ISU hires Paige as graduate assistant

AMES - As a player coming out of Marion High School, Morgan Paige didn't catch Bill Fennelly's eye.

'We didn't recruit her as a player,” said Fennelly, head women's basketball coach at Iowa State University. 'We weren't going to make that mistake twice.”

Paige was officially named Thursday as a graduate assistant for recruiting and player development at ISU. It will be a two-year stint.

'We had an opening, and we were looking for a lot of different things,” Fennelly said. 'And Morgan's name just kept coming up. The more we talked, we kept coming back to her.”

Paige graduated from Marion High School in 2010 - she led the Indians to two state basketball tournaments, plus a state championship in volleyball. She scored 1,795 career points at Marion.

She played her collegiate ball at the University of Wisconsin, where she graduated in 2014.

After a brief tenure as an assistant coach at Coe College last winter, she played professional ball in Romania.

'She'll be a great role model for our players,” Fennelly said. 'She'll have a big role in player development through video, and will be busy in community relations as well as recruiting in on-campus visits.

'She's a name people know and respect in this state.”

Paige could not be reached for comment Thursday.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com