Basketball has taken Maggie Proffitt to Arkansas, Louisiana and even Germany, but she’s ready to come back home.
The Columbus High School and Starkville Academy standout played the sport at the University of Central Arkansas, went overseas to play for Bender Baskets Grunberg in Germany and coached as an assistant at Louisiana Tech and Ouachita Baptist in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
Now Proffitt is returning to the Magnolia State, hired as an assistant women’s basketball coach at Mississippi College on April 24.
“It’s definitely gonna be nice to be about two hours down the road,” Proffitt told The Dispatch on Thursday.
With the Choctaws, an NCAA Division II member, the former local prep star will focus on recruiting. She said the connections she built with area players during her high school days will factor in considerably in her new position.
“Trying to get those kids to Mississippi College is gonna be my main focus,” Proffitt said.
It’s something she excelled in at Ouachita Baptist, another Division II program that faced the Choctaws twice last season. The only member of the coaching staff besides head coach Robert Dallimore, Proffitt found herself busy with recruiting, on-court practices, scheduling, ordering equipment and organizing travel.
“When I took the job at OBU, I kind of was thrown into the fire with it just being us two on staff,” she said. “I kind of got my hand in a little bit of everything, and I’m just really grateful to (Dallimore) for that.”
It was that hard work — and an old connection — that helped Proffitt earn her new position in Clinton. On April 17, when former Central Arkansas assistant Greg Long was hired as Mississippi College’s new head coach, he turned to Proffitt, whom he coached in Conway. The two had always had a good relationship; Proffitt even babysat Long’s daughter Aubree during her college career.
“When I thought of an assistant coach, I had a number of people come to mind,” Long said in a news release from Mississippi College announcing Proffitt’s hiring. “I wanted someone I knew was loyal, hungry, talented and operated with respect and integrity. Maggie checked all my boxes.”
Proffitt said she hopes to use her overseas playing experience to help her players continue their professional careers or even to find jobs once playing basketball is no longer in the cards.
She’s already rearing to get started in Clinton, moving in Friday after a trip from Columbus to Arkadelphia to pack up her stuff.
“I’m very excited,” Proffitt said. “I’m honored for the opportunity.”
Editor’s note: Maggie Proffitt is the daughter of Dispatch advertising director Beth Proffitt.
Theo DeRosa reports on Mississippi State sports for The Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at @Theo_DeRosa.
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