A Wednesday morning press conference in Wisdom Gym marked a significant day in the history of Tarleton State as Ronnie Hearne announced his retirement and Misty Wilson was named the next head coach of the TexAnn Basketball program.

Hearne called it a career, effective August 31, 2014, at Wednesday morning’s press conference in front of media personnel, fans, family and supporters of the TexAnns.

"I have loved coming to work every day," said Hearne Wednesday morning. "I have loved every practice, the challenge of every game we’ve played and the challenge of each new season. After saying that, I really don’t know why I’m retiring, but it is time for someone to take my place.

"I have been truly blessed to work at Tarleton State University," he continued. "I have had some great teams and some great players, the fans have been incredible and I have been truly blessed in my time here. It’s like I got the cake when I got the job here and every day since then has been the icing."

After 11 years at the helm, Hearne amassed a record of 212-107 and led the TexAnns into national prominence. His .671 winning percentage is the highest among all coaches in Tarleton history and his 212 wins is second most all-time in school history.

Under Hearne’s guidance, Tarleton women’s basketball program has become a national power, being ranked as high as No. 14 in the nation, and has qualified for the NCAA regional tournament in six seasons, all under Hearne, as well as winning the LSC Championship in 2011-12.

The veteran coach also brought in some of the top players to ever play for the purple and white, including each of the last two scoring leaders in Tarleton’s 19-year NCAA history – Shelby Adamson and Kiara Wright.

Hearne has had 32 all-conference selections, four LSC Newcomer of the Year award winners, two LSC Freshman of the Year award winners, three LSC Defensive Players of the Year, an LSC Academic Player of the Year, the LSC two-time Player of the Year, the two-time South Regional Player of the Year, a two-time All-American and the Daktronics National Player of the Year.

He took over the Tarleton program in 2003 after a stellar coaching record at the high school level and Cisco Junior College as both a men’s and women’s coach.

While the Hearne era comes to an end, however, a new era dawns as Hearne’s long-time assistant coach Misty Wilson will take the reins of the program as the sixth head coach in school history.

"I’m extremely honored to follow in the footsteps of the coaches before me, especially Coach Hearne," said Wilson. "I look forward to continuing the tradition we’ve built here at Tarleton State. It’s an honor and I thank everyone for trusting me to carry on the tradition of this program."

Wilson, who starred as a standout player for the TexAnns from 1998-2002, is now just the second coach in school history who played basketball for Tarleton, joining the program’s all-time winningest coach Jan Lowery who played from 1974-76 and coached from 1976-96.

As a player at Tarleton, Wilson’s TexAnn teams won 43 games over her four-year career while the star from Burleson shined on the court.

Wilson finished her career with 1,440 points and is currently seventh in Tarleton’s all-time history and she is in the top 15 in school history in 11 other statistical categories, including steals which she is second all-time with 326.

Her coaching career began immediately following her playing career in the 2002-03 season under then-head coach Claude Cummings. Following Cummings’ departure in 2003, Wilson remained on the coaching staff as the top assistant for the new head coach, Hearne.

As an assistant coach at Tarleton, Wilson has been a part of 219 victories as well as the 2011-12 LSC Championship season, all six NCAA regional tournament appearances and 11 consecutive LSC Championship Tournament appearances.

Wilson earned a bachelor’s degree and a master’s degree in exercise and sport’s studies from Tarleton, getting the bachelor’s degree in 2001 and the master’s diploma in 2004. Married to former Tarleton football player Kevin Wilson, Misty lives in Stephenville with their three children: Jade, Mya and Kenna.

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