Fonda Wilson will become the new women’s basketball coach at The Master’s University.

Wilson takes over for Liza Zamroz who is stepping away in order to devote more time for her family.

A successful high school coach in Southern California since 1996, Wilson takes over a Mustangs’ squad that went 25-7 last season, winning the Golden State Athletic Conference Tournament before being eliminated in the first round of the NAIA National Championship Tournament.

“I’m excited because I’ve been in basketball all my life, and I feel like I’m equipped,” Wilson said. “I really believe I’m a good fit because I see the little things that need to be tweaked. Plus I bring that upbeat, high energy… Just to be used as a vessel like that to show who Christ is. I just feel that this is all directed by God, and I’m honored because of the spiritual formation and how important that is. The coaching is extra. That’s how God is going to use me. He knows my heart and that I just want to serve.”

Wilson, whose high school coaching roles included Campbell Hall, Colony and most recently Alta Loma High School, stepped away from coaching in 2017 in order to take care of her ailing mother and to pursue her Masters in Theology. That led her to becoming a chaplain in a hospital maternity ward before being called to serve back on the basketball court.

“Every tool that I have the Lord has given me in order to prepare for this job at The Master’s,” Wilson said. “I love the fact that God has called me and that He feels I’m worthy for this position.”

Wilson comes to the Santa Clarita Valley already quite familiar with the women’s basketball program. She started watching broadcasts of the games back in 2021, and even spent time with the team during the summer of 2023 while they were on their mission trip to Uganda.

“They are a strong team that works together,” she said. “They are a good group of girls, especially spiritually. Last summer I was doing the basketball camps [in Uganda] before [The Master’s women’s basketball team] got there to do the camps. And that was all providential. All of these things, He has it in His hands. So being there with them, they are a really special group of girls. And even on the court, I can see that when you have that chemistry and that cohesiveness, it’s going to be easy for me to do my job. And I can tell in their heart they have a heart for the Lord and a heart for hard work. And that’s really special for me. I find that as a prize.”

Wilson will start immediately with Zamroz staying on for a couple months to help with the transition.