Photo courtesy of the University of New Hampshire Nashua's Kelsey Hogan hopes to be running the huddle next season as the UNH interim head women's basketball coach.

Ricky Oliver remembers when his scrappy senior guard Kelsey Hogan was at her best for the Nashua High School North Titans in a gave vs. local rival Alvirne back in 2008.

“She was going for her 1,000th point against one of her best friends,” the former Titans girls basketball coach, now at Salem, said. “She just said, ‘I’ve got to get this.’ We were down 10, and she just put us on her back and we came back to win the game. And she got her 1,000th point.”

And Oliver feels that’s the kind of determination the University of New Hampshire will see from Hogan as the Wildcats women’s basketball interim head coach.

“It’s a great catch for them,” Oliver said. “She always went 100 percent. She was a great student athlete who will go on to be a great coach because she’s such a student of the game.”

Hogan knows exactly what her main mission is these days in her new position, promoted from associate coach when her head coach and mentor Maureen Magarity left after 10 years at the Wilcat helm to take the head job at Holy Cross.

“Just keeping everything as fluid as possible,” the former Titan said. “Keep the train moving in the right direction.”

It’s a train many are hoping Hogan stays on, as she has spent the last 12 years of her life in Durham. There is not a lot more near and dear to her heart than UNH and what it stands for.

“It’s a place I’m beyond passionate about and want to continue to grow with,” she said.

Hogan is hoping, more like chomping at the bit, to coaching the Wildcats for the first time as a head coach, saying it would be “a dream come true.” She’s actually been the top coach on the bench before when former coach Magarity was out on maternity leave in 2016.

“I was kind of pushed into the reins and it was an unbelievable experience,” Hogan said. “I was grateful for it.”

The ‘Cats went 0-3 during that time, but as Hogan says, “I’ll be better prepared. It would be a dream come true, that’s for sure.”

What kind of head coach would Kelsey Hogan be?

“Kelsey Hogan will be a passionate head coach,” she said. “She’s going to build off of building relationships, of building trust. We’re going to be a gritty team, an energized team, hopefully bring some energy back to UNH women’s basketball, As the kids say, that high energy. Show that passion for the game to all the fans.”

The same passion that allowed Hogan to overcome two ACL injuries to play four seaons at UNH in a six-year, injury-riddled span under Magarity.

“I’ve been with her from Day One and will always rood for her and wish the best for her,” Hogan said of Magarity. “She’s like a big sister to me.”

What did she learn from her?

“My biggest thing I learned from her, quite honestly, was being a mentor,” Hogan said. “Being a female in a leadership role, just having that relationship to help young ladies grow. And teaching them that it’s not just a sport but that it can help them grow in life and be a proud young lady within their skin.

“She helped me grow with my values and everything, and be a strong young ladey and strong individual, something I’m proud to be. That’s the biggest thing. To continue to give back and be that mentor for all the young ladies coming up.”

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Hogan played volleyball, basketball and softball at Nashua North, graduating in 2008. But basketball, growing up, was always her favorite. Volleyball prepped her for the winter, and softball was a nice spring release.

But it was all basketball from her North graduation on, as she became a 1,000-point scorer at UNH. When her playing days were done, she was never a grad assistant coach or working as a coaching intern. She was hired as an assistant coach as soon as her playing career ended.

“The journey and the path I took was kind of unheard of in the coaching world,” she said.

Originally Hogan, when she first came to UNH, wanted to be a teacher and coach high school basketball, following in the footsteps of her sister Jen, who guided Nashua South. She played against the Panther teams coached by her sister for two seasons.

“That was a fun experience,” Hogan said. “There was always trash talk.”

But Jen was one of her idols. But after Kelsey Hogan tore her ACL a second time, “it was eye-opening to me. I’m going to strive and dream to be a college coach.”

And once she changed her goal, college basketball “didn’t become just a sport, it became a passion,” Hogan said. “It helped me grow into as I keep kind of saying a young lady; helped me build a heavier and stronger work ethic, helped me grow into a leadership role.

“Then it was ‘Here it is, this is a shaping point.’ I want to help young ladies do basically do the same thing.”

Plus, Hogan, not playing for a couple of years due to the injuries, had a lot of time to watch how the game is played and coached.

‘My first year I started the first three games as the starting point guard, and I was always a vocal leader,” she said. “So just fine tuning and helping my leadership a little bit from the sidelines and seeing that helped me grow a little bit.

