ex-UNT asst key to Lady Horns success

[Marty]

Assistant helps Longhorns bring talent back to Austin

Aston's hard work pays off as UT returns to Final Four

04/05/2003

By CHIP BROWN / The Dallas Morning News

AUSTIN – Just like John Travolta needed Pulp Fiction to make his comeback, Jody Conradt may have needed Karen Aston.

The Texas women's basketball team is back in the Final Four, where it seemed to live in the mid-1980s, when Conradt led UT to two Final Fours and the first undefeated women's national championship in 1986.

But for Conradt, the 1990s were almost a decade to forget by Texas standards. None of those teams made it past the second round of the NCAA Tournament.

Enter Aston in 1998, when Conradt hired her away from an assistant job at North Texas because Conradt was tired of seeing and hearing about Aston everywhere on the recruiting trail – working for someone else. Aston took over recruiting for Conradt and in two years became Conradt's first associate head coach because of the stream of talent pouring into Austin.

Under Aston's direction, UT's roster is now loaded with Parade All-Americans Stacy Stephens and Heather Schreiber, McDonald's All-American Nina Norman as well as Oklahoma's high school player of the year in 2000-01, Kala Bowers. Aston has known about almost all of them since they were in eighth grade.

Texas also has signed two top national recruits for next year: Tiffany Jackson, a 6-4 forward from Duncanville, and Kalee Carey, a 6-5 center from Canyon, Texas. UT loses senior guard Tai Dillard from its starting lineup after this season.

Aston, 38, gives the credit to Conradt, to the university, to fellow assistants Fred Applin and Kathy Harston and to the willingness of UT players to help recruit new players. But no one works harder on recruiting than Aston.

"There are a lot of younger coaches out there following Karen's model," said Conradt, who, of course, gets credit for closing any recruiting deal with her 817 career wins. "And it's 24-7. Karen is part of a new wave of recruiters who are totally focused on that – every day.

"All of us who have been in this business, from Pat Summit to Sue Gunter to Geno [Auriemma] – that wasn't what you had to do in recruiting when we got started. And now, whether I like the model or not, this is what you have to do."

This is writing letters, e-mailing, instant messaging and calling recruits whenever possible. It's having an unlimited minutes cell phone plan. It's flying to high school basketball or volleyball games in the evening after a UT game that afternoon; getting to the game early and sitting on the front row so the recruit sees you right away. It's knowing what movies, music or video games recruits like; whether a family member is sick or up for a promotion; or if a recruit is stressed about a biology test.

It's a delicate art because recruiters can overdo it and turn kids off. But Aston has a soft-touch and an unbelievable ability to connect with athletes.

"She has a way of making everyone feel special," said Jerry Simmons, a Dallas-based AAU coach who had Stacy Stephens and the Longhorns' Alisha Sare of Lewisville as players while they were being recruited by Aston.

"Players on other teams will say, 'Say hi to Karen,' because they got close to her during recruiting," said Schreiber, UT's high-scoring sophomore who was recruited by Texas since she was in eighth grade.

Said Stephens, the team's leading scorer and rebounder, "Karen cares more about the person than she does about selling the university, and that's key. You don't feel like a basketball player in her eyes. You feel like a friend."

Ask those close to Texas women's basketball why Conradt's program is back on top, and they will give you two reasons: Conradt re-committed to the program in April 2001, when, after nine years, she gave up her dual role as athletics director of UT women's sports.

They will also tell you the recruiting has brought in the kind of talent Conradt was accustomed to coaching during the 1980s, when she had the likes of Clarissa Davis, Andrea Lloyd and Kamie Ethridge.

Aston will stop at nothing to let a player know the eyes of Texas are upon her. When South Grand Prairie sensation Ashley Robinson was high-jumping at the Texas Relays three years ago, Aston urged Conradt and the entire Longhorn team to go out and cheer her on. Robinson ultimately went to Tennessee. But Aston has helped convince Ashley's younger sister, Katrina, to attend Texas next year.

Aston was adamant with Conradt that Texas could compete for Bowers, who would have seemed a natural to sign with the Oklahoma Sooners after growing up in Woodward, Okla. Once Conradt believed it wasn't a waste of time, she flew through tornadoes in the area to see Bowers play in Oklahoma. Texas signed the 6-2 forward, who averages nine points and five rebounds per game.

Aston, a 5-5 former guard at Ouachita Baptist University and Arkansas-Little Rock, says she would like to be a head coach one day. A native of Benton, Ark., who also served as an assistant at Baylor from 1994-96, Aston downplays her accomplishments except to say, "I'm not afraid to go up against anyone for any player. That's the kind of player I was."

E-mail chipbrown@dallasnews.com

KAREN ASTON FILE

Age: 38

Hometown: Benton, Ark.

Position: Associate head coach at Texas

Responsibilities: Coordinate recruiting and coach defense

College: Played two years at Ouachita Baptist University (in Arkadelphia, Ark.) before transferring to Arkansas-Little Rock

Experience: Assistant coach at North Texas (two seasons; 1996-98); assistant coach at Baylor (two seasons; 1994-96)

Notable: Aston has helped recruit at least one impact player per season in her five seasons under Jody Conradt. ... Aston is also in charge of coaching Conradt's frenetic, man-to-man defense, which is limiting opponents to 55.4 points per game, second-best in UT women's basketball history. ... Friends say Aston's most coveted possessions are her cell phone and coffee.

Quotable: "I want to be a head coach, and I think I am ready," Aston said. "But I'm still learning from Jody, and there's great players out there right now who are telling me we are high on their list. So more great things are coming. So I'm not in any hurry. The opportunity that I have today will be there in a couple more years. I'm going to enjoy this."