Is Texas Hiring the Best Coach Available?

I hope Aston is a success but I don't believe Texas is hiring the best coach out there. Why? Is money an issue after Coach G and the lack of return on the investment and dwindling ticket sales? Maybe Texas is looking for a bargain and hoping they've found a gem.
Again - hoping for the best but it seems like a strange hire of a coach who hasn't proven herself at the elite level.
Too bad we can't thrown a dump truck of money at Kim Mulkey and bring her to Texas.

 

IDK. But I hope they don't make a hasty decision. If its a no name Empress n Imani bail. That's the only thing that concerns me.

 

Mulkey is the last person (well, second to last after Geno) I would ever want to see coach at Texas. But it's a mute point because it would never happen anyway, and esp not this year because Griner is only a junior. Kim isn't about to leave what I'm sure she expects will be back-to-back championship seasons.

 

I'd have to agree with Overseas on that one. Who would leave when you have the whole team coming back next year and a once in a lifetime player who's going to be a senior? Just bad timing for that kind of a hire.

 

Good point about Mulkey/Griner but I'd take her in a heartbeat. Are you kidding? One of the top 4 coaches in the country. Love her passion as much as her record. I'd take Geno too. And Tara. And Muffet. Best coaches in women's ball coached in Final 4 - no surprise.

 

GG was Final Four coach too. How did that work out for us??

 

The hire will be the safe hire. Texas WBB fortunes have fallen like a rock. Right now the most important thing is to stablize and beging to get back into the conversation with the top tier of recruits.
Anytime Baylor is our recruiting you, you have BIG internal issues.

 

This isn't intended to rain on anybody's parade, but...yes, UT's probably hiring the best available women's basketball head coach in Karen Aston.

UT women's basketball is about where Nebraska football's been for the last several years. They have a great history, but they haven't done much recently. Yeah, UT has the resources and the facilities, but you can't live on reputation forever.

I've seen the wishlists of coaches to replace GG. Plonsky's not gonna hire a man, so that lets out the Kentucky and Louisville coaches. Most of the others also have solid situations where they're at, and it isn't likely they'd want to leave to take on the challenge of restoring UT's team. For those that keep insisting UT look at Mulkey and Blair, please...it ain't happening and they aren't leaving their jobs to come to Austin. I'm also pretty sure the other coaches have heard and seen the diminishing fan support, the infighting on the internet, and know of other potential stumbling blocks to success in Austin.

I frankly don't see that much wrong with Karen Aston. She has UT ties. She can recruit very well. She's a good x's and o's coach. She will have the same kind of support from Jody Conradt that Mack Brown had from Coach Royal when he came here.

Plonsky went for the splashy hire five years ago. How'd that turn out for us? On balance, I think Aston IS the best AVAILABLE coach for the women's basketball team, and deserves support until/if/when she proves otherwise.

 

Yes, the WBB team has missed out on some great recruits. I think the comment that the program is really in trouble if Baylor is outrecruiting us is interesting. Baylor Football, not UT had a Heisman trophey winner on their squad last year. The football team was outrecruited by Baylor.

 

I don't know that hiring a "big name", proven, elite coach would work out any better than hiring Karen Aston. As others have said, they tried that the last time out. All of Aston's work has been in Texas save for the 4 years in Charlotte, and have been at "elite" programs (UT, Baylor x 2). She's been an assistant for some outstanding coaches - Jody, Kim and Sonja Hogg - so surely she learned something along the way. Though her resume as a head coach is slim (but positive results) she still trumps Kim (had no head coaching experience when hired) and Sherri Coale (high school coach). So, while she may not be the "best coach available", I'm excited to have her at UT and look forward to seeing what she can do with the program.

 

I have to admit to being very curious as to whether we put out feelers to other coaches and were told "No" or 'Not interested" and are settling for Aston versus chosing this path because the big name hire didn't work out last time. I'm sure we'll never know that.

