Former UFV Cascades women’s basketball star and MEI grad Taylor Claggett has been named the new head coach of the Columbia Bible College Bearcats women’s basketball program.
Claggett replaces Jessica Funk, who the school announced last month would not be returning in the role.
“I’m very grateful for the opportunity to be a part of the Bearcats Athletic community and to build a team that pursues excellence in the community, in the classroom and on the court,” stated Claggett.
Mike Teeter, the CBC director of athletics and recreation, said he is pleased to bring Claggett aboard.
“Taylor has a great network within the basketball community, specifically Abbotsford. We are excited to see Taylor take this next step in her coaching journey moving to the college ranks,” he said.
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Claggett joined the Cascades in 2015 after an excellent high school basketball career with the Eagles and immediately made an impact in Canada West. She was named to the CW all-rookie team and averaged 11.7 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game while also shooting 52.4 per cent from the field.
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Over the years that followed, she continued to be a consistent scorer and rebounder for the Cascades. She averaged a career high 18.6 ppg and 9.9 rpg in her final season in 2019-20. During her time at UFV she earned the UFV community service award (2017-2018), the UFV female athlete of the year (2018-2019), a CW third team all-star (2018-19) and a CW first team all-star (2019-20).
Claggett is the all-time scoring leader for the Cascades women’s basketball program and is also the CW record holder for minutes played in a career, free throws attempted in a game and season and free throws made in a game and season. Following her graduation she played professionally in Ireland for two seasons.
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Claggett also has experience coaching locally at both the club and high school levels. In 2020 Claggett launched the L.E.A.D. Basketball Academy youth program in Abbotsford.
She takes over a program that has not won a regular season game since the 2017-18 campaign. That season saw the Bearcats finish 5-13 and advance to the playoffs.
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