Maggie Doogan Interview: A-10 Player of the Year | Richmond Star & Mid-Major GOAT

Richmond star Maggie Doogan joins The MidMajors Podcast to talk about her incredible journey as one of the most dominant mid-major players in women’s college basketball.

A two-time Atlantic 10 Player of the Year, Doogan has become the face of Richmond basketball and a symbol of what makes mid-major programs special in NCAA women’s basketball.

In this interview, Maggie breaks down her development from high school standout to one of the best players in the A-10 Conference, what it takes to succeed as a Division I student-athlete, and how Richmond continues to compete at a high level heading into March Madness.

She also shares advice for young players chasing their college basketball dreams and speaks on the importance of believing in yourself at the mid-major level.

If you love women’s college basketball, March Madness, and mid-major hoops, this is an episode you don’t want to miss.

Subscribe for more interviews with the best players in NCAA women’s basketball.

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

We had a mid-major GOAT come through on the show today. Let's get into it. Welcome to the Mid Majors podcast where the real who talk happens, unfiltered and unapologetic. I am one of your hosts, Takara, and with me I got my girl Courtney. But wait, we got a special guest with you today, one of the most dominant players in college basketball, the mid-major GOAT herself, Maggie Dugan. Maggie, welcome to the show. Thanks for having me, guys. Of course, of course. One thing we want to do before we get into all the basketball stuff, we kind of want to know about Maggie. Because like when I say your name, like you got a TV name. Like I love it. It goes hard. Like Maggie Dugan. You know what I'm saying? Like, so it's like, let's tell us about Maggie. Just tell us about you.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

Oh, um I'm very low-key. Um, I love listening to music. I love hanging out with my friends and my family. Family time is super big for me. Um especially when it's nice outside. I like to like sit outside and have a nice book in my hand. Um, love to go to the beach. But other than that, I'm I'm pretty chill. It's it's basketball and family time for the most part.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Yeah, we we totally get it. We totally get it. So um for our listeners, we call them the mid-rangers. So, like, what we our philosophy is like to be a great mid-major player, you gotta have a good mid-range game. But for you, you got it all. So, like, you can drive, you can shoot the three, you you can do it all. But in case that people don't know you, I'm gonna let Courtney just kind of read off some accolades. And it was so many.

SPEAKER_01 1:43

It was so many. It was so many. So many. Now we're just gonna do the short list. But I'm I'm telling y'all to our viewers, y'all, y'all look look at all her all her achievements. Okay. So we got back to back Atlantic 10 player of the year, uh, first player in Richmond history to win an A-10 player of the year twice. Um, only one of only eight players in the A10 history to win back-to-back player of the year awards, uh, A10 player of the week seven times in one season. Um, A-10 all-conference, first team multiple seasons, um, an Atlantic 10 champion um and a regular season champion uh last season, uh finalist for the Becky Hammond Mid Major of the Year Award, and most importantly, all American all academic team for the conference, which is great student athlete first. So um that's just a uh a few of her her uh achievements. So um that's amazing. That's absolutely amazing.

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Thank you. Yeah, Maggie, you pretty, you a big deal. Do you know that? Yeah, a little bit. A little bit. That's what we like. So like when I watch your game, like I love how confident you are. Like I love that about I love that about you. Like, been watching you for a while, been keeping up with you, like love what you do, like love how you represent us as the mid-majors, but like force like some mid-rangers, as like said what's we like to call them. Like, if they don't, they're just not learning about you. So, like, what would you say, like, how would you describe your game? Like, what makes you different on the floor?

SPEAKER_00 3:14

Oof. Um I think the versatility that I have is definitely is what separates me from the rest of you know my opponents. I'm 6'2 with shoes on, so um, I'm pretty tall. So um a lot of people would kind of you know consider me a a post player, but I I can stretch out and hit the three this season, especially. I feel like I've been shooting the ball pretty well. Knock on wood, hopefully that continues. But I'm able to kind of step out and and drive. Um, and I also consider myself a pretty decent passer. Um, I feel like I see the floor really well, so I think that kind of not only makes me a threat, but also everybody on the floor with me kind of makes them a threat because our assist at Richmond, you gotta shoot the three, you know, like all of our players are very good three-point shooters, so it just kind of makes all of us a threat out there.

SPEAKER_02 4:01

No, for sure. Like, like I said, you got you got a lot of strengths. Like I said, you got the confidence, like you can tell that you actually do like work on your game. Like, I see great court court leadership. Like, but let me ask you so, like, with us being like former mid-major players, like I we want to know what is your day look like? We haven't been in class in over 10 years. Tell us what a day looks like for you.

