Carrie Moore, The Kathy-Delaney-Smith Head Coach for Harvard Women’s Basketball, has hired Ariel Gaston to finalize her 2022-23 coaching staff. Gaston will join the Crimson as an assistant coach after serving in the same role at Hobart and William Smith Colleges. Moore is thrilled to have Gaston alongside her on the bench and is excited at the level of experience she will bring with her to Cambridge.
“Ariel is such a great and unique addition to what I think is already an outstanding staff”, Moore said. “She is hungry, humble, and honored to attach herself to such a historic program as this one. She is eager to learn, ready to work harder than most, and will be a great coach and mentor to our young women. I think Ariel has an extremely bright future in this business and I’m so thrilled she’s getting her start at this level on our bench.”
Gaston lands with the Crimson after a successful stint as an assistant coach with the Hobart and William Smith Colleges in 2022. On the court, she helped mentor the Liberty League Rookie of the Year and assisted in the development of three other All-Region selections. Her other duties with the Herons included practice planning, scouting, skill development and recruiting.
A University of New Hampshire (UNH) graduate, Gaston also has experience coaching at the AAU level with the U16 Syracuse Royals. Serving as the head coach this past season, Gaston created, implemented and led all game and practice planning for the Royals. She also began to utilize video analysis for recruiting, scouting and skill development purposes. With the Royals, Gaston gained critical knowledge in college recruiting by serving as the liaison between her players and collegiate coaches.
Prior to her time with the Herons, Gaston held assistant coaching positions at Johnson and Wales University in 2020 and Dean College in 2019. While with Dean, Gaston helped produce the first 1,000-point player in school history and helped develop two First-Team All-conference players and All-Americans.
No stranger to the court, Gaston starred for the UNH Wildcats as a point guard from 2011-15. The two-time team captain earned America East’s Player of the Week Award five times and was named to the All-America East Third Team in 2015. Gaston also landed on the America East All-Defensive Team in 2015. She graduated from UNH with a bachelor’s degree in psychology in May of 2015 and earned her master’s degree in college athletic administration from Northeastern University in 2020.
Gaston cannot wait to get to work in Cambridge and is looking forward to ushering in the new era of Harvard women’s basketball in 2022-23.
“It is such an extreme honor and privilege to be a part of an institution with such a profound history of excellence”, said Gaston. “Coach Moore has proved time and time again that she’s a winner. She embodies everything I want in the leader of our program. Boston has always felt like a second home to me, so being back here, alongside this staff is an absolute dream come true. I am extremely excited to be a part of the Harvard family and can’t wait to see what the future has in store for Harvard Women’s basketball! Go Crimson!”
Gaston joins Steve Harney, ZsaZsa Lawson and Ali Sanders on Moore’s staff for the 2022-23 season.
