Fort Lewis women’s basketball head coach Lauren Davis announced the hiring of her new assistant coaches Maggie Espenmiller-McGraw and Colton Walker on Friday.
Espenmiller-McGraw, 23, comes to FLC after a quality five-year playing career at the Division I level. Espenmiller-McGraw player her first four years at Iowa State and transferred to the University of Montana for her fifth and final year of play she was awarded because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
This past season at Montana, Espenmiller-McGraw averaged 12.2 points per game, 2.3 rebounds per game and 1.5 assists per game. She shot 45% from the field, 44% from 3-point range and 81% from the free-throw line. Espenmiller-McGraw was the Big Sky Conference Newcomer of the Year and was Second Team All-Big Sky. She was 10th in Division I in 3-point shooting percentage last season.
For her career, Espenmiller-McGraw averaged 7.0 ppg and was an outstanding 3-point shooter with a 40% mark from downtown over her five playing years.
“My initial reaction was just overwhelmed with joy and gratitude,” Espenmiller-McGraw said about getting the job with the Skyhawks. “For me, that's a big steppingstone right out of college and it's such a wonderful opportunity. I feel so grateful that Lauren took a chance on me and I'm excited to learn from her, explore the city of Durango and be in the community.”
Espenmiller-McGraw always knew she had a passion for basketball and working with kids. She realized this past year she wanted to get into coaching with the help of her head coach at Montana Brian Holsinger.
Davis said she knew who Espenmiller-McGraw was at Iowa State with all of Davis’ coaching connections in the Midwest. Then at Montana, Davis knew the entire coaching staff and knew that Espenmiller-McGraw was a player coaches loved and she elevated her teammates and everyone around her.
“I'm really excited to add Maggie to our staff,” Davis said. “She really embodies the mission I have for the program: To compete, grow, lead and develop young women. I couldn't think of a better person to do that than somebody who was pretty much just in their shoes and did it at a really high level with a great career. I'm really thrilled to have her. She's super driven, like-minded, and she strives for excellence. She's really demonstrated that through her time as a player.”
Although Espenmiller-McGraw hasn’t had any coaching experience, Davis said she wasn’t worried about her lack of a coaching resume. Davis said Espenmiller-McGraw is a born leader who understands what it takes to win. She thinks Espenmiller-McGraw will be a great recruiter with her bubbly personality and smile.
Davis said she doesn’t know what role her assistants will take but she wants her assistants to have their hands on everything to find out what they excel in. Davis thinks Espenmiller-McGraw will be great at player development.
Espenmiller-McGraw agrees with Davis and thinks she can connect with the players because of all the different roles she played during her college career. Espenmiller-McGraw is looking forward to getting her players to be the best version of themselves and to have fun in the process.
Davis’ new assistant coach describes herself as a people person who enjoys making connections with people. She’s excited to explore Durango with her cat Mookie.
Walker, 24, comes to FLC after spending time coaching girls high school basketball at Gilbert High School in Gilbert, Arizona and coaching the AAU team Arizona Elite in the Girls’ Under Armour Association circuit.
“I felt excited and it's not super far from where I'm from, it's only about six and a half or seven hours,” Walker said about getting the job at FLC. “So it didn't feel it was going to be a big change to my life, everything fell into place naturally. I’ve got to work and right to the job. So it's been a lot of fun. I was super excited and couldn't wait to get up here and start working with Coach Lauren.”
Walker has been involved with coaching girls basketball since he was in high school himself. He then went to West Virginia University and was the team manager on the women’s basketball team there.
After being a team manager at West Virginia, he became an assistant coach at Benedictine University in 2020. Then he took the opportunity at Gilbert and Arizona Elite. During his tenure at Gilbert High School, the team was 77-33 and qualified for state playoffs in four consecutive seasons.
Walker guided Arizona Elite to third and fourth-place finishes on the Under Armour circuit in 2022.
Like Espenmiller-McGraw, Davis said Walker embodied everything she wanted in an assistant coach. She loves how Walker has experience as a head coach and he’s a winner.
Davis also thinks Walker will be a great recruiting asset in Arizona with all his connections there.
Walker thinks he can help with FLC’s offense next season. He guided Gilbert High School to being one of the top offenses in the state. He knows how to run an efficient offense and Walker thinks he can put together a concise but effective scouting report on the Skyhawks’ opponents next season.
bkelly@durangoherald.com
