Third-year Texas women’s basketball assistant and Lifetime Longhorn Jamie Carey has been promoted to associate head coach at her alma mater, head coach Karen Aston announced Monday.
Carey, a member of UT’s 2003 NCAA Final Four team who also played four years in the WNBA, is responsible for instructing players at the guard position, recruiting and coordinating the team’s offensive schemes. Carey has top-caliber experience at every level of basketball, including four years at USA Basketball as the assistant women’s national team director.
“When Jamie returned back to the Forty Acres two years ago, I was so thrilled to have someone that I knew bled Burnt Orange,” Aston said. “Although that is a great quality, what Jamie brings as a coach is so much more. Her desire to grow young women and help them reach their maximum potential has had an enormous impact on our program. This was a natural move for her and I’m so thrilled she has chosen to stay the course and help our program pursue excellence.”
Carey has been an integral part in returning the Longhorns to among the nation’s elite programs. During her time in Austin as a member of Aston’s staff, Carey has helped Texas to a 53-16 (.768) overall record, including a 30-6 tally in Big 12 Conference play. Texas has advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 in each of the last two seasons and four consecutive seasons overall.
“It has been both a privilege and honor to be a part of such a great coaching staff and women’s basketball program at The University of Texas for the past two years,” Carey said. “I would like to thank Karen for believing in me 16 years ago as a player and continuing to do so today as a coach. I am truly humbled by this new opportunity and look forward to continuing to develop, support and serve our student-athletes at The University of Texas.”
Carey was instrumental in the development of guards Ariel Atkins and Brooke McCarty, both of whom were First Team All-Big 12 Conference selections and WBCA Honorable Mention All-America honorees in each of their last two seasons.
Atkins was selected with the seventh pick in the 2018 WNBA Draft by the Washington Mystics. As a senior, Atkins started all 35 games, leading her team with 14.9 points per game and 2.5 steals per game. She was the only player in the Big 12 Conference to rank among the league’s top-20 in the eight statistical categories of points per game, rebounds per game, assists per game, steals per game, assist-to-turnover ratio, field-goal percentage, three-point field-goal percentage and free-throw percentage. She ranked second in the Big 12 in steals per game (2.5) and three-point field goal percentage (.420).
McCarty in 2017 became the first player in UT history to be named the Big 12 Conference Player of the Year. She played in 139 career games with 118 starts and played 4,166 minutes – more total minutes than any other player in program history. McCarty finished her career ranked second in school history in three-pointers made with 139. She finished 10th in school history in assists (413) and 15th in scoring (1,619). She was named a USA Today Third-Team All-American in 2018.
Carey has also mentored junior guard Sug Sutton, who was a member of the 2017 USA Basketball U19 Team that claimed the silver medal at the 2017 FIBA U19 World Cup in Italy.
Carey has taken a key role in the program’s recruiting efforts that have resulted in three consecutive top-four national recruiting classes, according to ESPN.com.
During her time at USA Basketball, Carey worked with all levels of the women’s national team program, helping to identify coaches and athletes for participation. She assisted with organizing logistics for trials, training camps and international competitions, supported the athletes and staff on-site internationally and assisted with practice for all national teams.
While working with USA Basketball, Carey was head coach at Sand Creek High School in Colorado Springs from 2011-14, directing the program to a 62-16 overall record, three Colorado Class 4A Great 8 State appearances and a pair of Pikes Peak Athletic Conference titles. She was the Pikes Peak Athletic Conference Coach of the Year in her final season.
Carey served as head coach at Legacy High School in Broomfield, Colo., from 2008-10, helping the team to a Colorado Class 5A runner-up finish in 2010. Her five-year high school coaching record was 106-25 (.809).
Carey’s story of perseverance is well known. The 1999 Miss Colorado Basketball was the 2000 Pac-10 Conference Freshman of the Year at Stanford University before concussions sidelined her for the next two seasons. After a year free of post-concussion symptoms, Carey transferred to the University of Texas, where she was a two-time All-Big 12 Conference selection.
A member of Texas’ 1,000-point scoring club, Carey ranks 40th in program history with 1,074 career points. She was a finalist for numerous national awards during her time in Austin, including the Margaret Wade Trophy, the Naismith Award and the Nancy Lieberman National Point Guard of the Year.
Carey was the 2004 recipient of the Jim Valvano Comeback Player of the Year Award and, as a senior in 2005, was named an NCAA Woman of the Year nominee and earned the Big 12’s Dr. Prentice Gautt Postgraduate Scholarship.
Despite playing in just 96 games during her UT career, Carey’s name is found throughout the Texas all-time career records. She is the school’s all-time leader in three-point field goal percentage (.418) and ranks second all-time in minutes per game (31.4). Carey’s 193 made three-pointers ranks fifth all-time in school history, while her free-throw percentage of .801 is eighth all-time.
She is the namesake for the Jamie Carey Comeback Award, awarded by UT Athletics annually to a student-athlete who has experienced and worked to overcome adversity during her intercollegiate athletics experience.
Carey was the 31st pick in the 2005 WNBA Draft by the Phoenix Mercury and later signed with the Connecticut Sun. She played four years for the Sun, which advanced to the postseason each of those seasons, including an appearance in the 2005 WNBA Finals.
Carey holds a bachelor of arts degree in sociology from Texas in 2004 and completed her master of education in sport management on the Forty Acres in 2006. She was a two-time third-team CoSIDA Academic All-America selection and a two-time first-team All-District selection.
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