On Thursday, first-year South Alabama women’s basketball head coach announced the addition of Dan Presel and Mallory Luckett to his coaching staff and that Aisha Stewart – who has been with the program for the past five seasons – will remain with the program.
“Aisha has a familiarity with the campus and the inner workings of everything at the University, and has an energy to her that we felt needed to be brought to our staff,” Fowler said. “The current players really feel comfortable around her and she’s able to bridge the gap between the old coaching staff and the new coaching staff and I thought that was a key reason why I thought we should retain her.
Presel will fill one of the two vacant assistant positions, while Luckett will take over the director of basketball operations position.
Presel comes to South Alabama after spending the past seven seasons on Fowler’s staff at North Alabama. During Presel’s tenure at UNA, the Lions qualified for the Gulf South Conference tournament every year and twice won the GSC East Division title – 2010-11 and 2012-13. UNA also earned a berth in the NCAA Division II National Tournament those same two seasons. The Lions were undefeated in league play, during the 2010-11 season and made the program’s first appearance in the national tournament since 1994, finishing the year with a 21-7 mark. This past season, North Alabama recorded a 20-11 overall mark and a 12-6 record in the Gulf South.
“Dan Presel has been with me for 11 years,” Fowler said. “He started with us at Spring Hill College and went to North Alabama with us. He’s great with player development, really good with Xs-and-Os and knows what I want with recruiting and the players I want. He’s been very instrumental in our offensive style of play.
Aside from recruiting, Presel also handled strength and conditioning, as well as specific floor work for the guards for the Lions.
Presel spent the 2005-06 season as assistant women’s basketball coach at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, where the Lady Mocs put together the nation’s longest winning streak at 26 consecutive games.
Prior to rejoining Fowler at UNA, Presel spent six seasons at Spring Hill where he was also part of Fowler’s staff.
Luckett comes to USA after three seasons on the North Alabama coach staff. Following two seasons as graduate assistant coach, she moved into an assistant coach position this past season after earning her master’s degree in criminal justice at UNA.
“Mallory has been great with our players. She really understands what makes them tick and finding out what motivates them,” Fowler said of Luckett. “She’s a very organized person and will be able to take a lot of things off my desk and help me in that way.”
Luckett arrived at UNA after a four-year playing career at Murray State. After originally walking on to play for MSU, she earned a scholarship her sophomore year and became a starter her junior and senior seasons. She made history her senior year as only the second Racer to earn a triple-double with 14 points, 11 assists and 10 rebounds against Jacksonville State.
While at Murray State, Luckett was a part of a regular-season championship and a tournament championship, which granted an automatic bid in the NCAA tournament. She ended her senior season leading her team in assists, steals and rebounds, while averaging nearly 10 points per game.
Fowler still has one final assistant coach position to fill to complete his staff.
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