BY Chance Weeks-Williams

Staff Reporter

After the resignation of head coach Shawn Nelson in April, Central Washington University began a nationwide search for its new women’s basketball coach.

The field has now been narrowed down to three finalists.

Taylor Wagner is currently the head coach at Colorado Mesa where he earned coach of the year in both 2013 and 2014. Before coaching at Colorado Mesa he had an eight year stint at Otero Junior College in La Junta, Colo. During that span he amassed a 187-63 win, loss record.

In his first season as head coach at Colorado Mesa, he led the team to a school record 31 wins, as well as winning the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference regular season championship and the RMAC tournament. The Mavericks made a deep run in the NCAA Division-II tournament, finishing in the Elite Eight.

Wagner has familiarity with the Great Northwest Athletic Conference, playing at both Otero Junior College and the University of Alaska Anchorage, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in business management.

His coaching career started as a men’s assistant coach at Anchorage, before making his jump to Otero Junior College. For one season he was an assistant for both the men’s and the women’s teams in 2003-2004. Wagner then made the jump to head coach of the women’s basketball team the following season.

Second candidateMonique LeBlanc is no stranger to rebuilding programs. She has been coaching at Merrimack College for the past three seasons. During her time at Merrimack, her teams had a combined record of 34-48. In LeBlanc’s first season as head coach, her team posted a 3.53 GPA which was ranked 12th out of all Division two women’s basketball teams.

In that same season LeBlanc’s recruiting class was ranked No. 53 on ESPN out of both Division-I and Division-II schools. The next season LeBlanc’s team finished with a record of 17-12, including a playoff berth.

“We want to be playing our best basketball late in the season,” LeBlanc said.

LeBlanc’s coaching career started at her Alma Mater, Bucknell, where she double majored in mathematics and economics as well as played basketball. She then moved on to Northern Arizona University where she received her master’s degree in educational leadership as well as serving as an assistant basketball coach.

Final candidateMolly Goodenbour brings a plethora of experience including some professional and Division-I experience. She is currently the head coach at Cal State University Dominguez Hills, where she has posted a record of 29-27 for the past two seasons.

Before her job at CSUDH, Goodenbour was the head coach at UC Irvine, Cal State University Chico and at Santa Rosa Junior College. In her playing days, Goodenbour was a two-time national champion at Stanford University. After a one year stint as an assistant coach at San Francisco, she started playing professional basketball in Sweden. She then played for the Richmond Rage, Portland Power and Sacramento Monarchs.

Goodenbour is excited about the community in Ellensburg and knows that with the right support, a team can go far.

“This is a place where those things can happen,” Goodenbour said.

Last year the Wildcats finished last in the conference with a record of 7-19 overall and GNAC record of 2-14. Goodenbour knows that it is difficult to turn a team around.

“You don’t change things in one season,” Goodenbour said.

Goodenbour also said that she plans on putting academics as a focus too.

“The same set of skills that help you make a free throw are the same set of skills that can make math work,” Goodenbour said.