Grill: Aston Ready to Lead Longhorn Program

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Karen Aston, Texas Women's Basketball Coach

First-Year Head Coach Knows Texas Hoops

The state of Texas has become the hub for women's college basketball the past few seasons. With recent NCAA National Champs Baylor and Texas A&M considered the cream of the Big 12 Conference, it's no wonder that the Lone Star State has stolen the headlines.

Throw in the fact that Cy-Fair's Nneke Ogwumike (Stanford) was the WNBA's No. 1 draft pick and Rookie of the Year and sister Chiney Ogwumike (Stanford) will be a finalist for the 2012-13 NCAA Player of the Year, and Houston is thought of as fertile ground for the sport.

Did we forget the Brittany Griner (Aldine Nimitz) phenomenon? You get the picture.

To get back in the game, Texas hired Karen Aston in the offseason to be its fourth-ever head coach. Aston knows basketball and she KNOWS the state of Texas. She has served as an assistant on the Longhorn, Baylor and North Texas staffs before becoming the head coach of UNC-Charlotte for four years. She was the head coach of North Texas last year before Texas came calling.

"We will be reminding people how successful Texas has been in the past and we are going to bring the legacy back," she said. "The first thing we worked on when I got here was conditioning. Now I feel we are prepared for the season."

Aston has been known as a tenacious recruiter and she has picked up several verbal commits recently from the Houston area. Dekaney's Brianna Taylor, The Woodlands' Kelsey Lang and 2015 star Jordan Hosey of Manvel have all verballed, but watch for more national recruits to pledge to the Longhorns and coach Aston by signing day.