Baylor's Mulkey says Aston will be next UT women's coach

Harry · April 1, 2012

DENVER — Karen Aston will be the new women's basketball coach at the University of Texas, Baylor University coach Kim Mulkey said.

Mulkey said Aston — a former assistant coach under Mulkey at Baylor — had texted her with the news. University of Texas regents will meet Monday to discuss authorizing UT officials to conduct contract negotiations with a new coach.

"This has to be her dream job," Mulkey said Saturday after Baylor's hourlong practice Saturday at the Pepsi Center.

Neither Aston, 47, nor Texas women's athletics director Chris Plonsky could be reached Saturday. They were not checked into the hotel reserved for coaches and university administrators in Denver for the NCAA women's tournament. Plonsky said Thursday that Aston met with UT officials last week. Aston is believed to be the only candidate to interview on the UT campus.

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/sports/longhorns/baylors-mulkey-says-aston-will-be-next-ut-2275226.html

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greenminer · April 1, 2012

Best one-and-done coach we ever had.

NorthTexan95 · April 1, 2012

Boo!

Side Show Joe · April 1, 2012

Sad to see her go. Who will RV find to replace her?

Eagle-96 · April 1, 2012

I don't blame her one bit. As Mulkey said, UT is a dream job for Aston and it is among a handful of jobs that you just don't pass up. I wish her the best of luck and thank her for getting the program back on track. RV hit a home run with Aston and it's time to hit another.

drex · April 1, 2012

I think that RV will come up with another good coach...he will not be 'distracted' on this hire like he was when he hired Stephens. No outside pressure from administrators.

GrandGreen · April 1, 2012

I think that RV will come up with another good coach...he will not be 'distracted' on this hire like he was when he hired Stephens. No outside pressure from administrators.

Does RV deserve the blame for anything that happens on his watch?

Green P1 · April 1, 2012

Does RV deserve the blame for anything that happens on his watch?

Or credit?

drex · April 1, 2012

Sure, there are a lot of things I would do differently if I were AD. However, athletics has the distinction of being the only entity on campus that everyone on campus thinks they can do better than the AD. Some of those entities carry a big stick and stick their noses in places they do not belong. Believe me, I know first hand. The Dennis Parker hire is a good example.

GrandGreen · April 1, 2012

Sure, there are a lot of things I would do differently if I were AD. However, athletics has the distinction of being the only entity on campus that everyone on campus thinks they can do better than the AD. Some of those entities carry a big stick and stick their noses in places they do not belong. Believe me, I know first hand. The Dennis Parker hire is a good example.

RV has definitely had his share of successes, but he has also had plenty of failures like anyone in his position for a number of years. If outside pressure is that big a factor at NT, can you imagine what other AD's face at places that really do have numbers of big donors. Here the way I view it, if you make a decision based on outside pressure, than you damn well have to live with it. It is part of the job to handle outside influences. If the President did in fact want a woman or a minority or both as a basketball coach, that doesn't mean you make a bad hire. What is does mean, is that you find the best candidate with those qualities or you convince the President that you have much better choices that don't fit those specifications and that it would be foolish to limit the athletic program to satisfy some diversity quota.

EGL66 · April 1, 2012

I think that RV will come up with another good coach...he will not be 'distracted' on this hire like he was when he hired Stephens. No outside pressure from administrators.

Right, as long as the next one is somewhere around jackson square this weekend :rolleyes:

Also, according to Vitto Stephens wowed the selection committee with her presentation and lack of coaching experience. It's happened before and could always occure again. We hope it does not. I know it's a great excuse to let those who sat in that room off the hook, but there is no way Battaile acting alone made us hire Stephens. That is a dishonest excuse if I ever saw one and it's times to put that one to bed.

wardly · April 1, 2012

i don't think the powers at U.T.are happy that news of her hiring came from the Baylor head coach. not a good start,but i certainly wish her well.

Green Dozer · April 1, 2012

Right, as long as the next one is somewhere around jackson square this weekend

Also, according to Vitto Stephens wowed the selection committee with her presentation and lack of coaching experience. It's happened before and could always occure again. We hope it does not. I know it's a great excuse to let those who sat in that room off the hook, but there is no way Battaile acting alone made us hire Stephens. That is a dishonest excuse if I ever saw one and it's times to put that one to bed.

Ah, I think we better be looking around Denver if we are looking around at a Final Four.

GL2Greatness · April 1, 2012

RV has definitely had his share of successes, but he has also had plenty of failures like anyone in his position for a number of years. If outside pressure is that big a factor at NT, can you imagine what other AD's face at places that really do have numbers of big donors. Here the way I view it, if you make a decision based on outside pressure, than you damn well have to live with it. It is part of the job to handle outside influences. If the President did in fact want a woman or a minority or both as a basketball coach, that doesn't mean you make a bad hire. What is does mean, is that you find the best candidate with those qualities or you convince the President that you have much better choices that don't fit those specifications and that it would be foolish to limit the athletic program to satisfy some diversity quota.

1. disingenuous at best to compare a large donor to the president of the university that is the direct supervisor of the AD

2. it is not like there is a massive list of proven candidates just lined up to take positions at UNT that afford the AD the opportunity to show his boss that there are so many better selections

3. we know for a fact that Dr. B is not easily swayed when she takes a position on something because that same type of thing cost her the job as president....true her boss lee jackson is a do nothing idiot, but she would not flex to meet the demands of HER boss to the point that she lost her job what makes you think that she would so easily give in to a subordinate

4. we all know that BOR bobby stepped in to keep DD and while that looked good at first it ended badly in the end

so there are two examples of RV having more than "outside interference" in two out of three major sports at UNT and the interference was from people that were in a position to remove RV from his position if he did not comply with their wishes....and one of them was set enough in their ways that is cost them their position

I personally feel the whole "DD hated UNT" thing was a bit over blown, but it was going on at a critical time for UNT in terms of improving facilities, support, and conference affiliation and at the end of the day even though Todge sucked as a coach he was much more likable, he drew about the same fan numbers, and facilities were moved forward while he was at UNT and many on this forum still despise DD more than Todge simply for his attitude and the final outcome

if RV had been able to run his athletics program the way he desired without the BOR interfering I don't think the final outcome would have been different on conference affiliation, but I think it may have been different on where the program is today VS where it could be

bstnsportsfan3 · April 1, 2012

april fools????

GrandGreen · April 2, 2012

1. disingenuous at best to compare a large donor to the president of the university that is the direct supervisor of the AD

I highly doubt you have any more direct knowledge of what Dr. Bataille or Bobby Ray's influence on coaching decisions were, anymore than I do. We have all heard the same rumors but that does not make them true. I guess you would advocate doing what ever the boss's wants no matter what the cost. While the pressure of outside donors vs supervision is different, the point is that it is much greater at win at all cost programs with hundreds more big time stake holders. Bataille was obviously big on diversity, but she was also a very intelligent person. If you want to look at the situation at the time of Stephens employment, it is a mirror of NT's position if Aston's leaves. Despite having more women's sports; NT does not have one woman HC. You don't have to be big on women's rights to recognize that it is hard to rationalize that all hc's are men. Bataille didn't put NT in that position, she was not even at NT for most of those hires. Even so there were many women candidates with better qualifications than Stephens.

2. it is not like there is a massive list of proven candidates just lined up to take positions at UNT that afford the AD the opportunity to show his boss that there are so many better selections

Yes, college hc jobs are a hard sell. One obvious one he could have gotten and it wouldn't have taken a lot of imagination or sell job was K. Aston, who I believe was an assistant coach at Baylor at the time. There are always lots of good candidates for college hc jobs, the trick is finding the right one.

3. we know for a fact that Dr. B is not easily swayed when she takes a position on something because that same type of thing cost her the job as president....true her boss lee jackson is a do nothing idiot, but she would not flex to meet the demands of HER boss to the point that she lost her job what makes you think that she would so easily give in to a subordinate

Who said she would easily give in, assuming she made demands in the first place. I don't think Gretchen told RV, I want Stephens and if you don't hire her you're gone. She may have limited the field but I doubt she made the decision. If she did in fact dictate the direction RV took with the hire, he still is the one responsible for the person hired. You seem to forget how enthusiastic, the AD was about Stephens.

4. we all know that BOR bobby stepped in to keep DD and while that looked good at first it ended badly in the end

so there are two examples of RV having more than "outside interference" in two out of three major sports at UNT and the interference was from people that were in a position to remove RV from his position if he did not comply with their wishes....and one of them was set enough in their ways that is cost them their position "

You know at any job, if you disagree enough you can stand your ground and face the consequences.

"I personally feel the whole "DD hated UNT" thing was a bit over blown, but it was going on at a critical time for UNT in terms of improving facilities, support, and conference affiliation and at the end of the day even though Todge sucked as a coach he was much more likable, he drew about the same fan numbers, and facilities were moved forward while he was at UNT and many on this forum still despise DD more than Todge simply for his attitude and the final outcome"

I personally would have fired DD, the second time he put down NT and that would have been in the height of his career. The only time I ever heard DD say much positive about his position at NT was right before he was terminated.

"if RV had been able to run his athletics program the way he desired without the BOR interfering I don't think the final outcome would have been different on conference affiliation, but I think it may have been different on where the program is today VS where it could be"

More idle speculation, it is possible that if RV could have influenced Dickey enough not to run the program into the ground as he searched for his deserved place as HC at a far better situation. I haven't heard yet who other than RV made the Dodge decision, but that along with Dickey being uncontrollable put the program were it is today.

The AD is responsible for his decisions, whether coerced or independently created. It is kind of ironic that something so obviously true, is countered by more excuses. I may have been working at all the wrong places, but when I made or agreed to a decision; it became mine; no matter how it was derived.

Edited April 2, 2012 by GrandGreen

GL2Greatness · April 2, 2012

you seem to have little understanding of how it works for RV or what he can and can't do or what it is in it for him to do the things you wish he would do

forevereagle · April 2, 2012

you seem to have little understanding of how it works for RV or what he can and can't do or what it is in it for him to do the things you wish he would do

Do you know more about everything than everyone, or do you just act like it?

GL2Greatness · April 2, 2012

Do you know more about everything than everyone, or do you just act like it?

well I know for a fact that the administration at UNT has a long history of making promises they never intend to keep to department chairmen for several departments several times...I know this because I heard it right from those department chairmen's mouths several times and I watched those individuals leave UNT because of that and go on to success at other places

I know that in spite of the lack of contentment with RV from several members of this forum and with 100% of the other forum that RV still got a contract renewal just in the last few months

I know for a fact that for the last decade and a half that UNT has had one of the smallest athletics budgets in D1-A combined with a serious title 9 issue when RV first came here along with a serious facilities issue

I know for a fact that even today a very large portion of the athletics budget for UNT comes on the backs of students

I know that it is well documented that few coaches have ever moved up and on from UNT in any sport

I know it is well documented that the chancellor of the "system" likes to interfere in the running of the university and that he has performed extremely poorly in what was said to be his major qualification for the job when he was hired

so all that for me based on personal experience and knowledge of UNT tells me that RVs job will be based on much more than just wins and losses on the field and that the administration of UNT will have no issue with pushing decisions on RV even against his wishes or recommendations and it also leads me to believe that RV has been hung out to dry several times by past administrations so he is unwilling to stick his neck out now the way he has in the past especially when there is little if any incentive for him to do so from an employment perspective or from a fan and outside financial support perspective