SPEAKER_00 4:23

All right. Um, I'll tell you one of my busiest days I had. This was kind of in the beginning, like beginning of this semester. Um, I would wake up, I have lift at 9 a.m., which is actually really nice. I I strategically put my schedule so I could sleep in my last semester of college and not have to get up super early. But I yeah, I get up at nine, um, and then I have class from 10 30 to 2 45. I have three classes. Um, and then I'll go to the gym, get taped, have practice, and then either head back to my apartment or head to D-Hall for dinner. And that'll brings me to about seven, seven thirty in the night, and then I'll go home do some assignments if I have to, and if not, just kind of chill in bed, watch basketball, and go to bed and then repeat the next day. Yeah, the next day. Rance and repeat.

SPEAKER_02 5:14

No, we we get it for sure. Like it's just been it's been it's been a minute. Like, it's like I'm like, I told Courtney, I was like, Man, we gotta ask her what it's like. No, seriously. It's so different.

SPEAKER_01 5:25

So, like, what would you like say to like young, up and coming, like young girls that aspire to play at the next level? How to prepare for the next level um when you get there, like as a freshman.

SPEAKER_00 5:36

Yeah, I would say the biggest thing for me coming in as a freshman was just kind of like the strength aspect of everything. Um, I lifted a little bit in high school, but it wasn't anything like super crazy. And then coming in, obviously, like the girls had already been in a lift program for one, two, three years, however long they've been there. Um, and it's just a different physicality on the floor. So as much as you can try and prep your body for that, I think is gonna be super beneficial. And then obviously, like this is gonna kind of sound like a little like no duh, but like know the system that you're coming into. Um, like watch film, watch what the coach wants, watch what the team runs, and the quicker you can pick up the offense and figure out what he like he or she, your coach wants from you, the better it's gonna set you up for like later on in the season. Because like for me, our system is kind of a little like intricate. You it's a lot of reads, it's a lot of you know making decisions like for yourself. And as a freshman, you're kind of like you don't want to you some people like you don't really want to make a decision because you wanna you don't want to like overstep, you don't wanna be wrong. And a lot of our offense is like is okay to make mistakes, you're gonna be wrong, but how do you like how do you play off of those mistakes? Yeah, so I think watching film and just kind of knowing what your role, figuring out your role super quick is gonna be super important too. But obviously it's it's the working hard, it's putting in the effort way before you get to campus, you know, that freshman summer.

SPEAKER_02 7:00

No, I I agree. Cause like I know for me, like I tell everybody, like when you get to college, it's like you tell yourself, I wish I would have worked 10 times harder. Yeah, yeah. Because you you think that you're ready, but when you come in, it's totally different. With that being said, so something we like to talk about. So like but you coming in as a freshman, what was your welcome to college basketball moment when you were like, okay, it's just not high school anymore?

SPEAKER_00 7:27

Oh goodness. Um, well, probably like one of the first weekends I got to school, one of the juniors on my team was like, You can prep all you want for college, like you can do all the conditioning tests, you can do whatever you want, but you're still gonna be tired and you're still you're still gonna feel out of shape. And I was like, oh my god, this is like before anything even started. I was like, oh no. But probably my welcome to college moment, I don't know how like a specific one, but um, I remember going against Addy Budnick. She was, she was a grad last year, she was here for three of my four years, and she's just a strong 6'2, like she's like me, like she can stretch the floor, but she's she is a strong, she is a strong girl. And I came in as a freshman, like I had to guard her when we would do like our post position breakdown workouts in the summer and just go one-on-one against each other in the post, and she would just bury me, bury me, bury me. I was like, Oh my gosh, please stop. I think that would be my welcome to college because then I I mean it taught me to you know be physical back, like she kind of she kind of gave it to me, and but then it it it helped me in the long run. So it was right, right.

SPEAKER_01 8:34

You know what I want to ask too? How do you get past mental blocks? Um, because just playing college basketball and just being a student athlete is just so many things that we have to push through mentally, physically, emotionally, all these things. So, like, what what do you do to kind of like stay locked in and stay motivated and stay encouraged?

SPEAKER_00 8:54

Yeah, that's a really good question. I didn't really get good at this until like even last year, like a junior and senior year of college, because I would put like so much pressure on myself. I was the one who was always like, uh, like we have a big game, like I I g I gotta do this, this, and this. Like I I was just very in my head about like the little things and just trying to be perfect all the time. I'm a I'm a big perfectionist, so I like that was something that I really needed to overcome. Um something that helped me a lot was just like talking to people. I was always kind of I always kind of kept everything, you know, within. But um I would talk to you know some assistant coaches or I would talk to um you know, like even like Coach Russell, our head coach, I would talk to him. Um I would call my mom a lot, just like talking to people who were familiar with me, familiar with you know how I handle things, um, and were just able to kind of talk through things. I think that's super important. But also just having like the like something to go to. Like I was I'm pr like really big in my faith, so I would go to church sometimes. Like if I needed just a like a reset, like Sunday mornings were the way that I would just kind of you know, like reset for the week, like just stuff like that. Or just like put on a song, like listen to a music and just kind of be with yourself and remind yourself like hey, it's just a game. That was like my biggest thing. I had to come to terms with like, hey, basketball, such like it's just a game. Because for me it was like it's been my whole life, like right, but in reality it it's just a game, and I'm still gonna have, you know, people who love me after the game, like I could score 30 points or I can score five points, and my parents are still gonna love me. I'm still gonna have a bed to go back to at the end of the day. So that was just something that I really needed to come to terms with. But now that I have, it's a lot less stressful.

SPEAKER_02 10:28

Yeah, that's something we talk about all the time. Talk about that all the time. Like, if you you know how it goes especially now. So like we grew up, we played when it wasn't this social media generation. So it's like just like you said, when you score in 40, everybody loves you, everybody praise you. But when you score two, it's what happened? Yeah, what's wrong with her? What what is she what is she doing? But if we just talk about just like the culture, just everything that you guys done, just like at Richmond, y'all been just like one of the most consistent mid mid-major programs in the country. If you had to say, what is about you guys' programs that just allows you guys to compete with anybody?

SPEAKER_00 11:04

Yeah, I think it starts with recruiting. I think Coach does a really good job of bringing in players who consistently want to get in the gym, consistently want to get better. They're the ones going to their position coach and asking to watch film. They're the ones who are, you know, asking to get shots up before and after practice. So I think it definitely starts with that competitive mindset that the freshmen and the newcomers come in with. Um, and then it's it really it just is like our offense. Um, I know coach like we talk about our offense all the time, but I think we this year especially we have a really good defense. We've been kind of struggling as of late, but when we are on our like top game defensively, like it's very hard to stop, and then we're able to just kind of push and go. For me this year, I've played with um Rachel Oldstrom, she's our other senior, yeah, and Allie Sweeney, um, who's our point guard, she's a junior. So I've played with them for three years, and then um our other two starters, Sam and Alicia. They're their second year here. Sam's a senior, but she transferred in, and then Alicia's a sophomore. But um just kind of having Rachel and Allie on my side and just having a familiar player, like me and Rachel play so well off each other. Allie's super smart, just having like such a smart IQ with you on the floor definitely helps elevate your game, whoever you are. So it starts with recruiting and also just the high IQ that Coach Roussel brings in with these players.

SPEAKER_02 12:31

Yeah, no, for for sure. Like, and Maggie, like you still like which we get it. I was a high volume scorer just like you. That you was you was way more high volume than what I had going on. I I say that. But we get how hard it is that I think that people don't understand like what type of shape that you have to be in just to score, especially the numbers that you score, 48 points, like baby. It's insanity. Like when you talk about, so we talk about okay, I'm I'm doing a scouting report, right? Of course, the focus is Maggie Dugan. It's always Maggie Dugan. How can we stop? We not we're not gonna stop her, but we're gonna try to contain her. Let's hope she don't go ahead and go crazy and get 40 again. You know, so it's like how do you just what you the way you've been so consistent, even knowing that, like, how do you still handle that pressure and still produce every single night?

SPEAKER_00 13:22

Um, honestly, it's a lot of patience. I don't try and like force the game too much. I kind of like I like to let the game come to me. I like to figure out how other teams are guarding me, how other teams are guarding other players, um, and just kind of get a feel for everything before I actually like start producing. Like, kind of for using the Davidson game as an example, I I noticed kind of early that they weren't sending a double team on me. So I knew I could just get a up and under, I could get a couple, you know, counter moves in the paint, and I would be able to score pretty easily. And then they weren't stepping up on my threes either, so I was able to knock those down. And um, it's just things like that. Like I didn't really score super high like in the first half, but I was able to kind of adjust and see, you know, what was open, and um a lot of that is coach too. Like I think he does a really good job of trying to manipulate offenses and slow us down and get the mismatch that he wants, but um a lot of the time it's just our point guards pushing and you know finding the open player in transition. A lot of the time that's me because I'm you know trailing behind in the trail spot. Um but yeah, it's it's our offense and it's kind of allowed me to play with really good players and also allowed me to just kind of shine. Maggie, they got me hype.

