UNM WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Eagan era begins: Coach outlines portal plans and vision for program
UNM introduces new women's basketball head coach
The University of New Mexico鈥檚 pep band played the fight song as fans clapped in unison Wednesday in at the Pit.
The game-style atmosphere wasn鈥檛 lost on Amy Eagan.
It felt a lot like opening day for UNM鈥檚 newly hired women's basketball coach, who was officially introduced and donned a ceremonial cherry blazer during a press conference on the arena鈥檚 upper concourse.
Eagan, who was named head coach less than a week before the NCAA transfer portal opened Monday, has had little choice but to hit the ground running. Her first seven days on the job included hiring a coaching staff, meeting with the program鈥檚 current players and scouring the portal to begin assembling a roster for next season.
While acknowledging the whirlwind pace, Eagan said she鈥檚 taken a few moments to survey her new surroundings.
鈥淚 always tell my players after a big win to enjoy that moment,鈥� Eagan said. 鈥淚鈥檓 doing that now. The community here has made me feel at home right away.鈥�
Eagan later smiled and said she鈥檚 doing her best to fit in.
鈥淚 spent a long time learning the Lobo hand signal,鈥� she said, demonstrating the 鈥渨olf-head鈥� gesture with her right hand.
UNM president Garnett Stokes and Athletic Director Ryan Berryman briefly addressed a crowd of roughly 200 people who turned out to welcome Eagan, her staff and their families to sa国际传媒官网网页入口. In the days since her arrival, Eagan has hired Jordan Mellott (associate head coach), Lindsay Ward (assistant coach) and Makayla Wallace (director of operations), all of whom worked for Eagan at her previous stop, Lindenwood University.
Wednesday鈥檚 audience was comprised of UNM administrators, coaches (including men鈥檚 basketball coach Eric Olen and baseball coach Tod Brown), current and former women鈥檚 basketball players, media members and numerous longtime fans.
Eagan touched on a number of subjects during the press conference. Here are a few:
Current players
Eagan said she has had conversations with the 11 Lobos who are eligible to return next season and hopes to retain a number of them.
鈥淲e realized pretty quickly there鈥檚 quite a bit of talent already here,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e had conversations with them, second and third conversations with some and we鈥檙e still working through that process. At the same time, the transfer portal is open, so we鈥檙e working through that and trying to build a roster.鈥�
Guard Laila Abdurraqib, who averaged 7.5 points per game off the bench and was named to the Mountain West All-Freshman Team last season, Tuesday that she will return next season.
鈥淚t feels right,鈥� Abdurraqib said. 鈥�(Eagan) made a great impression and my game is a good fit for the system.鈥�
Asked if she thought other current Lobos would follow her lead, Abdurraqib smiled and said, 鈥淚 hope so.鈥�
Portal entries
As of Wednesday, UNM had three players in the transfer portal: posts Jessie Joaquim and Emma Najjuma and guard Tyler Jones. Joaquim and Najjuma split time at the No. 5 spot for UNM last season after senior starter Clarissa Craig suffered a knee injury. Jones played sparingly off the bench.
Eagan said her offense is based on Princeton principles and requires a different role for posts than the dribble-drive offense former UNM coach Mike Bradbury employed.
鈥淭he biggest change in our system is at the 5 position,鈥� Eagan said. 鈥淲ith dribble-drive, it鈥檚 mostly rebounding and screening. Our 5s are involved in the offense, running high post, handling the ball, making decisions. So right now we鈥檙e hitting the portal hardest for the 5 position and a couple of impact players on top of that.鈥�
Offense/defense
Asked about her team's offense, Eagan quickly changed the subject.
鈥淚 love defense,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 believe defense wins championships and that鈥檚 where it starts for us.鈥�
She then conceded the importance of effective offense and credited Mellott, calling him a 鈥済uru鈥� of the Princeton-based offense, which emphasizes spacing, ball movement, back-cuts and creating open 3-point shots.
鈥淚 got into it when Amy and I were at Drury (University),鈥� Mellott said. 鈥淲e ran dribble-drive at first and it just didn't fit the kids we had. I made some calls and starting finding out that the Princeton offense has a lot of variations. You can adjust it to fit the players you have and kids love it.鈥�
Competitive landscape
Eagan and Berryman both mentioned the challenges of building and maintaining a competitive program in the transfer portal/NIL era, where players and their agents routinely shop for the most lucrative opportunities. Eagan is confident UNM will be able to compete.
鈥淎 lot of being successful these days is NIL,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 talked about that with Ryan and (senior associate athletic director Amy Beggin) and they made it very evident we鈥檒l have the resources we need. When you take a new position, you want to have an opportunity to win. We have that here.鈥�
Eagan said she plans to 鈥渟tart at home鈥� by recruiting in-state players and intends to use the Pit and UNM鈥檚 fan base to her advantage.
鈥淵ou don鈥檛 find a women's basketball fan base like this at a lot of mid-majors,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e鈥檝e asked all the current players why they want to be here and nearly all of them said it鈥檚 the people. The players know they鈥檙e very, very fortunate to be here. We鈥檒l make sure our recruits are aware of that.鈥�
