University of Texas Women’s Basketball head coach Karen Aston announced Tuesday the hiring of four new members to her Longhorns’ coaching staff effective immediately.
Joining the UT Women’s Basketball program are associate head coach Travis Mays, assistant coach Jalie Mitchell, Director of Basketball Operations Angela Ortega and special assistant Amie Smith Bradley.
Aston has yet to announce her third assistant coach and that position remains open.
With 10 years of coaching experience in women’s college and professional basketball, Mays returns to his alma mater after spending the past year as an assistant coach at the University of Georgia. The Lady Bulldogs finished the 2011-12 season with a 22-9 record and advanced to the NCAA Tournament. Mays previously served on the LSU staff under Van Chancellor from 2007-11 and was an assistant to Naismith Hall of Fame coach Jody Conradt from 2004-07 at Texas.
Mays remains one of the most productive players in UT history. A 2002 inductee into UT’s Men’s Athletics Hall of Fame, Mays is still No. 2 among the Longhorns’ career scoring leaders with 2,279 points and was the first player to earn back-to-back Southwest Conference Player of the Year honors in 1989 and 1990.
Mitchell initially joined Aston at North Texas for the 2011-12 season after spending one year as an assistant coach at UNC-Wilmington. Together, Aston and Mitchell tripled the Mean Green’s victory total in one season, as UNT went 15-16 during the 2011-12 season after winning just five games the previous year.
Ortega will be serving in her first year as Director of Women’s Basketball Operations for The University of Texas after spending last year as an assistant to Aston at North Texas.
Prior to her stint at North Texas, Ortega spent four seasons as an assistant at Charlotte under Aston, where the 49ers reached the postseason in four consecutive seasons, including appearances in the 2009 NCAA Tournament and the 2011 WNIT Final Four.
Rounding out Aston’s first hires is the former Amie Smith, a four-year starter at Texas from 1993-97. Smith Bradley will manage day-to-day program responsibilities, coordinate basketball camps and serve as the program’s liaison for community relation efforts that are coordinated through UT student services and marketing.
Before joining the UT staff, Smith Bradley was the head coach of the Trinity University (San Antonio) women’s basketball program since 2005. In seven seasons with the Tigers, Smith Bradley amassed a 117-70 (.626) career record that stands as the second-best mark in school history.
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