in the state tournament.
After college she served one year as a lacrosse coach and local development officer with the English Lacrosse Association in North Yorkshire, England, coaching five teams at Harrogate Ladies College (ages 12-19) along with a touring team from the United States (ages 15-18), the U15 and U18 teams for Yorkshire County and two women's teams at Leeds University.
Normandeau earned her bachelor's in Art and Art History from the University of the South in 2011. A two-sport athlete at Sewanee, she was a key member of the SCAC championship field hockey team that went to the national tournament in 2008 while playing from 2007-10.
