Three years after making her initial commitment, it became official Wednesday. Maddi Foutz will be a Colorado State University Ram.
The Bayfield High School senior verbally committed to CSU as a sophomore when teammate and current Rams budding star Kirstie Hillyer signed with the Rams as a senior. Foutz waited two years to make it official and didn’t wait a second longer than she needed to, signing on the first day of the national early signing period.
“CSU was always my dream school, and I’m lucky enough to go play there,” Foutz said. “I’ve been gong to their camp since sixth-grade. It’s special the way everything has come together.”
Foutz will join an elite program led by head coach Tom Hilbert, who is currently in his 20th year leading the Rams program. He has guided CSU to the NCAA Tournament in all 19 previous seasons. Going into this season, Hilbert had posted a 662-185 overall record for the top-25 program.
Hilbert still has film of Foutz from that sixth-grade camp.
Foutz doesn’t plan to take a redshirt, and Hilbert could use her defensive skills right away her freshman season.
”Maddi Foutz is a really talented defensive player,” Hilbert said in a news release. “She’s as athletic as any defensive player we have ever had. Our plans are eventually to make her a libero. She’s really good at reading the game and very fast.”
Foutz is a four-year letter winner who also competed in varsity basketball and track and field for BHS. She’s on the AVCA Under Armour All-America watch list for 2016, and she played five years on the USA Volleyball High Performance program. Last summer, she also played in the 2016 Gold Championship at the EU Global Championship in Croatia.
But, before all of the accolades and scholarship offers, Foutz was a developing player under the tutelage of her mother, Terene Foutz.
Terene Foutz is the coach at BHS and played at Colorado Mesa University. She is looking forward to retiring after this season and watching her daughter play next year in Fort Collins. The two have always had a coach-player relationship in the gym, and Terene is eager to enjoy every point from the stands the next four years.
“She passed down that love of the game to me,” Maddi Foutz said of her mother. “Her and my dad (Mike Foutz) gave me that experience of playing.”
Foutz will rejoin former teammate Kirstie Hillyer, who is having a strong redshirt freshman season for the Rams and has All-American potential. Foutz and Hillyer are as close as sisters, and Foutz can’t wait to line up behind her for digs while Hillyer goes for blocks at the net.
For coach Terene Foutz, producing two Division I players for a top-25 program out of a small town like Bayfield was a special recognition of the work ethic she helped instill in the players.
“It’s a confirmation for some of the smaller players in the game from smaller schools around the country that with a great work ethic and concentrated development, you can play as big as you dream,” she said.
Hillyer reached out to Foutz on Wednesday and is equally excited to add her younger counterpart from the Wolverines.
“Congrats on signing your NLI today,” Hillyer wrote on Twitter. “Here’s to many years in the past and many years to come. Glad to have you best friend.”
Foutz still has one more big goal before fully focusing on the Rams. This week provides a unique chance to end her career with a state championship, as the fifth-ranked Wolverines bring a loaded team to Denver as one of 12 teams remaining in Class 3A.
“We’re not worried about all these huge teams and how good and big they are,” Maddi Foutz said. “Right now, we’re focused on ourselves and doing the best we can do. We’ve improved a lot this week. We’re not taking any time off, and we’re excited to play.”
jlivingston@durangoherald.com