 

Well, most of my thoughts have already been covered by other replies in this thread.

As for Aston's recruiting, she did do very well at Texas from 1998-2006 as a whole. Were there some big misses? Sure. But everyone misses on some recruits.

Not sure how she did her one year at Baylor. I'm guessing she didnt' pull too many kids from Texas to UNCC in her 4 years there, and if she did, they weren't the "elite".

So, we are basically allowing Aston to rest on the laurels of how she recruited for UT back in 2006 and prior to that? 7-13 years ago? CUrrent recruits were in grade school back then, and probably can't even rememer the name Jody Conradt, let alone her assistant coach.

I can acknowledge she has ties in the state with coaches. But, if you think the elite in-state recruits "know" of Karen Aston, you have to get a reality check. Her "name" isn't gonna get us big-name recruits, that's for sure. Her hard work might. But, I just get the feeling recruits are going to take a "wait-and-see" approach, and that will take a couple of years minimum.

 

Goestenkors "big name" did not even result in the best players in Texas to commit to Texas. Aston will do well.

Seattle

 

I could be wrong but I've always assumed the Regents were hands-off when it came to staffing issues. And I'm not even talking about just sports here, but academics as well. Isn't that why you have committees, administrators, deans, department heads etc? Of course if there was some kind of academic misconduct, or inappropriate behavior, or NCAA violation with respect to a sports program, they would have to get involved, but I've never really thought of their role as having anything to do with making, or even second-guessing hiring recommendations. Perhaps someone who knows more about how these things work can correct me if I'm wrong, but that's what I've always assumed anyway. And I think that actually makes sense but, like I say, maybe there's more to the process than I'm aware of.

 

I think there are a lot of people saying the same thing in different ways.

I don’t think anyone is really questioning Aston’s ability to coach basketball. She is a good coach. But, the best coach needs elite players to match the expectations at Texas.

Aston has recruited and coached elite players in the past. The real question is if she can recruit elite players to come to Texas and play for her. That is very different than recruiting elite players to play for Jody Conradt.

That is why I was surprised, and why this is far from a safe hire. The safe hire is to spend money on a proven coach with a track record of recent elite success. You do that and no one can really question the decision…..or, at least you can point to plenty of logical and rational reasons to believe it would be a good choice.

I’m not saying this was a bad choice. I think Aston will do a great job if she can get the right players on campus. I have no questions about her ability to coach. I would encourage elite players to come be coached by her and her staff. But, I’m not the one who has to be sold.

If she can get the nucleus of the team back and the two commitments enrolled she should be in a good situation. Certainly better than most incoming coaches. There will be talent to work with. That should allow the opportunity for some success and something to build and recruit upon.

I don’t hate the hire. But, there is no getting around it being a gamble.

As to Aston being the only candidate interviewed………there are interviews, and then there are interviews. I think we have seen the Texas coaching hires commonly have only the candidate ultimately intended for the hire brought on campus. Not exclusively, but very often. That by no means indicates that there were no other conversations to gauge interest, talk about money or coaching staffs, or even informal interviews. Since those other candidates already have jobs they usually prefer that to remain private.

 

I am sure Texas got tepid interest from other coveted targets.

Aston has lots of upside...I like her chances.

Seattle

 

I am pretty bummed about this news. The program needs to look forward, not backwards. Ignoring the Jamie Carey years when a player essentially ran the offense, Texas has been consistently mediocre for over 20 years - anyone remember the 1990s? The game passed Conradt by somewhere around 1990, and while she remained an excellent defensive coach, x's and o's on the offensive end were bad to tragic against the top teams. My memories of the Marsden/Ashton/ Conradt years were of consistently doing less with more. Aston is a proven recruiter, but remembering the biggest bust of a number 1 ranked recruiting class in 2005 (injuries had only so much to do with that), she is a suspect evaluator of talent. She is coming in with something to prove, and I REALLY hope I am wrong about this, but I predict another 5 years of bubble teams, if we are lucky. And having this conversation again.

