DURANGO, Colorado — The Fort Lewis College Department of Athletics is excited to announce that head women's basketball coach Orlando Griego will return for the 2020-2021 season with the interim tag lifted.

"I am thrilled to remove Orlando's interim tag and move forward together with him as the Head Women's Basketball Coach. He put a competitive product out on the floor last year in his first season running the show and is the ultimate team player within our department," said FLC Director of Athletics, Brandon Leimbach. "He has also done a great job mentoring (Assistant Coach) Cydney McHenry, who is another rising star in collegiate women's basketball."

Griego, a 2003 graduate of Durango High School, shined during his first season as head coach after taking the reigns from Jason Flores, who joined the FLC Athletics administration team as the Assistant Athletic Director for External Relations.

Fort Lewis finished 15-12 overall and 11-11 inside the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference (RMAC), finishing ninth overall after the team had been preseason picked to finish No. 11 in the RMAC coaches' poll.

The Skyhawks were a dominating 13-3 inside the friendly confines of Whalen Gymnasium, highlighted by a 74-72 victory on Feb. 1 against No. 21 ranked Westminster College.

"I'm very grateful to be named the Head Women's Basketball Coach at Fort Lewis College. I would like to thank Athletic Director Brandon Leimbach and President Tom Stritikus for seeing my vision and believing in me," Griego said. "With all that is happening in the world, this brings great news to our basketball program, fans, and community. Thank you to the FLC community, sponsors, and La Plata County residents for supporting us. All our sports on campus have a great spark right now and I'm excited to be a part of that."

Prior to taking the top spot on the bench, Griego served as an assistant coach for the Skyhawks in 2018-19, following a four-year stint as a women's basketball assistant at DHS alongside Tim Fitzpatrick.

Griego's move to coaching came after a successful collegiate playing career, starting at Cochise College in Arizona where he became a two-time all-Arizona Community College Athletic Conference (ACCAC) and all-region selection. Griego was named the ACCAC's Freshman of the Year in 2004-05 and was voted his team's MVP in 2005-06 after averaging 18.1 points, 10.2 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game.

Griego then transferred to NCAA Division I Southern Utah University and made an immediate impact for the Thunderbirds, starting all 30 games and was fourth on the team in scoring at 8.0 per contest. Griego also pulled down 4.2 rebounds per game, while adding 19 steals and eight blocks while averaging 32.8 minutes a game.

"The biggest thing I learned this year as a coach was the relationship aspect," said Griego about the transition to head coach. "I think it's really important to continue to have positive relationships with your players, continuing to engage with them and support them through academics and athletics, which can sometimes get lost because we're wanting to be great competitors. But at the end of the day, basketball is only going to take us so far. We want to continue to engage in their lives and celebrate the small victories."

The Skyhawks finished with the fourth ranked offense (66.0 points per game) and were the top offensive rebounding team (13.5) in the RMAC this past winter. The team graduates three seniors, but is set to return the bulk of their roster that has high expectations for themselves in 2020-2021.

"It's really exciting and encouraging the success that we had and the people we're going to be bringing in," Griego said. "The biggest thing for us is continuing to work extremely hard and improve on our individual skills because we all want to compete as one of the top teams in the RMAC."