{"id":39186,"date":"2025-05-21T17:33:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-21T22:33:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/?p=39186"},"modified":"2025-05-21T13:07:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-21T18:07:13","slug":"taylor-to-lead-kwu-womens-basketball-program","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/taylor-to-lead-kwu-womens-basketball-program\/","title":{"rendered":"Taylor to Lead KWU Women’s Basketball Program"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Below release courtesy of KWU Athletics and KWUCoyotes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Harper Taylor is the new women\u2019s basketball coach at Kansas Wesleyan, but she is not new to the university.<\/p>\n

Taylor was an assistant under former Coyote coach Ryan Showman for two seasons before moving on as an assistant at Division II Metro State Denver the last two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI get to go back and continue to build better relationships as a head coach versus an assistant and I\u2019m just really excited to do that,\u201d Taylor said. \u201cIt\u2019s a great university that I get to be a part of, and I just can\u2019t wait to build on that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor helped KWU win 41 games (32 in the Kansas Conference) during the 2021-22 and 2022-23 seasons. She was also a graduate assistant at Division I Texas El Paso during the 2019-20 season.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst and foremost, her energy,\u201d KWU Athletic Director Miguel Paredes said. \u201cHer familiarity with Kansas Wesleyan and Salina, and she\u2019s a proven leader. Her mission and values align with what we\u2019re doing here, her clear vision of building a culture of excellence and how we can continue the success. We\u2019re not stopping and trying to rebuild but are reloading. Her student-athlete development academically, socially, spiritually was a big plus for me as well. She demonstrated what a confident leader should be \u2013 she reminds me of (former Tennessee coach) Pat Summitt in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cCoach Taylor is a great choice for our new women\u2019s basketball leader,\u201d said Ken Oliver, executive vice president of advancement and university operations. \u201cHer familiarity with our area, our campus and the schools in our region will prove invaluable in continuing our winning tradition. We look forward to seeing her accomplishments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor credits Showman for convincing her to stay the course with her career.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith the Covid pandemic I was kind of in a place where I was really questioning if I should continue being in this profession,\u201d she said. \u201cHe showed me the ropes and gave me a lot of grace and showed me how to do things successfully and how to do things with integrity. I would not be where I\u2019m at in my coaching journey if it weren\u2019t for Showman. I feel like everything that I learned from not only him but also Tanya Haave (Metro State coach) at the Division II level has put me in the most successful position to be a head coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paredes said that became apparent during the search.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact that she\u2019s been at all levels and her experience is what helped set her apart from the other candidates,\u201d he said. \u201cWe wanted a person who can see what it takes to have those types of athletes and knows what to look for in the recruiting aspect. Everybody thinks they\u2019re a Division I athlete, if not then at least Division II, and I think Harper has a keen eye. I asked her, \u2018what do you think we need to do have a great year?\u2019 She said, \u2018we need speed, we need size,\u2019 and she\u2019s right on point.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor said energy and defense will be hallmarks of her teams.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone can expect a team that\u2019s going to be really loud because I\u2019m a very communicative person,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m very vocal about what I want and how I want things done. Coyote fans are going to see we have a really loud bench and we\u2019re going to be super loud on the court. And we\u2019re going to get it done on the defensive end. I think I can work with our offense and bring in some recruiting pieces, but our philosophy is going to be built on the defensive end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Taylor was a standout athlete at Greeley West High School in Greeley, Colo., averaging 16.8 points and 6.2 rebounds in her senior year. She began her college career at Nebraska-Kearney then transferred to Hastings (Neb.) for her final three seasons. She helped the Broncos advance to the semifinals of the NAIA National Championship twice and the quarterfinals once.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe brings the excitement, she brings the discipline, and she brings the drive and the hunger to be successful,\u201d Paredes said.<\/p>\n

Taylor will begin her duties June 9.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":39187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-athletics"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTaylor to Lead KWU Women's Basketball Program - Kansas Wesleyan University<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.kwu.edu\/about\/news\/taylor-to-lead-kwu-womens-basketball-program\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Taylor to Lead KWU Women's Basketball Program - 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