Tonishea Mack
Tonishea Mack
  • Title:
    Head Women's Basketball Coach
  • Phone:
    708-235-3963
  • Email:
    tmack2@govst.edu

Bio

Tonishea Mack completed her 7th season in 2024-2025 as head women's basketball coach at Governors State. She was named the program's second head coach on August 13, 2018 and is the winningest coach in program history with a 108-97 record with the Jaguars. GSU's women's basketballl program enjoyed a break-through, record-setting season in 2023-24.

2024-25 was a second straight record-setting season for Coach Tmack and the GSU Jaguars - two-time back to back CCAC Coach of the Year Awards in 2023-24 (23-7 season, NAIA Nationals) and then broke all school records with the historic 29-6, 1st place CCAC championship season in 2024-25 - advancing with three NAIA National Tournament wins to the Final 8 in Sioux City, Iowa and along the way upset #1 Campbellsville, KY at Nationals.
 
Coach Tmack won her milestone 100th career win at Governors State University this season and her players also garnered many season and post-season awards including a school-first NAIA National 1st team All-American team selection for Senior F Zareia Chevre and a third-team All-American team selection for Grad Student G -Tabetha Jones - both were named first-team All-CCAC Conference selections and both were career record setting players at GSU with Chevre totaling 44 points in a game to set that mark and also her 1,000 points scored in college career . Jones is the school's 2nd all-time leading scorer with nearly 1,500 career points and is the all-time assists leader.
 
Teammates Sr. G - Da'Naria Washington (1,000 career points and a 4-time All-CCAC defensive player of the week award winner in 2024-25 and Jr. G- Cencere McDaniel (2nd team All-CCAC) with all 4 GSU players earning all-CCAC post-season honors and Coach Tmack CCAC Coach of the Year again in 2024-25. She will now add back-to-back IBCA Women’s NAIA Coach of the Year honors for 2024-25.

Tmack was named the CCAC Conference Coach of the Year leading the 2023-24 Jaguars to a record-setting 23-7 record, 17-3 CCAC 2nd place finish and a NAIA Nationals appearance. She was also named the IBCA 2023-24 NAIA Women's Basketball Coach of the Year.

Three GSU players earned all-CCAC honors last season with Tabetha Jones (first team All-CCAC) and Angelique Cowan and Zareia Chevre, (2nd team All-CCAC selections). Cowan ended her GSU career as the second all-time scoring leader with 1,133 career points and Jones is 4th all-time with 918 career points.

In 2022-23, GSU's Angelique Cowan was named 2nd team All-CCAC and scored a career-high 36 points in the Jaguars first-ever double OT game at Roosevelt University, February 18, 2023 losing 84-83. Coach Tmack's team played a big portion of the second half of last year battling injuries and had only six or seven healthy players for many games including the 81-80 upset win over Olivet Nazarene on Senior Night to highlight the home season at the ARC.

In the 2021-2022 season, Mack assembled a team that contended for a CCAC playoff spot down to the last game of the season. She also put three players on the court with prior NCAA experience, including a pair of Division I transfers. Under Mack's tutelage, Sharnita Breeze became the first player in team history to earn All-CCAC honors three seasons in a row.

In 2020-21 Mack directed the Jaguars to their highest conference finish ever (fourth place) while qualifying for the CCAC Tournament for the second-straight season. GSU also hosted its first-ever playoff game and strung together a five-game winning streak. Mack also led the Orange and Black to its first wins against Olivet Nazarene and St. Francis.

During the 2019-20 season Mack guided GSU to its first-ever postseason appearance with a berth into the CCAC Tournament. GSU also recorded wins against NCAA Division II Purdue Northwest and first-time victories against CCAC opponents Judson and Cardinal Stritch. Mack also developed an All-MAC Honorable Mention selection in Hydeia Thomas.

In 2018-19, Mack led the Jaguars to a school-record 17 victories (17-13) and the program's first winning season. GSU also won a record-nine games in the CCAC, knocking off 21st-ranked Saint Xavier in the process. Mack also oversaw the development of All-CCAC selections in Amber Brooks and Tyisha Worthy.

A Park Forest native, Mack is well-acquainted with the Jaguars basketball program, having served as an assistant coach during the program's inaugural varsity season in 2015-16 and the start of the 2016-17 season. She also spent a year on the bench with the club team in 2014-15. Mack left GSU in November 2017 to become assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Chicago State, where she served two seasons.

Prior to joining the collegiate ranks, Mack worked as an assistant coach at Marian Catholic High School from 2012-14, helping the Spartans to an Illinois Class 4A State Championship in 2013.

Mack played three years of Division I basketball at Grambling State from 2009-12. She led the Lady Tigers in scoring (9.8 points per game) as a senior, ranking in the Top 10 in scoring and rebounding in the Southwestern Athletic Conference (SWAC). Mack was also a two-year captain and named to the SWAC All-Academic Team. Her collegiate career started at Sheridan (WY) College, where she was named a National Junior College Athletic Association Honorable Mention All-American and Player of the Year in the Wyoming Community College Athletic Conference. Mack played locally at Rich East High School, where she graduated as the school's all-time leading scorer.

Mack earned a B.A. in psychology from Grambling State (2012) and a M.S. in education from Northern Illinois (2017).     

A resident of Calumet City, Mack is a member of the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).