The Amy Eagan Show

Gary D Stocker (00:01.459)
Welcome to the Amy Egan show. My name is Gary Stocker. And for those University of New Mexico fans joining us for the first time, Coach Egan and I have done this podcast since 2023 when she took over the program at Lindenwood University in St. Charles, Missouri. And for global basketball fans, we'll talk to players and coaches. We'll talk about the Mountain West Conference, the NCAA, academics, careers for her players, and much, much more.

We'll be on weekly as the 26, 27 season starts, but we'll also be doing podcast episodes occasionally throughout the summer of 2026 as well. And sidebar, I even moved to the same time zone as Coach Egan. My wife and I just relocated from the St. Louis area to Colorado Springs. So it's a short five hour drive to Albuquerque. And of course I know Coach Egan's secrets.

Amy Eagan (00:43.97)
Hehe.

Amy Eagan (00:57.614)
You

Gary D Stocker (00:58.251)
And the biggest one is that she thinks she is a good pickleball player. And coach, before we get started, a story. And I met Coach Egan for the first time about three years ago in the May of 2023. The president at Lindenwood University introduced us and we met for lunch on a beautiful, gorgeous spring day along the Missouri River in St. Charles. And as we were leaving, four ladies were lining up to take a picture. And Amy Egan on one of her first days in the area stepped in.

Amy Eagan (01:02.804)
my god.

Amy Eagan (01:06.798)
I'm

Gary D Stocker (01:27.183)
and made four new friends by stepping in to take their picture. Coach Egan, it was a pleasure to do the podcast. For Lindwood University, it's going to be an equal pleasure, if not more so, to be doing it at the University of New Mexico. Congratulations, first of all.

Amy Eagan (01:41.698)
Well, thank you. I'm so excited to be here today with you. feel like, you know, we used to talk so much and so regular, but we've both been so busy here this month with moving and us taking over the program that we haven't quite had the opportunity to do that. it's really, really feels really good today to have a familiar face and somebody that's a good friend on here with me. And I look forward to us continuing this adventure together at the University of New Mexico.

giving you some insight because you don't know as much besides the financial stuff about this school as much as I do about the program and the facilities and all those kind of things. So I'm looking forward to continuing to share those things and really continue to grow this viewership.

Gary D Stocker (02:15.411)
I'm

Gary D Stocker (02:27.271)
And coach, why the University of New Mexico? You have had a successful career to date. Why did this one become your landing spot?

Amy Eagan (02:35.81)
Yeah, you know it's crazy because I think even when we called all the recruits and the kids that we had signed they were like you kind of said that you were going to stay in the Midwest you couldn't see yourself going outside the Midwest and you know it's I really did believe that and then when the University of New Mexico came around and I started deep diving into it and talking with the AD and the SWA and that like

It just really intrigued me for lot of reasons. And some of those reasons are this, the people in the alignment. think I believed in their vision for women's basketball and their alignment from top to bottom. I think that's always important in any school that you go to, right? And just the love for women's basketball here for them as an athletic department, you know, the SWA here, Amy Began, she's a former stud player here on the women's basketball team.

And so it was really good to get some perspective from her. And then obviously Ryan, think, is such a great, genuine guy that is doing some great, great things with the athletic department here. So that vision, that alignment from top down was really important. The program, the identity and the tradition of it, there's a lot of pride here. Not just pride on campus, but pride in the community. A very passionate fan base.

And there's a standard here, you know, for women's basketball and and Lobo women's basketball And so I think that was really really exciting for me You know, I love standards of winning. I love when we can ever anytime be involved in the community And that's been very evident from the time we've gotten here You know, we've had numerous recruits on campus and in the community eating, know lunch and dinner and I don't know if we've had one place that somebody has not came up and

You know, recognized us first off and then also, you know, said how excited they are to get back into watching, you know, Lobo women's basketball and those kinds of things. And then third, I would say it's, you know, it's definitely a place where we can build a culture and develop players and compete for championships, you know, and that's important with who we are as people and coaches in a program. And so a lot, a lot of reasons that really just aligned with.

Amy Eagan (04:52.302)
who I was and what I wanted out of our coaching career and for our kids that played for us.

Gary D Stocker (04:59.569)
And I know at Lindawood, had a, you and your players were involved in the community. Is that something you plan to do in the Albuquerque area as well?

Amy Eagan (05:04.237)
No.

