Washburn women’s basketball head coach Lora Westling has announced the hiring of J’Nae Squires-Horton and Darren Pitzner to her coaching staff.
“I am so fortunate to have two people of this caliber joining our staff here at Washburn,” said Westling. “Both Coach J’Nae and Coach Pitzner are committed to providing our student-athletes with a second-to-none experience here at Washburn while building relationships that will last a lifetime. They have hit the ground running and will be great assets to our program.”
Squires-Horton joins the Ichabods after having served as a graduate assistant at the University of Colorado Springs-Colorado.
As a student-athlete, Squires-Horton was a three-year member of MSU Denver and started 71 of 90 games for the Roadrunners. She averaged 11.8 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.2 assists while shooting 35.7 percent from the floor, 33.6 percent from three-point range, and 87.3 percent from the free throw line.
Squires-Horton was named to the All-RMAC Second Team in 2016-17 and 2017-18 while also earning the Athletic Director’s Honor Roll for three semesters.
Following her graduation at MSU Denver with a degree in Journalism, Squires-Horton played one season in Latvia with the Latvian Basketball League’s SBK Liepaja/LSSS.
“J’nae had a tremendous collegiate basketball career at the NCAA Division II level and is as competitive of a person as I’ve been around,” said Westling. “However, it is her passion for developing young women and knack for building relationships that make her an invaluable addition to our staff. I am thrilled to get to work with her as I know that she is a rising star in this profession.”
Pitzner brings 13 years of coaching experience to Washburn and has served as the girls basketball head coach at Green Mountain High School in Lakewood, Colo. for the past five years. He led the team to three-consecutive league championship titles, the program’s first in 26 years, as well as three-straight Final Four appearances at the state tournament, marking their first trips to the Final Four in program history. In the last four seasons, Pitzner has guided the Rams to a record of 83-14 and earned Coach of the Year league honors three times and was also the league’s Coach of the Year for all girls sports in 2020.
Pitzner has also coached at the club level at B&B Basketball Academy in Lakewood, Colo. since 2019. In this position, he led 16U and 17U teams in practices and tournaments throughout the US, playing 40-60 games a year.
A native of Wisconsin, Pitzner graduated with his bachelor’s in finance from the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. He also has experience working in the investment and insurance sectors.
“Coach Pitz is an absolute worker,” said Westling. “He has balanced an impressive list of endeavors over the last few years while building Green Mountain High School into one of the most respected programs in the state of Colorado. Beyond his passion for basketball, it is his contagious positivity that makes the biggest impact on the people that get to work with him. We are very fortunate to have him here at Washburn.”