There is something wrong with the program - I have no idea what- but it beat down Goestenkors, who is 40 times the coach Aston is (and they are about the same age), why do we think a person who was part of the preceding mediocrity, has a mediocre record herself, no BCS conference head coaching experience etc is going to be able to fix it? Because she had/has Texas connections? The Ogumwike sisters gave TX a look because of Goestenkors. The glories of 1986/7 are long, long gone. I would love to be proved wrong, but I am not seeing it. If I am Stafford or Davenport, I am asking to be released as soon as it is officially announced. If you are an elite high school player, why come here, to a mediocre program, now with a no-name coach ??

I hope to be eating crow this time next year, but I predict a losing record, and a nose-five in recruiting and attendance. The more you lose, the more you lose. I fear this is a really BAD hire.

 

Give Aston 5 years.... goestenkors got 5.

 

Sure, I'll give her 5. By then it will be fifteen years since TX made a final 4. Goestenkors did not pan out, but 5 years ago, I, and current and future players had reasons for optimism. Now??

I would have been much happier with Mitchell or Walz or Barnes-Arico or Staley. Someone young and hungry, but who has proven that s/he can turn a mediocre program around, and with a record of competing at the highest level. I hope Aston, at least, has the hungry part, but for the rest, not so much. At the risk of ageism, she's pushing 50. If she was going to be any good, she would have shown it by now. I hope she succeeds, but all signs point to the contrary.

 

I wish her well, but I think I would have rolled the dice with the husband-wife team from the JC champs. Sure, no D-1 HC experience, just winning big every year.

 

I think a reality check is called for here. There's apparently a significant number of posters, perhaps myself included, who thought the top two candidates to replace GG are the two men coaching at Kentucky and Louisville. Whatever you might think in terms of gender discrimination, Plonsky has made it obvious by her actions that a man is not going to be chosen to coach the women's basketball team. It's obviously all her call to make, too.

There seems to be a general wish list of women head coaches that might make an adequate replacement for GG. However, most of them are already in good situations, and if there have been some back channel conversations, they've probably let it be known that the UT job doesn't interest them.

I keep seeing people talking about paying some fabulous salary to bring in a new coach. You can only money-whip these people to a point. Any coach who is satisfied in her current job, and making a decent salary, probably is more prone to say thanks, but no thanks to UT.

The first step in fixing a problem is in accepting that you have one, and UT's women's basketball team has several problems. The facilities and finances are there, but it's essentially been a couple of decades since the program's really consistently been relevant on the national scene. You can only live so long on your reputation, and whoever comes in to replace GG is going to have to fix a lot of things and make her own reputation, and pretty quickly, rather than trying to trade off of the school's name.

Karen Aston might not have been my first choice as the new coach, but she has enough positives to make me think she CAN succeed here where GG didn't. I'm also inclined to think, right now, she's the best coach that CAN REALISTICALLY be brought in with at least a passable chance of winning. She, the program, and UT are going to need some support a whole lot more than the internet sniping that she seems to be attracting right now. I don't speak for anyone but myself, but I will support her until she proves she can't do the job, and it will take more than a year to show that.

The truth is, in women's basketball, UT USED to be the Jones'.

 

The fact is, no one knows what it will take to get Texas back to good times. In my opinion, recruiting is the core of anyone's success. When Gail first got here, she was probably the biggest name nationally after Geno and Pat. I thought some of the top national players would come here just because of her, but I can't think of a one that did. I don't think we can assume that they would come for Walz, Frese, Mitchell, or anyone else, no matter their success elsewhere. I do not know why more of the good players have been choosing to be with Kim in Waco or Gary in CS instead of here. If Aston has the recruiting prowess and connections to Texas high schools she is known for, we might as well test that theory of how to get good players as going with the "big name" theory again. There are some other theories I would like to see tested --- an African-American coach or a male coach, but, if Plonsky is the sexist most people seem to think, I don't guess the latter would ever happen. Anyway, let's give Karen a big welcome and hope for the best.

