“Animals are speaking — to use speaking in a very loose way — more vibrantly than we had ever given them credit for.”
When Maureen Magarity walked away from college basketball coaching two years ago, she did it for a reason millions of working moms understand: her kids needed her.
Now, at 45, Magarity is back on the sidelines — and she just made NCAA Division I history in the process.
Maureen Magarity’s Historic Hire at the University of Vermont
Magarity was hired as the 10th University of Vermont women’s basketball head coach on April 14, joining her husband, John Becker, who has led the Vermont men’s basketball team since 2011.
It is believed to be the first time in NCAA Division I history that a married couple are coaches of a school’s men’s and women’s teams.
Before stepping away, Magarity built a résumé that demanded attention.
She spent 10 years as New Hampshire’s head coach, where her 146 total wins rank second most in program history.
Magarity then spent four seasons at Holy Cross with NCAA tournament appearances in 2023 and 2024, three 20-win seasons and a 72-41 record. She left Holy Cross due to “family reasons,” per ESPN.
Rather than leaving the workforce entirely, she shifted into an administrative role as the director of major gifts in the Vermont athletic department — a move any working parent who has recalibrated their career around family will recognize.
Maureen Magarity’s Daughters Charlotte and Caroline Inspired Her Decision
According to USA Today, Magarity decided to take the job after talking to her husband.
But this wasn’t just a career move. Magarity has two daughters, Charlotte, 13, and Caroline, 10, and she wanted them to see their mom lead.
“This was a huge reason I wanted to take this job is to (give my daughters) role models like you (the players) girls and for them to grow up around you guys all the time,” Magarity said, per USA Today.
“That’s what I missed the most about coaching is having 15 big sisters (for my daughters) to look up to all the time,” she added.
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The Magarity-Becker household is now unlike any other in Division I basketball. According to Instagram, Becker proposed to Magarity in 2023, and the couple tied the knot in 2025.
Both parents now hold demanding, high-profile coaching positions at the same university.
How Maureen Magarity’s Return to Coaching Came Together
The door reopened when Alisa Kresge, who was Magarity’s college teammate at Marist University, resigned as Vermont’s women’s basketball head coach on April 11 after accepting a job at Richmond.
Magarity didn’t hesitate to acknowledge what Kresge built before her.
“This is an incredibly unique situation of following my college teammate and a friend for a really long time… so I’m so proud of what (Kresge) has accomplished,” Magarity said, per USA Today.
“I just can’t begin to say how proud I am of Alisa and she’s going to do incredible things at Richmond, and I’m going to miss her a whole lot too. I’ve been in a lot of contact with her,” she added.
Vermont athletic director Jeff Schulman saw the hire as a natural fit.
“I always had joked that I thought we had two of the best women’s basketball coaches in the country on our staff,” he said, per USA Today. “One was our women’s basketball coach (Kresge) and the other our major gift officer for athletics (Magarity).”
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For Magarity, returning to the sidelines means Charlotte and Caroline will grow up watching their mother lead — and surrounded by young women who model discipline, teamwork and ambition. Her path is proof that stepping back from a career doesn’t have to mean stepping away from it forever.