SPEAKER_01 14:37

I know. I was a point guard. I'm like, I would have loved to pass the Maggie on the thing.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Well, they gotta be hype, man, because like the big thing, like what she's saying is you don't you gotta you gotta have court awareness. You gotta take what the defense gives you. I see you doing this, like that. We always talk about making adjustments in a game, and like because you can do that, that makes you who you are. Because you're so great at real like for real.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

What else I liked about it though is that it's it's beyond just like scoring, right? Yeah, she had to like adjust, look at the defense, read the defense, what am I gonna do next? You know what I mean? Like to get my shot off, and all of that is equally important. So, like when Maggie talked about watching film, you know what I mean, like working on those seeds, reading defenses and all those things. I just I I love that. I love that about you as a player.

SPEAKER_02 15:25

Yeah, thank you. And something we do on our show, like if a player goes crazy, we call it a super speeder. So, like when we say a super speeder, it means you ain't let your foot off the gas and you kept going. So you wasn't happy with 35, you wasn't happy with 36. They still gonna let me score. I'm gonna get 48 on them.

SPEAKER_01 15:42

You had to keep going. Yes, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:45

I love it, I love it. Like, so like okay, we got the tournament coming up. So when the tournament starts, like, what kind of team are people going to see when they watch Witchman play?

SPEAKER_00 15:56

You know, what happened last year is kind of similar to what happened this year with us losing in the semifinal round of our conference tournament. And, you know, that hit really deep. I think last year, the way that we lost, like losing on that kind of a buzzer beater. I don't know, I don't want to say it hurt more, but it was definitely a different kind of hurt than this year. Um, this year I think we just kind of let it it wasn't our game shooting, it wasn't our game offensively, and it just kind of got away with us towards the end, and it's still a terrible feeling, but the way we bounced back last year was like like some of the best like bounce-back game I think I've ever seen. So I'm hoping this year we can do the exact same thing. I think our defense is back on track. We've been working on that these past couple days in practice. We're very scrappy when we want to be. We struggled on the rebounding a little bit in the A-10 tournament, so that's been a focus, and that's but gotten a lot better at practice. Um, and then just the flow of our offense, you know, once we kind of get the ball moving, a lot of our struggles that we had was we were just kind of holding the ball and waiting to see an action. Like when we move the ball and we fling the ball and we flip the court and we're moving on top of that, like that's when we're kind of unstoppable. So hopefully, fingers crossed, you know, we get that at-large bid and we're able to play in March Madness because you know that's an unbelievable experience, and I want that more than anything for the rest of our team. I think you'll see a scrappy team. I think you'll see team like people that were gonna go in, we're gonna give you the like every fight that we got and kind of just leave it all out there because you know, going in, we're most likely gonna be the underdog. So I love being in the underdog. I'm from Philly, so you like the Eagles mentality. I love being the underdog. So I mean you might as well just give it out, like give it everything we got.

SPEAKER_01 17:46

I love that.

SPEAKER_02 17:47

So if you guys make a deep run, we got confidence in you guys. Like I said, we've been watching, we got confidence in you, we love what you do. Uh, if you guys make a deep run, like what's one moment that you dream about on that stage in the tournament?

SPEAKER_00 18:01

Uh I mean, I think growing up like as a seven, eight, nine-year-old, you're like when you're watching a tournament, like everybody wants to be on the stage in the final four and raising up trophies like that. I don't know how realistic that is to say right now. Obviously, I would absolutely love to do that. But honestly, just trying to make continue to make history for my school is just something that I want to keep doing. Um, we won our first A10 tournament my sophomore year, won our first NCAA game my junior year. Like, the more I can just keep building and bettering the program than with how I found it is honestly a win for me.

SPEAKER_02 18:37

That's beautiful.

unknown 18:38

I love that.

SPEAKER_00 18:39

That that's it is that's beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 18:40

It is, yeah. And I think just to end on this question, it's like for future players that come through Richmond, uh, what do you hope your legacy represents like for the program of Richmond, women's basketball?