 

I do believe she is the best available...I also believe there were a number of other coaches with higher profiles that would have come here in a heart beat.

"Fit" is very important in a coaching hire. IMO, this is true because you must recruit well enough to beat your competition. GG could coach players as well as anyone. She just didn't have the level of players that Baylor or A&M did at any time during her tenure.

I don't think you could find an available coach (i dont think Mulkey fits in that category) with a stronger track record recruiting Texas high schools than Karen.

The interesting part of the discussion is her coaching acumen. I will admit that I'm more excited than most to see Karen coach against the likes of Mulkey.

To me: very good recruiter + solid x/o coach equals top 25 at Texas WBB every year. Personally I think Karen will be a notch above solid on the coaching front and I know she'll get her share of players.

Looking forward to it.

Hook'em

 

As we've learned, we just can't predict who is going to have success on the recruiting trail. Coach G had great national recruiting success while at Duke, but that didn't translate here at Texas.

There's no question that the city of Austin and the University provide great appeal. But, the head coach has to be able to "sell it" to recruits. Of course, recruits choose a school for so many different reasons. Recruiting can't be an easy part of the job, but building a program starts with getting talent.

Just look at what volleyball coach, Jerritt Elliott has been able to do since he arrived at Texas. He had no ties to Texas, but he obviously knows how to recruit coast to coast; now, he now gets the best players in Texas (which wasn't necessarliy the case early on). Our only male head coach (in the women's athletic department) has built a consistent winner.

Kim Brackin was also able to recruit some studs from coast to coast. Unfortunately, that wasn't enough as there appear to have been some other issues which cost her her job. Whether that was athlete development, or performance at championship meets, she is moving on.

With Aston, there is so much "unknown", IMO. We are banking on her recruiting success from 1998-2006. There's no guarantee she can repeat that as head coach after 6 years removed from being at the University of Texas as an assistant coach.

 

I'm disappointed with the choice. Aston is coming to us fresh off a 15-16 year at UNT. Stellar. Before that, she coached four years at Charlotte, never won a regular season A-10 title (they won the conference tournament one year), and only went to the NCAA tourney one time, where her team promptly lost in the first round.

So, the new women's basketball coach at The University of Texas, in her career as a head coach, has never won an NCAA tourney game, has only been to the tournament once, and has never won a regular season conference title. THIS is the best we could do?!

This smells a lot like naming former assistant coach David McWilliams as UT's head football coach after he "proved" himself with a mediocre (7-4) one-year head coaching stint at Tech. We all know how well that worked out.

 

Well, at UNCC, Aston succeeded Amanda Butler who was hired by Florida back in 2007. I didn't realize that Butler succeeded Katie Meier, who is now at Miami (FL).
So, looks like UNCC was having success prior to Aston's hiring (enough that MIami and UF plucked away their head coaches):

During her two years as head coach at Charlotte, Amanda Butler compiled a 40-22 record that included two WNIT berths and a share of the 2005-06 Atlantic 10 Conference regular-season championship. Her debut season resulted in a 21-9 record, the most wins ever by a Charlotte coach in their first year, as Butler was recognized as the league’s Coach of the Year. This season the 49ers posted a 19-13 overall mark, advancing to the WNIT second round before losing to Virginia, 74-72.

Butler joined the Charlotte staff for the 2001-02 season as an assistant under first-year head coach Katie Meier and helped the 49ers to a 16-13 record, the program's first winning season in eight years. In her second year as an assistant coach at Charlotte, the 49ers captured the 2003 Conference USA regular-season title and earned the program’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Championship.

She was promoted to Associate Head Coach the following season, and when Meier departed to take the head job at the University of Miami (Florida), Butler became the logical choice to assume the 49ers head position.

I guess we'd have to compare the job done at UNCC by Meier, Butler, and Aston to get a better picture.