GREEN BAY – The University of Wisconsin-Green Bay women’s basketball team is losing one of its longtime coaches to the WNBA.
Associate head coach Megan Vogel has been hired as an assistant by the Phoenix Mercury.
The WNBA’s season doesn’t start until May, which will allow Vogel to finish out the college campaign for a UWGB team that is atop the Horizon League standings.
UWGB coach Kevin Borseth hired Vogel as an assistant in 2013 after the departure of John Barnes, who was hired as the women’s coach at Youngstown State.
Vogel has played an instrumental part in the Phoenix’s success for more than a decade, helping lead the team to the NCAA Tournament four times and winning six Horizon League regular-season championships.
“I would like to thank the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay and coach Kevin Borseth for the knowledge and experience I have gained over the previous 11 seasons that has afforded me this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Vogel said in a statement released by the school.
Vogel played for South Dakota State and is one of the program’s most decorated players, starting all 120 games during her four-year career from 2003 to 2007 and graduating as the second-leading scorer in team history with 1,850 points.
She was the first player from the school to be drafted by a WNBA team when the Washington Mystics selected her 19th overall in 2007.
Vogel was released during training camp her rookie year but stayed with the Mystics as an intern and practice player for the season.
It was there her coaching career really started when she helped Washington with scouting and film breakdown.
Vogel landed a job at SDSU as a graduate assistant in August 2007 and then returned to the WNBA the following season after joining the Minnesota Lynx for training camp.
She was released before the season and played overseas for the WWK Donau Ries.
Vogel served as an assistant at a trio of schools after her playing days and before landing in Green Bay.
The St. Peter, Minnesota, native was a volunteer assistant at both St. Peter High School and Minnesota State Mankato in 2009.
She also was an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for St. Cloud State from 2010 to 2013.
“How exciting for Megan to start this unique opportunity,” Borseth said. “She has invested a great deal into our program, and we are better off because of it. The Green Bay tree roots run deep and its branches wide. Our players, and now a coach, get the opportunity to move onto the next level. Green Bay basketball is very well entrenched in our region and this adds a national perspective to the far-reaching impact of our program.”
Borseth’s time at UWGB has produced a long list of former players who entered the coaching ranks at the high school or college level after graduation.
It includes Sara Rohde, who was both a player and assistant for Borseth at UWGB and has become one of the most successful high school girls basketball coaches in the state. She has led Green Bay Notre Dame to five WIAA Division 2 state championships.
Another former player and coach for Borseth, Amanda Leonhard-Perry, is the women’s coach at St. Norbert College.
“Our program has been known for developing players that have had a lot of success,” Borseth said. “We take a lot of pride in developing holistic players, but we also take pride in developing our coach staff. This is just another reminder that you can achieve your dreams from anywhere, especially Green Bay.”
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Vogel will join a Mercury team that has rostered some of the most recognizable names in basketball in recent seasons, including former Baylor star Brittney Griner, former University of Notre Dame standout Skylar Diggins-Smith and UConn legend Diana Taurasi.
Griner and Diggins-Smith are free agents, although Griner is expected to return to Phoenix. Diggins-Smith didn’t play last season after giving birth and likely will play elsewhere.
The Mercury went 9-31 in 2023 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2012.
This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: UWGB assistant coach Megan Vogel lands job with WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury
