Is Texas Hiring the Best Coach Available?

I don't think you can look at Aston's resume, or even how she stacks up against other Charlotte coaches, for clues as to why she was hired. Obviously there has been mention of winning 15 games vs. 5 the season before at UNT, but a losing season even given the turnaround probably didn't play much of a factor in her hire. This decision seems to be more about relationships, and her history with the program. And as far as her stints with Charlotte and UNT go, those are important only in that she spent five years as a HC, and did well at both places. No coach was going to make an NCAA championship run at either school, so that type of success is irrelevant with respect to her resume. It's more that her lack of HC experience is likley what prevented her from being considered a viable candidate in the past; now that she has that, it makes this a safer, or more justifiable decision. And in particular when combined with the other factors under consideration. In other words, they like her as a coach for a variety of reasons (toughness, recruiting ability, relationships, program history), but those traits weren't going to be enough to land her dream job without head coaching experience on her resume. And I took some of the comments in the press conference to mean she didn't necessarily understand this at the point she left Texas to join Mulkey's staff, but in hindsight she "gets it." And I guess you could say all's well that ends well because she finally has the job she's always wanted. I also think she would have been a likely candidate someday regardless, even though it's doubtful anyone expected the opening to come at this point in time. A liltle longer track record as a HC would have probably made this an easier decision, or lessened the criticism coming from some quarters, but it's the hand they were dealt by virtue of Gail's sudden, and unexpected departure. And Karen would have probably left UNT for greener pastures, and perhaps been unavailable if this had happened several years down the line. But none of that really matters because she has the job, and returns a great team to boot. And she is also done on the recruiting front through 2013, unless of course something changes between now and then. But given that we currently have 17 on the roster for the 2013-14 season, she can focus most of her attention on that all important 2014 class. We have 6 openings and there are a lot of highly ranked Texas recruits that year, most of whom are considering the Horns. There is certainly a lot of time to build, and nurture relationships, which should bode well for us.


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