Maddy Siegrist makes the most of her offseason job at Villanova

In an ideal world, Maddy Siegrist and the rest of the WNBA’s players would make enough money from their first job to not need a second one in the winter.

Or, if they’d like to play some during the league’s seven-month offseason, they’d join their soccer colleagues in Barcelona, Paris, or London, and have a good time there.

Right now, though, the money isn’t there at home. If you want it in Europe, the richest teams have long been in Russia — but players have understandably sworn that off due to Brittney Griner’s imprisonment and the war in Ukraine.

The WNBA runs an offseason marketing program for a group of players each year, but access to that is limited. So what else is there to do?

Siegrist has found an answer.

Six months after her stellar Villanova career ended, Siegrist came back to the Main Line to work as a special assistant to senior associate athletic director Lynn Tighe, who’s also the Wildcats’ chief athletics administrative officer and senior women’s administrator.

“I definitely wanted to come back to Villanova this year,” Siegrist told The Inquirer. “I felt like it was such an abrupt leaving, a fast turnaround — I knew I needed some time to train, and be in one spot.”

» READ MORE: Maddy Siegrist returns to Villanova to assist the women’s program she helped lead

A job made for her

The offer to come back to campus came last July from Wildcats coach Denise Dillon.

“We didn’t know exactly what the job would look like, whether it was staff, or what I’m doing now, which is a little bit of everything,” Siegrist said. “Getting to see the administrative side, trying to get to see the coaching side a little bit, which is great. Just to see what I like [for] the future.”

Anyone who’s been to a game at the Finneran Pavilion this season has likely seen Siegrist at work. She’s hard to miss, on the concourse before games and courtside during them. Just look for the Villanova varsity jacket with her old number 20 on one sleeve, and inscriptions of her many accomplishments on the other.

“Villanova gave me that,” Siegrist said. “We got them after last year. Everybody loves it — I’ve told them they’ve got to get all the alumni that, it’s very cool.”

Or look for anyone holding up a cell phone, because just about everyone who asks for a photo with Siegrist gets one. When Villanova hosted Connecticut a few weeks ago, she could barely take three steps without another family stopping her.

» READ MORE: UConn’s Geno Auriemma praises Lucy Olsen and this season’s Villanova team

Part of a trend

Asked if working the room was as natural as it looked, Siegrist laughed.

“I think I had a lot of practice the last few years at Villanova,” she said. “Just doing that but really making sure you’re engaged in the community, and that’s something I’ve always loved about Villanova. So it really doesn’t feel like work for me.”

Siegrist is one of a few players — not quite many, but a growing number…