Amy Eagan (05:07.842)
Yeah, definitely. You know, we're going to be involved a lot. We're going to get out in the community. We have a couple things already on our radar for June that we're hoping to get out and do a community service with United Way that we're working on possibly setting up. And then July, a basketball clinic that we're going to do kind of free for the community. So we're working on setting dates and getting kind of some things set in stone for that kind of stuff, which we'll announce and get out on social media soon. But it is a really big, you know,

I think in any relationship that you have, it's always a two-way street, right? It should never be a one-way street. And so if the community is going to give back to us and they're going to come and be season ticket holders and come to games and support our women in a lot of different ways, then it's our responsibility and our job to do the same thing and to give back. I'm also a big believer in, we're really, really fortunate to be able to do what we do. Our kids are really blessed and fortunate to be able to.

be in position that they're in here, being a women's basketball player at the University of New Mexico. And so as humble as we are with that, we also understand there's a responsibility there to give back and to make impact on the community, whether it's the youth or just an impact overall. So excited for that, and we'll definitely deep dive into that.

Gary D Stocker (06:27.397)
And let's talk about the players coach and particularly players that are coming with you from Linwood, both the transfers and the freshmen. And let's first talk about the transfers and Gracie Winley, Gracie Kelsey, Valerie Norwood. I worked with all of them. We did things together. I know the two Gracies. I took them to one of the major hospital laboratories in the world so they can get a feel for their medical careers that they're thinking about. So I know them well. Tell me about

their journey and their decision making process to join you in Albuquerque.

Amy Eagan (06:57.687)
Yeah, well I think you know Gary, you could probably talk about them just as much as I can because they're very active in the community and very active in whether it's their careers and on campus and so, you know, I would tell you this, those kids that I had there, would have loved, absolutely loved to bring all of them. Like I just think so much of them as people first that I would have loved to bring all of them.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to do that, you know, because of maybe what's already here on the roster, some of the level stuff, you know, that kind of stuff with it. But I don't want to take away from anything from the rest of those kids that we, you know, weren't able to bring or didn't choose to come here because we had really good relationships with all of them. And still, you know, I hope we do, you know, in the future if, you know, once maybe they get over being mad at me, hopefully, for leaving. But

You know, I think, you know, when you talk about Gracie, Kelsey, mean, such number one, an invaluable kid for our system, right? Understands, you know, how much we run that ball through that five position and how important that is. And so one of the things that I know about her and knowing her, number one, she knows the system. Number two, she can be successful in the system. And number three, that kid is a great teammate and a great teacher. And so her value to us in coming here and

Bringing all three of those things to our program is going to be just something from the ground up That's going to be really important with building, you know, obviously Gracie Wernley. I mean that kids my kid I mean, you know, I had a hard time taking her off the floor in regards to her defensive intensity or defensive talk You know that part of being a culture kids a great teammate all those kind of things now She's you know coming off an ACL so she's still rebuilding from that But hopefully, you know, we're talking

End of November, beginning of December, we start being able to work her slowly back into hopefully some of the system and that and some games and then be a little bit more full goal January, sorry, January and February with stuff. So excited to bring her along again, that kid that's going to help us lay the foundation here with stuff. Valerie Norwood, I kind of think this anyways, I'm like, I don't know how long we're going to be able to keep that kid at.

Amy Eagan (09:17.779)
At Linda Wood because I think she's so talented. And that's kind of the thing I told her and her mom, know, once we were able to talk with them is that, you know, I just, she's just at a different level, you know, and she's got a ton of growth in her. And you saw a lot of that. thought even, you know, before we left, when we were doing some things in the postseason with her, how much, you know, she had taken that jump even from after season to postseason with stuff. So we're really excited about her and

what she's going to bring to us. Again, not just on the court, but the kid that she is. We're really close to her too. So, and then, you know, we're bringing two signees and the Warnling family and Kate coming. We have a great relationship with them and they're like family for us. So why not bring the younger one too, right? Kate is really talented. I think I've said that over and over. I thought she was a steal for us at Lindenwood. And I believe she's going to come in here and do some great things.

Gary D Stocker (09:56.957)
Yeah, man.

Gary D Stocker (10:08.424)
Yes.

Amy Eagan (10:15.615)
Savannah, a kid that I am very, very blessed that we were able to get her down here. I didn't know if we were going to be able to because of kind of being a little bit of a homebody, you know, with it. But I think she's been our kid since we built this relationship with her, you know, and just fits us in all areas. And a do-it-all kid, a winner, a champion, probably one of the hardest workers that you're going to see. So we're really excited about bringing her too.