“It was eye-opening. It told me ‘You can still be influential’. And seeing, the coaches, how they attacked things.”

So Hogan’s first year on the bench she did a lot of things away from the bench, such as alumni relations, coordinate special events, and she recruited in the New England area. On the court, she worked with and developed the guards. And she also was an academic liason, scouted for game-prep, and helped out in practice. That’s a lot on a plate.

“It was good, it helped me grow,” Hogan said. “As I said, I worked with Coach Magarity and she trusted me. We had two men on staff, and they helped me grow, were mentors to me too. It was a great dynamic.”

Of course, Hogan was recruited while at North, so she was able to take that experience and use it to her advantage in recruiting players to UNH. In fact, the last two years she’s been the Wildcats’ women’s basketball recruiting coordinator.

“My biggest thing has been trying to keep those local kids home,” she said. “Being a die-hard 603-er, trying to steer those kids to UNH so they could be proud to represent their state, like I was. That’s a big driving force.”

But I can tell you it has changed a ton since I was recruited. That’s for sure. That’s the biggest thing that I’ve learned, Espcially with cell phones now, a lot of communication.

“Everything is building relationships.”

In fact, Hogan remembers her first recruiting trip during a summer to Chicago, the Nike National Showcase, as she was hired in June.

“It’s huge, there’s 50 courts in one convention center in downtown Chicago. My head was spinning around, that’s for sure. And that’s even the growth from when I was recruited, you’d got o YMCA’s to play. Times have changed. My head was spinning a bit, and that’s when I realized, organization is key.That’s what got me through it, and that’s what continues to get me through it.”

Hogan was in Chicago for about three days, then moved on to another tournament. “Once you get home, get through the airport, you make that list of kids you saw,” she said. “Then you get home, you start making those calls. Start building those relationships. Get in touch with those AAU coaches.”

And, as she said, keeping in mind the NCAA compliance rules. Just so much to learn for a college coach.

“Even the calendar on the NCAA is changing,” Hogan said. “Nevermind what we’re dealing with right now. The options for transfers in the transfer portal, it’s an every second kind of job. You get a phone call, you’ve got to pick it up. … It all just keeps changing.”

Hogan was then elevated to associate head coach at the start of this past season. That basically put her one step away from the head job.

Another change.

“I think the biggest thing was in-game situations,” she said. “Play calling, things like that, game situations, it was a huge growth. I look back and I’m so grateful for it. We do it all the time in practice, but once you do it in the game, it’s great preparation, just for the next step.

“That was the biggest change. Another one is getting my hands in another couple of different things in the program, building on that growth and experience. Even just budgetary stuff, being part of those conversations and so forth, which have been huge in the growing piece.”

Hogan’s next move after being named the interim coach would be to formulate the staff, as she wants to keep the culture that has been established. The way to do it throught the current pandemic is “a lot of Zoom meetings, lot of phone calls. We should have bought stock in Zoom.

“For someone who likes those in-person meetings and wants to build relationships face-to-face, it’s been different just adapting to that. But it’s the new norm.”

Hogan has used Zoom to to meet with her players through the transition, and credits the current assistants with helping that happen. Right now Hogan and the Wildcats are trying to recruit the current high school juniors (the class of 2021). But these athletes have a different mindset.

“They’re getting a little uneasy,” she said. “Especially with April evaluation periods being cancelled, May being cancelled,and now it’s looking like July. And there’s still a question mark on July.

“So the biggest mark on recruiting right now for the future and thinking about those 21s is phone calls. Been on the phone with them like crazy, trying to keep them in the loop of things. The same thing goes with transfers.”

So Hogan is working to build the relationships with them and also with the incoming freshman class. Right now she sees the Wildcats are guard heavy, so she envisions a faster paced team than before.

“We’re going to work, work, work and have have a high blue collar work ethic, that’s for sure,” she said.

There is just so much to consider.

But Hogan can handle it. After all, 12 years has brought out the best in her, and she wants, if allowed, to “bring some excitement back to the program.”

“I think I’ve grown tremendously through the years and am going to continue to grow,”Hogan said. “I think I’ve taken the right steps to be able to take on this challenge and this opportunity.

“I’m ready for it. It’s a dream of mine.”

And in the coming months, Hogan will hoping and working like crazy to make that dream come true.

Just like she made that 1,000-point dream at Nashua North come true 12 years ago.