Goestenkor and Aston 2007-2014 women’s basketball

Gail Goestenkors – 2007-2012

Goestenkors was the youngest head coach at a major Division I program when she took the reigns at Duke University in 1992.  During her 15-year tenure at Duke, she sets many milestones:

·      418-112 for a (.790 winning percentage);

·       Ranked  No. 4 among active Division I coaches in winning percentage ;

·       Was No. 5 among all-time Division I coaches in winning percentage;

·       Was the fourth-fastest Division I women’s basketball coach to register 400 career wins;

·      Received a remarkable 12 National Coach of the Year awards at Duke;

·       lead the Blue Devils to 13 consecutive NCAA Championship appearances;

·       Advanced to four NCAA Final Four berths;

·       Played in the national semifinals in 1999, 2002, 2003, and 2006, making two NCAA championship game appearances (1999, 2006);

·       Won 30 games in seven consecutive seasons;

·       Coached three gold medal USA basketball teams

During her tenure at Texas, she was not able to duplicate her tremendous success at Duke. Even though Texas was invited to the NCAA Tournament all five years she was head coach, her 102-64 win-loss record was unimpressive.

 Coach Goestenkor’s teams may have struggled on the basketball court, but they shined scholastically. 

Leaders in Academics

 2007 – 2008  22-13 Gail Goestenkors- eliminated in the second round of the NCAA tournament

This was Goestenkor’s first year at Texas.  Texas made its 22nd appearance at the NCAA tournament. Gail Goestenkors  “We need to work on being consistent.  Good one week and poor the next.

The Horns lost in the 2nd round of the NCAA tournament to the University of Connecticut  89 to 55.

2008- 2009 –  21-12 Gail Goestenkors- eliminated in the first round of the NCAA tournament

  A YEAR OF INCONSISTENCES-  women’s basketball.  Texas lost 4 in a row to the Aggies.  Texas won 8 games in the Big 12.
The Lady Longhorns lost to Iowa State in the Big 12 finals. The team leaders were Kathleen Nash, Brittaney and Ashley Lindsey. .  Horns fell to Baylor in the Big 12 tournament.  The horns made their 23rd trip to the NCAA tournament but lost in the first round to Mississippi State.

2009-2010 –  22-11 Gail Goestenkors- eliminated in the first round of the NCAA tournament

Texas was ranked #12 in the first week of the season. The Horns were ranked #18 at the end pre Big 12 tournament.

Coach Goestenkors shows her commitment to academics when she punishs one of her key players who missed a class by sitting her down the first half of a game against UTSA. Texas is behind at half time, but eventually wins the game.

Texas entered the NCAA tournament at #15 in the nation but was defeated in the first round by the San Diego State Aztecs.

2010- 2011 –  19-14 Gail Goestenkors eliminated in the first round of the NCAA tournament

The Horns were the 9th seed in the NCAA tournament but lost to Marquette in the first round. The team finished 19-14 for the year. Kathleen Nash was the team leader, ending her career with 1,518 points. Texas only scored 17 points against A&M in the first half but almost pulled off an upset with a surge in the second half, losing 68-65.

At the end of the season, the Horns were ranked #18. In the Big 12 tournament, they made it to the quarterfinals but lost to Texas A&M. In the NCAA tournament, they lost to the San Diego State Aztecs 74-63.

2011-2012  18-14 Gail Goestenkors- eliminated in the first round of the NCAA tournament

After losing to the Aggies 11 straight times, the Horns finally won.   Texas Tech beat Texas In the first round of the Big 12 tournament.  The Horns also lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  Gostenkor resigns.

Reflection Point  

Make no mistake about it Coach Goestenkors had big shoes to fill. Replacing a legend is tough as each of the coaches listed below knows. 

• Coach Price replaced Coach Bible, (football)

• Coach Akers replaced Coach Royal, (football)

• Coach Strong replaced Coach Brown, (football)

• Coach Schubert replace Coach Quick (women’s swimming)

• Coach McCain replaced Coach Moore (women’s tennis)

• Coach Sategna replaced Coach Beverly Kearney (women’s track)

• Coach Lovvern replaced Coach Litttlefield (men’s track), and

• many others

Based on Coach Goestenkor’s performance as a Head Coach at Duke she was the right person for the Texas job. The Duke administration loved her and countered Texas’s financial offer, but she told Duke ” it was not about the money”. “it was about the challenge.” It was about a new opportunity.” “It was about an adventure.”  

5 years later in 2012, the “adventure” was over. She resigned because she was physically and mentally “tired”. While she did not know it when she took the job at Texas, the 20 years prior to her Longhorn tenure coaching the USA international basketball teams, Duke, and the Olympic teams sapped her of her energy.   Being “tired” is not an indictment of Coach Goestenkors,  it is a reality of what happens to all coaches who spend 12 months a year working 12 hours a day. It is called burn-out, and it happens more often than not to coaches.  

There were also secondary reasons she resigned.  

• lack of accomplishing her goals at UT;

• injuries to her players;

• struggles recruiting the “right” players to put Texas over the “hump”; and

• dealing with non-basketball related problems of her players 24/7 for 27 years.

Karen Aston 2012- 2020

Coach Aston was an assistant coach for Jody Conradt from 1998-2006 

As the Longhorn head coach, she has proven herself to be both a good head coach and a great recruiter. Since being hired at UT, she has managed to recruit two top 6 national recruiting classes and one top 5 recruiting class.

A proven winner in rebuilding basketball programs at North Texas and UNC of Charlotte.

 AUSTIN, Texas – University of Texas assistant women’s basketball coach Tina Thompson, the all-time leading scorer in the history of the Women’s National Basketball Association, on Tuesday was named to the WNBA Top 20@20, recognizing the 20 greatest and most influential players in the league’s 20-year history.  
 

2012-2013 – 12-18 Coach Karen Aston

 Many thought that the 2012-2013 season was a low point in Longhorn basketball. Part of the problem was learning the new playbook by the new head coach. In addition, the team had injuries and inexperienced athletes. They were 8th in the conference. This was the first year that the NCAA allowed Coaches to give athletes instruction during the summer months.

Team rule suspensions cost Texas the services of Chassidy Fussel and Nneka Enemkpali and a loss against Kansas.  But the second time these two teams met this season, the two suspended players were back, and  Texas won.

2013 – 2014 – 22-12 Coach Karen Aston eliminated in the second round of the NCAA tournament

Enemkpali led the team in scoring with 21.4 points per game and shooting nearly 61%. She had six consecutive double-doubles to start the season, breaking the team record held by 2006 player Tiffany Jackson. Enemkpali collected several conferences and national Player of the Week honors.

 The Horns Make the NCAA 2nd round

Texas played Kansas State, winning one and losing one. The record all-time was Texas’s 13 wins and Kansas State’s 12.

2014 – 2015 24-11 Coach Karen Aston – team makes sweet 16

2015- 2016 -31-5 Coach Karen Aston – team makes elite 8

Big Wins In 2015

Imani Boyette has been on the Big 12 first team and was the 2016 Big 12 defensive player of the year.  (no picture)