Gary D Stocker (10:27.015)
Yeah, yeah.

Amy Eagan (10:45.249)
Those five coming with us, think for them already have some familiarity, but for us also are gonna help lay the culture from the beginning and really help guide and teach the other kids.

Gary D Stocker (10:57.907)
Let's talk about conferences for a second and we'll talk about the other players when do our next podcast. The Mountain West versus OVC. What are your observations about what you know so far about the Mountain West and the OVC, where you came from at St. Charles and Linwood?

Amy Eagan (11:09.356)
Yeah.

Amy Eagan (11:12.651)
Yeah, you know, and that's a little bit of a tough question just because, you know, I think everybody looks at the OVC as a low-mid major, but I thought we were much better than that. I mean, you know, when you finish 90, when we finished 96 or 98 in the net, we had that thing rolling there. You know, we were playing some really good basketball there and that level, I think, you know, when you have a team like us and a team like Western Illinois, the level of basketball there last year was really, really good with stuff.

And so I think, you know, when people look at the OVC, they maybe see a little bit of a low major in that. But again, I think we were doing some really great things there and playing at a very high level. You know, the Mountain West is part of the G6, which is kind of considered the group of six that's right under the P4. So a very high mid major, if you look at it from that way.

But I do believe you still got to put a product out there and you still got to be able to win games and compete at those levels even though you're in those high, mid, majors. So some of that's, you love that it's a higher level, but you also, you got to get your team to that level as well with it, if that makes some sense with it.

Gary D Stocker (12:22.355)
Yeah, yeah. And then this news broke yesterday. Of course, the NCAA looks like it's going to 76 teams for both the men's and women's tournament in 2027. How does that, what's your thought process behind that?

Amy Eagan (12:34.865)
I mean, you know, our standards are to make the NCAA tournament no matter what, you know, how many teams are invited or not invited. you know, I think right now that's a hard thing for a lot of mid-majors to talk about and say because typically every mid-major conference, even high mid-majors been getting one team in. And so the thing, the big thing with it is if they do expand it, I hope it gives more opportunities to the mid-majors to

to get more teams in. I hope it's not just going to open up and take more teams from the power force. So again, I think you can control some of that in regards to how you schedule and scheduling, which is hard these days because so many kids are leaving programs and roster changeovers. But I always believe there's two things that make or break your program. That's scheduling and recruiting. So it's two things that we work really, really hard at to put us in positions to.

to play in the NCAA tournament.

Gary D Stocker (13:35.781)
And finally, I want to say something nice about you, and I don't like to do that very often. And I want go back to the five young women who are essentially coming with you from your previous program. Coach, that's an impressive commitment to you, your style, your coaching staff. Just kind of reinforce that thought process for us.

Amy Eagan (13:55.788)
Yeah, well, thank you for that. And you know, I think we feel very thankful and blessed and lucky that they are coming. But I think we've done and we do a really good job of building relationships, you know. We've gotten to a very transactional world. We know that, you know, we understand that that money is important. We understand how that intertwines with getting players. But I believe me and my staff are always want to we always want to be transformational, you know, and so.

You know, getting kids and forming those relationships with them and making sure that they understand that they're people first in our program and that we're going to care about them outside of just being a basketball player is something that's just who we are, you know, and that's just how we've done things and we're going to continue to do those things. And I think that's a big reason we were able to get those kids to come is because we already had relationships with them. And I know people sometimes get mad about kids leaving, you know, when coaches leaving that, but

I'll tell you, most kids these days, they're committed to coaches, you know, and that's where the relationships start, you know, with it. And that's who they want to play for when they have those relationships. I think it is important to some kids, you know, these days with it. So it's never easy, you know, when you talk about leaving and those kinds of things. But again, I feel very blessed and thankful that those kids are coming with us.

Gary D Stocker (15:21.139)
Well, Coach, let's call that a wrap at our first podcast, the Amy Egan Show. Amy Cochigan, of course, is the head women's basketball coach at the University of New Mexico. And we'll plan on being back soon. Coach, always a pleasure to chat. And we'll bring the podcast back to, I'll edit this out. Coach Egan, thanks for making time to do the podcast today. We'll be back soon with another episode of the Amy Egan Podcast.

Amy Eagan (15:46.136)
Thanks, Gary. I look forward to it. I can't wait till you get down here so I can beat you at pickleball, like always. And then we can continue to talk about that on the next podcast, too.

Gary D Stocker (15:55.837)
Thanks, Coach.