The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley (UTRGV) Women’s Basketball Head Coach Lane Lord announced the promotion of Victoria Pena, who has spent the last six seasons as the director of operations, to assistant coach and director of basketball operations.
“Victoria has been with us for six years and she does such a great job with the logistics and all the duties that come with the director of operations,” Lord said. “She has paid her dues. She wants to become a coach and with the NCAA allowing us to have another coach it’s a great honor to be able to promote her to assistant coach. We are all really excited for her.”
For the past six seasons, Pena has played an integral role for UTRGV women’s basketball by, managing all day-to-day administrative duties, coordinating all team travel, proposing and maintaining the team budget, assisting media relations with UTRGV women’s basketball social media accounts, and managing all team film coordination.
“I am beyond excited for the opportunity to serve UTRGV Women’s Basketball in a new way and grateful for the trust that Coach Lord has in me,” Pena said. “UTRGV is home and I want nothing more than to see this program and University continue to succeed. I can’t wait to continue to grow professionally with a team that holds a special place in my heart.”
Pena, an Edinburg North alum, is in her second stint with UTRGV as she spent the spring of 2017 assisting in the compliance department. She returned to UTRGV as the director of basketball operations in June 2018.
Prior to her second stint at UTRGV, Pena spent the 2017-18 season at Hill College where she helped the Rebels to an 18-13 record.
Prior to her first stint at UTRGV, Pena served as a volunteer assistant coach for Edinburg North’s varsity girls basketball team while working as the social media coordinator for the Rio Grande Valley Sports Hall of Fame.
Pena played collegiately at Stephen F. Austin from 2012-16, appearing in 54 games while helping the team to the 2014 and 2015 Southland Conference Championships. As a senior, Pena was honored with the Murray Shaw Academic Award which recognizes the student-athlete with the highest grade point average in each sport, ultimately graduating with her Bachelor of Arts in Criminal Justice and a Minor in Kinesiology in 2016.