SPEAKER_00 18:54

Yeah. Um I don't know, honestly. I'm still trying to process that like my time here is like coming to an end. Yeah, it's it's crazy. Honestly, I just I hope that people look back and not just like what I did individually, but like what we did while I was here. I want people to strive to win the A10 tournament every year. I want people to strive to continue to make a run in March Madness and continue to, you know, if you don't win in March Madness or don't win in A10s, like you're gonna get an at-large bid. Like I hope Coach continues to make the tough schedules in the non-conference to, you know, get us a higher net and a greater chance of getting at-large bids at the end of the season. Um, I hope people get excited for that. I hope everybody wants to see uh a Texas or a TCU or a Duke on their non-conference schedule. Like, that's what you want. You want to get better every year. Um, so it's not just about me personally, of like what I've done, because yeah, like you could say, like the national attention I've received, like it's great for me, but it's also great for the school. So period. As much as the school can continue to grow, as much as the program can continue to grow and just keep getting better is just that's all I could ask for.

SPEAKER_02 20:03

Period. What one more question? So, like, so what one thing we always say on our show, we always say respect the mid-majors because we always we always don't get the credit as you know that. Yeah, because I be I've been fighting for you on all year on our show. I'm like, well, Maggie Dugan.

SPEAKER_01 20:20

She she has.

SPEAKER_02 20:21

Well, Maggie Dugan.

SPEAKER_01 20:23

Yes. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

So what message do you have for players just at mid at mid-major programs who believe that they can play on this big on the biggest stage?

SPEAKER_00 20:31

Keep doing it, keep showing that you can. One thing I I've kind of one thing I I kind of not have a problem with, because I do understand, but like with the transfer portal, like I feel like a lot of people now are just coming into mid-majors just to get to a higher level. Yep. Um, and I I don't think that's fair. I don't want, I like, I don't want people to use mid-majors. I think if you're coming into a mid-major and you want to stay, like build that program.

SPEAKER_02 20:56

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:56

You know, build your resume as you continue to build the program and help the people around you. Um, mid-majors are awesome. I think high education for the most part, you know, like opponents that you're gonna play against, high competition, like it's got everything. And these mid-majors are like they're getting a lot of money too. Like their facilities are getting better, they're getting practice gyms, they're getting better, you know, like strength and conditioning. You're getting like you're getting almost everything that you would get at a higher power for school, if you want to say. But I think also one more thing to add with mid-majors, I think like the relationships that you make are so much more genuine at mid-majors schools. I've heard a lot of stories where people are at the power for schools, and this is actually a story that my roommate Rachel told me while she was at um USA three on three while she was playing, and she was talking about how like we'll go up to you know our coach's office and we'll just sit and kind of chat with them, you know, if we have a break from class or whatever. And they were like, Oh, like we can never do that. Like we would never like we would never just go up and talk to our coach. Like, why like we only do that when we're in trouble? Like, I just think I I that's just weird to me 'cause I will I'll always go and bug coach when I'm free and just kind of lingering around the gym. So I don't know. I love mid majors. I love my time that I've had at a mid major. Um and I don't I don't want people to like look at it in in a a negative way in any way because I think mid majors should be talked about a lot more.

SPEAKER_02 22:18

For sure. And that's why we got you here today.

SPEAKER_01 22:20

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 22:21

Because like we get it. Especially like we always argue, we say at this point, like be going to a mid-major program is like the news you go. You go just see what you can do and then see where else you can go. But like that's something that we're working on and then we got people like you who's coming who's showing out who's getting you know national recognition as much as they can even though I feel you deserve more. I mean you know but you know that's nor here nor there. But uh man Maggie like just want to praise you man. Just keep working everything that you've done everything that you've accomplished man you ain't got nothing else to prove and I hope that you understand that. Just keep going whatever decision you make the best of luck to you in every any future thing that you do regardless if it's basketball regardless if it's personal if you ever need anything even if because let me tell you something that transition out of basketball is something you talk about just like you you talk about just you just you can't believe that these four years went by so fast it's crazy. You look up and you like us and you 35 and you know and you you talk about it. But um if there's anything that we can ever do to help you if you ever need anything if we think that we might can help you please reach out to us like because you you you a baller and everything you've accomplished you deserve we're gonna give you your flowers today you are amazing and best of luck to you in the tournament I I have faith that you're going to do great.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

You guys are so sweet.

SPEAKER_02 23:44

Thank you so much so much Maggie yeah no problem thanks for having me of course you have a good one okay good luck see you too thanks