Former Fairmont standout joins Ohio State women’s basketball coaching staff

>>READ MORE on the Buckeyes: Dayton legend joins OSU coaching staff | Alter standout transfers back to home state

Last spring, Waterman completed a five-year stint as a player for the Buckeyes after a decorated four seasons at Fairmont that included three trips to the state final four and a state championship.

The 6-foot-2 forward averaged 7.6 points and 5.3 rebounds as a senior in Scarlet and Gray, her most productive season after battling various injuries much of her first four years on campus, including a torn ACL that forced her to redshirt her first season.

“Makayla had a tremendous impact on the court as a player and I’m excited for her as she begins her coaching career,” McGuff said in a statement. “She brings a different dimension to our staff and will certainly help our young players as they acclimate themselves into our program.”

The granddaughter of former Ohio State men’s basketball assistant coach Ben Waterman, the Big Ten’s first African-American assistant coach, she expressed an interest in the profession last fall.

“It would be great if I could someday coach here because I know he would want me to,” she said. “My whole family is coaches. It was like someone in the family has to coach, so I was like, ‘OK, I’ll do it.’ Like I said, I like to lead, I like to talk.”

McGuff, a Hamilton native who starred at Badin, also announced the hiring of Carla Morrow as an assistant, Ericka Haney as direct of player development and Reid Guzdanski as assistant to the head coach.

Morrow, who coached for McGuff at Xavier from 2007-11, spent the past three seasons as an assistant to the Chicago Sky in the WNBA.

She replaces Patrick Klein, a longtime OSU assistant who submitted his resignation in August, citing "communications with some student-athletes that may have been too informal or in some cases even inappropriate, violating university policy."

In the course of investigating that issue, the school came upon potential NCAA violations, and both cases remain open.

Waterman is the second Dayton-area native to join McGuff's coaching staff this year, joining former Chaminade Julienne star Tamika (Williams) Jeter.

Ohio State also added Braxtin Miller, a standout guard from Alter, to the roster in the spring. She transferred from Oklahoma State after averaging 14.7 points per game as a sophomore last season.

Unless she is granted a waiver, she will sit out this season and have two more years of eligibility remaining.