Edited April 2, 2012 by GL2Greatness

UNTFan23 · April 2, 2012

When you don't use periods your posts look like this to me:

well I know for a fact that the administration at UNT has a long history of making promises they never intend to keep to department chairmen for several departments several times...I know this because I heard it right from those department chairmen's mouths several times and I watched those individuals leave UNT because of that and go on to success at other places I know that in spite of the lack of contentment with RV from several members of this forum and with 100% of the other forum that RV still got a contract renewal just in the last few months I know for a fact that for the last decade and a half that UNT has had one of the smallest athletics budgets in D1-A combined with a serious title 9 issue when RV first came here along with a serious facilities issue I know for a fact that even today a very large portion of the athletics budget for UNT comes on the backs of students I know that it is well documented that few coaches have ever moved up an on from UNT in any sport I know it is well documented that the chancellor of the "system" likes to interfere in the running of the university and that he has performed extremely poorly in what was said to be his major qualification for the job when he was hired so all that for me based on personal experience and knowledge of UNT tells me that RVs job will be based on much more than just wins and losses on the field and that the administration of UNT will have no issue with pushing decisions on RV even against his wishes or recommendations and it also leads me to believe that RV has been hung out to dry several times by past administrations so he is unwilling to stick his neck out now the way he has in the past especially when there is little if any incentive for him to do so from an employment perspective or from a fan and outside financial support perspective

forevereagle · April 2, 2012

well I know for a fact that the administration at UNT has a long history of making promises they never intend to keep to department chairmen for several departments several times...I know this because I heard it right from those department chairmen's mouths several times and I watched those individuals leave UNT because of that and go on to success at other places

I know that in spite of the lack of contentment with RV from several members of this forum and with 100% of the other forum that RV still got a contract renewal just in the last few months

I know for a fact that for the last decade and a half that UNT has had one of the smallest athletics budgets in D1-A combined with a serious title 9 issue when RV first came here along with a serious facilities issue

I know for a fact that even today a very large portion of the athletics budget for UNT comes on the backs of students

I know that it is well documented that few coaches have ever moved up and on from UNT in any sport

I know it is well documented that the chancellor of the "system" likes to interfere in the running of the university and that he has performed extremely poorly in what was said to be his major qualification for the job when he was hired

so all that for me based on personal experience and knowledge of UNT tells me that RVs job will be based on much more than just wins and losses on the field and that the administration of UNT will have no issue with pushing decisions on RV even against his wishes or recommendations and it also leads me to believe that RV has been hung out to dry several times by past administrations so he is unwilling to stick his neck out now the way he has in the past especially when there is little if any incentive for him to do so from an employment perspective or from a fan and outside financial support perspective

So...you act like it?

GL2Greatness · April 2, 2012

So...you act like it?

you can go on believing whatever you wish, but the reality is you will most likely end up sadly mistaken

Rudy · April 2, 2012

Do you know more about everything than everyone, or do you just act like it?

forevereagle · April 2, 2012

you can go on believing whatever you wish, but the reality is you will most likely end up sadly mistaken

untjim1995 · April 2, 2012

Maybe Stephens just really nailed the interview. She was already known in the business as a lights out recruiter. Sometimes people just do so well in the interview that they get hired. I see it in my job all of the time, wondering how some people got hired. The answer is simple.

First off, I care zero about women's basketball, only watch the highlights when they are on SportsCenter. I realize that is sexist, but I literally hate watching that style of basketball versus the men. Sorry about my chauvinistic attitude. But, I will say this about the Stephens woman who got hired. It sounds as if this was a checkmark hire by the university to get a minority woman hired, who also didn't demand much in pay. And, in true UNT fashion, we got what we paid for. I knew that lady would eventually get fired when her team LOST to TWU in a pre-season scrimmage. That, to me, is about as preposterous as it gets. I realize that those things happen, but that is beyond embarrssing. I'll never forget having a few TWU alums laughing at me about this.

Secondly, the Karen Aston hire is exactly what we should want to happen at North Texas. Be successful, have others recognize their greatness and hire them away for a lot more money than we could ever pay. If Johnny Jones ever wins a tournament game or two, he will have a good BCS job offer wherever he wants. If Dan McCarney was to have a season where we went 11-1, I can assure yall that offers would be flying in from all over the place, even if Coach Mac decided that this is supposed to be his last stop. This is, maybe sadly, the true dream of a mid-major. Get good, keep the coaching pipeline at a high level, develop the program into a great place, and then find a great guy who wants to stay here for a long time with great success (see Chris Peterson at Boise or Brad Stevens at Butler).