It’s August 2024. Maureen Magarity and the Holy Cross Crusaders are coming off back-to-back Patriot League championships and NCAA Tournament appearances, but there’d be no three-peat for Magarity. She stepped away from the program to build a new life in Burlington, Vermont.
No, not on the sidelines for the Vermont Catamounts. Well, not at that point.
“Being a single mom and coaching and just wanting to start a new chapter for my family was a really, really tough decision,” Magarity said. “I felt really good about just saying, ‘You know what, the program is in an amazing place right now.’ We had gone to back-to-back NCAA tournaments.”
Magarity hung up the whistle to begin her life with her new husband, UVM men’s basketball head coach John Becker. She joined the Catamount athletics department and worked in development.
“It was a tough decision,” Magarity said about leaving coaching. “It was really hard, but it was really refreshing the last two years to kind of just still work and challenge myself and do something different for the first time ever in my professional career, as far as development. I really learned a lot about fundraising, especially in this ever-changing landscape of college athletics with NIL and rev. share and all that. So, it was fun.”
But coaching was never really put to the side. She coached her daughters’ teams – a first in her career — and enjoyed being a coach’s spouse for once.
“I never had the opportunity to [coach my daughters’ teams] and just help out a little bit more with their teams and being on the court more with them and being there for my husband and getting to travel, as a coach’s wife,” Magarity said. “We missed out on a lot of really big memories. So, it was great.”
But this offseason, a unique opportunity presented itself. Vermont women’s basketball head coach Alisa Kresge left the Catamounts for Richmond, leaving an opening to guide a program that has been to three of the last four NCAA Tournaments.
It led to a no-brainer decision for Vermont Director of Athletics Jeff Schulman, and Magarity returned to the college sidelines in April 2026.
“I feel obviously very, very honored and blessed that I now can coach again,” she said. “I’m in a very unique situation, taking over this program that I’ve kind of been a fangirl of the last couple of years… It was a very easy transition. I didn’t have to move. I didn’t have to sell a house or buy a house. I didn’t have to move my kids to a new school.”
Coach Magarity was recently on the “Anything But Mid” Podcast. Listen to the full episode:
Magarity’s connection to the program was stronger than just working in the athletics department. She and Kresge were college teammates at Marist under legendary coach Brian Giorgis. They were part of the foundation Giorgis laid with the Red Foxes, which included 10 conference titles in 11 years and a trip to the Sweet 16 in 2007.
So, Magarity and Kresge are no strangers to having success. Kresge and Magarity have combined to reach the NCAA Tournament five times as head coaches. Kresge led Vermont to the Big Dance in three of the last four years.
Maureen Magarity Inherits Winning Culture
Magarity is inheriting a roster with several returners. Nearly every Catamount who still had eligibility remained with the program.
“That winning culture is huge, and just their expectations and who [the players] are as people,” Magarity said. “Just showing up to the gym every day, they’ve already been there in the gym for over an hour shooting and getting their reps in. And they just want to win. They don’t want to be the team that lets that kind of dip down. And obviously they have big shoes, not to fill, but to follow up on what they’ve accomplished.”
Vermont lost its top three scorers from last year’s 27-8 championship team. Senior guard Malia Lenz is the top returning scorer for UVM and started every game last season, averaging 7.5 points and 7.4 rebounds per game.
Graduate guard Catherine Gilwee was limited to just 10 games last year but is back on the roster after posting 5.7 points and 1.9 assists during the non-conference. Junior guard Emma Haan returns as well. She elevated into the starting lineup after Gilwee went down and posted 5.5 points and 3.7 rebounds.
“Our team, even the players that are returning are going to have their very different roles,” Magarity said. “I can’t tell you how excited I was that everybody came back that still had eligibility, which I think really speaks to the culture here at UVM, the community, how much it means, how much they want to win. And they just weren’t looking to get out and find the next best thing. That is really who they are as people here, and it’s really fun to coach them.”
The Catamounts open the season at home against Keene State before the America East-Metro Basketball Challenge when they will face Quinnipiac and Fairfield, the top two teams in the Metro last season.
UVM’s non-conference slate also includes a home game against Oregon (Nov. 11), a showdown with George Mason in Puerto Rico and battles against Stony Brook (Dec. 2), Drexel (Dec. 13) and Boston University (Dec. 19).
America East play begins on Dec. 31 with a trip to Maine and includes 16 games.
Magarity is no stranger to the conference. Before her four-year stint at Holy Cross, she spent 10 years leading New Hampshire, which included an AE regular-season title in 2017.
“There’s so much parity in the league right now,” Magarity said. “The league is very different than when I was at UNH. Bryant and NJIT were not in the league when I was there only a few years ago. I think that they both have really improved the league a lot.
“On the women’s side, every game last year [in the league] was a close, tight game from top to bottom, which is really fun to see. I was at UNH for 10 years, and it was always kind of a separation from the top teams to the bottom teams. So, that’s really exciting. It’s obviously super challenging.”
Magarity and Vermont will be looking for the program’s second ever third consecutive trip to the NCAA Tournament, joining the teams from 1992-94.