GUELPH, Ont. – After six seasons as head coach of the University of Guelph women's basketball team, Gryphon Hall of Famer,
Mark Walton, has announced his retirement. Walton, who took over as head coach of the U of G women's basketball program back in 2016, led the Gryphons to OUA playoff appearances in four of his five seasons of on-court action (with the 2020-21 season cancelled due to the pandemic), including a pair of Gryphon postseason wins over the Windsor Lancers during the 2018-19 and 2021-22 seasons.
Megan Reid, who has served as an assistant coach at U of G since the 2017-18 season, has been named interim head coach of the Gryphons women's basketball program.
"It has been such a delight to be able to work with our Gryphon student-athletes on a daily basis these past six seasons," says
Mark Walton, who helped lead the Gryphons to 52 regular season wins over the course of his tenure as head coach of the U of G women's basketball program. "Our student-athletes have proved that they are motivated to succeed, not just athletically, but academically as well, with 10 of the 14 women on our roster this past season achieving academic All-Canadian status," adds Walton, a Guelph resident, who says he will now look forward to spending more time with family, which will include trips to North Carolina to visit his daughter and granddaughter.
"During our recruiting process, we always say that coming to the University of Guelph is not a four-year decision, it is a 40-year decision, and I just feel blessed to have been on the same life path as so many of these tremendous student-athletes who have come through our program."
Prior to returning to his alma mater in 2016, Coach Walton served as an assistant coach of the women's basketball team at the University of New Hampshire (NCAA Division 1) during the 2010-11 season. In that role, Walton was responsible for player development as well as recruiting from Canada and Europe. A proven leader in the coaching world, he has consulted and mentored a number of coaches at the NCAA level and assisted coaches and players from a number of local programs as well as Ontario Basketball and Canada Basketball. No stranger to Guelph, Walton lettered three years for the Gryphons, earning his Bachelors of Arts from the University of Guelph in 1972. He was named an OUA All-Star and team MVP during both his second and third years while starring at point guard for the U of G men's basketball team.
During his standout playing career as a Gryphon, Walton became the first U of G men's basketball player in program history to score 1,000 career points. In 1985, he was inducted into the Gryphon Athletics Hall of Fame. This past season, in his final year as head coach of the women's basketball team, Walton witnessed
Burke Bechard become just the third player in Gryphons women's basketball history to reach the 1,000-point plateau for her career.
"We cannot thank Mark enough for all of the tremendous work he has done these past six seasons in helping re-shape our women's basketball program," says
Scott McRoberts, Director of Athletics at the University of Guelph. "From recruiting, to the academic performance of our student-athletes, to on-court results, Mark has led a culture change within our women's basketball program that now has that team on a successful path for years to come."
