Taylor Possail enters his fifth year as the Columbia College head women’s basketball coach in the fall of 2021. During his tenure at Columbia, he has an overall record of 97-24 as head coach. Coach Possail has coached eight All-American award winners, 21 All-Conference players, 46 AMC Academic All-Conference players, 11 NAIA Scholar-Athletes, and nine members of the 100-win club. As a member of the WBCA, he serves as the Region 3 representative on the NAIA All-America and Coach of the Year committee, as well as the liaison between the AMC and the WBCA.
During the COVID-19 shortened season, Possail led the Cougars to a 15-6 record, led by NAIA All-American, First-Team All-AMC and AMC Freshman of the Year, Mallory Shetley, senior Geena Stephens, who was Second-Team All-AMC and AMC All-Defensive Team and AMC Newcomer of the Year, Sofia Popp. The Cougars finished the year as the runner-up in the AMC Regular-Season and AMC Tournament earning an automatic bid to the NAIA National Tournament for the fourth-straight season. At the NAIA National Championship Opening Round, Possail and the Cougars upset Mid-America Christian (Okla.), 85-83, before falling to No. 1-Seed, Sterling (Kan.) in the second round of the Opening Round.
During the 2019-20 season, in Possail’s third season the Cougar’s posted a record of 25-7, finishing 3rd in the AMC regular season. The team was led by three-time All-American Jordan Alford and two-time All-American Raegan Wieser. In all, 5 players were selected as AMC All-Conference and 12 as AMC Academic All-Conference. For the 3rd straight year under Possail the Cougar’s earned a National Tournament Berth (tournament cancelled due to Covid-19).
During the 2018-19 season, Possail led the Cougar women’s basketball team to their highest ever ranking of #1 in the country on February 13, 2019. The Cougars finished the season with an overall record of 29-5, and had 3 All-Americans, 6 All-Conference players, 12 AMC Academic All-Conference players, and 3 NAIA Scholar-Athletes. The Cougar’s earned the program’s first ever 1-seed in the NAIA national tournament. For his efforts, Coach Possail was named the WBCA Region 3 NAIA Coach of the Year and a Finalist for the WBCA NAIA Coach of the Year. His top assistant Alexis Lawrence was named the WBCA NAIA Assistant of the Year, and PG Jordan Alford became the program’s first ever NAIA 1st Team All-American.
In Possail’s first year as head coach he led the Cougars to a 28-6 record, while claiming AMC Regular Season Conference Champions and AMC Conference Tournament Champions. In addition, he took the Cougars to their 14th NAIA National Tournament appearance. Possail also received AMC Coach of the Year accolades. Players continue to excel on and off the court under head coach Possail as he had 2 All-American award winners, 7 All-Conference players, 10 AMC Academic All-Conference players, and 2 NAIA Scholar-Athletes in his first year.
Prior to being named head coach, Possail spent three seasons as the assistant coach under Jessica Keller and compiled a record of 75-24. In all three seasons the women's basketball team finished with team GPA of higher than a 3.0. Following the 2016-17 campaign, Possail was named the WBCA NAIA Assistant Coach of the Year after helping lead the team to a 26-7 record on the season.
Prior to coming to Columbia College the Tyler, Minn. native spent 3 seasons, 2 as Women's Head Coach, at Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton High School in Janesville, Minn. While at JWP, he led the Bulldogs to their first winning season in 8 seasons during the 2013-2014 campaign with a 16-9 record.
Taylor resides in Columbia with his wife Nicole and son Beckett. He graduated from Winona State University in 2012 with a degree in Business Education and received his Master of Arts in Teaching degree from Columbia College in 2015.
Updated 9-10-21
