North Central College director of athletics Jim Miller ’86 is has announced the hiring of Maggie McCloskey-Bax as the 11th head coach in the history of the women’s basketball program.
“Coach McCloskey-Bax brings a variety of experience to this position,” said Miller, “she was an outstanding local high school player at Riverside-Brookfield High School, played at the NCAA Division I level at Loyola University Chicago and has now coached at two NCAA Division III institutions.
She has numerous local connections having served as the recruiting coordinator for Carthage College the past five years and has tremendous communication and organizational skills. We feel fortunate to hire a person with such a well-rounded background, readiness to become a head coach and passion the sport of basketball.”
McCloskey-Bax comes to North Central after years of experience as an assistant coach, most recently at fellow College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) member Carthage College since 2013, serving as recruiting coordinator. Prior to Carthage, McCloskey-Bax was an assistant at Ohio Wesleyan University from 2011-2013.
“I’d first like to thank Jim Miller, Sue Kane, Marty Sauer for giving me this opportunity,” said McCloskey-Bax. “My family and I are very grateful to return to Naperville and I am excited to get to campus. I will bring a positive energy day in and day out and can’t wait to meet the current team and get started.”
Coaching in the CCIW for the last five years will most certainly give McCloskey-Bax an advantage heading into her first head coaching position, aware of the competition and what it takes to compete in one of the nation’s toughest conferences.
“The CCIW is such a competitive conference,” said McCloskey-Bax, “I learned so much from my years at Carthage from head coach Tim Bernero and also want to thank him for everything he has done for me.
It’s about recruiting high level kids and I know what it takes to compete in this conference, but being in the CCIW for the last five years will definitely be an advantage.”
Playing collegiately at the highest level, McCloskey-Bax was recognized as a leader early on by her teammates, voted a three-year team captain at Loyola Chicago. She still holds the NCAA record for consecutive games with a three-point field goal at 69 games, while also holding the Horizon League record for career three-pointers with 325 over her four-year career.
Following her career at Loyola, McCloskey-Bax took her talents overseas to play professionally in Reykjavik, Iceland for the Fjolnir Basketball Club. In addition to playing professionally, she coached a 14 year-old girls team in Reykjavik that projected her into coaching.
While North Central may be her first head coaching job, McCloskey-Bax brings plenty of experience to campus as well as a high basketball IQ and passion for the game.
“I was really excited when this position opened,” said McCloskey-Bax, “North Central is a perfect fit for me and my family. I have a lot of experience recruiting this area and will bring a lot of energy each and every day.”
Photo Courtesy North Central Athletics
Tagged with: CCIW DIII
