SAN ANTONIO — Sammie Wagner had everything lined up for the next level. But nearly two years after she first made a college commitment to Baylor University, her recruitment was back to square one when Coach Kim Mulkey bolted to LSU last April.
"That was a very emotional day," Wagner said. "I grew up at Baylor and I loved that coaching staff. I never truly kind of opened my mind to another school the way that I probably should have.”
Wagner started receiving recruiting letters in fifth grade. Her first was from Villanova University. She double-checked the address to make sure it wasn't a mistake.
Her aspirations were always to play at Baylor, though, which is why she verbally committed to the program at the end of eighth grade.
When Mulkey left Waco, Wagner had a lengthy phone conversation with the legendary coach that same day. She didn't feel comfortable joining her yet.
"We knew we needed to stop and reevaluate everything," Wagner said. “This wasn't going to be my main focus. I wasn't gonna let the recruiting process control my life.”
This time the San Antonio Reagan junior was also going to take her time.
“We joked about being grateful that Coach Mulkey decided to leave a year later because that definitely would have put a lot more stress on me," Wagner said. "I knew that I had last summer. I knew that I had this whole school year and that I have all next summer."
Wagner is leaning on her parents more during her re-recruitment, too. Both were Division-I athletes themselves.
“They were definitely a big help to me, giving me their input, helping me stay on top of stuff," Wagner said. "Whether it was, 'you don't need to stress about calling coaches,' or, 'hey, you need to talk to a coach.'”
Together the Wagners started this recruiting process by narrowing down their choices instead of having a free-for-all for college coaches.
"It made sense for us to develop a set of criteria, school-wise, style-wise, coaching, and then just work that list," said Sammie's dad, Robert, who was a football player at Baylor. "You have to find a 40-year decision, not a four-year decision, which is one of the things we have stressed to Sam from the beginning.”
It's something that eighth-grade Sammie might not have taken to heart.
“The ball stops bouncing," Robert Wagner said. "What are you going to do next? She's been great about that.”
A sign of maturation after her dream situation was no longer possible. A second opportunity for Wagner to map out her future.
"I've definitely opened my mind up a lot more. I think I went in the first time, just in middle school and everything, with a predetermined decision," Wagner said. "I was truly starting over from zero this time."