Karen Aston (1964–)

Longtime women’s basketball coach Karen Aston first had a successful high school and college playing career. She began her coaching career at the high school level before moving to college, where she served first as assistant coach before becoming a college head coach in 2007.

Karen Sue Aston was born on July 26, 1964, to Dean and Norma Haley in Benton (Saline County). She played high school basketball at Bryant (Saline County), leading the team to the state title in 1982, while twice earning first team All-State honors. She then went to Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia (Clark County) before transferring to the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, where she played for two years, leading the team in both scoring and field goals in 1986. Aston graduated in 1987 with a bachelor’s degree in physical education.

She began coaching basketball as well as cross-country and track at Vilonia High School in Vilonia (Faulkner County). Her five seasons at Vilonia were capped by a 36–1 record and a state championship in the 1992–1993 season. That effort also earned Aston the Arkansas Basketball Coach of the Year Award. Aston’s cross-country teams also won back-to-back state titles in 1991 and 1992. From Vilonia, Aston moved to Fort Smith Northside in Fort Smith (Sebastian County), where she led the team to a 24–10 record, earning Coach of the Year honors for the Northwest Region.

She was then offered a position as an assistant coach at Baylor University in Waco, Texas, working under the legendary Sonja Hogg, who had previously led her Louisiana Tech teams to two national championships. After two years at Baylor, Aston became an assistant coach at the University of North Texas in Denton in 1996. Aston left after two years to accept a job with the storied program at the University of Texas (UT) in Austin, where she would ultimately serve as the assistant coach to Hall of Fame coach Jody Conradt through the end of the 2005–2006 season. Aston left UT to return to Baylor, this time to serve as the associate head coach under Hall of Fame coach Kim Mulkey. In the spring of 2007, Aston was offered the head coaching job at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, a position she would hold until 2011.

Over four seasons at UNC Charlotte, Aston’s teams compiled a record of 86–47, making the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) tournament once while advancing to the Final Four of the Women’s National Invitation Tournament (WNIT) in 2011 to cap a season in which the team finished with a 27–10 record. In April 2011, Aston resigned her position and returned to the University of North Texas as head coach, a move that brought her closer to her family in Arkansas.

After her successful tenure at UNC Charlotte, Aston faced a real challenge at North Texas, as she took over a team that had finished 5–25 in 2010–2011. But under her guidance, they tripled their win total and finished the season at 15–16. It was a performance that caught the attention of the basketball community, and at the end of the season she was offered the chance to return to UT, this time as head coach.

Aston’s first season at UT was the only one during Aston’s time in Austin in which the Lady Longhorns did not win at least nineteen games. But the following season saw the team bounce back from its 12–18 record to go 22–12 while finishing in third place in the Big 12 Conference. It was the first of six seasons in a row in which the team won at least twenty-two games, and they capped it by reaching the second round of the NCAA tournament. The team boasted a 24–11 record in the 2014 season while reaching the NCAA Sweet Sixteen. The following year saw the first of three straight 15–3 conference records and second-place finishes in the conference, while their overall record of 31–5 included a run to the NCAA Elite Eight. In 2016–2017, the team finished 25–9 and made the Sweet Sixteen; the 2017–2018 team also made the Sweet Sixteen while compiling a record of 28–7. The 2018–2019 team finished 23–10 but was ousted from the NCAA tournament in the first round. The 2019–2020 team finished 19–11 in a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, but while her overall record at Texas was 184–83, Aston’s contract with Texas was not renewed.

Aston sat out the COVID-plagued 2020–2021 season. She was hired in March 2021 by the University of Texas at San Antonio and charged with turning around the program that had finished the 2020–21 season with a 2–18 record.

While they continued to struggle, the UTSA Roadrunners made marked progress with Aston at the helm, improving to 7–23 in 2021–22, 13–19 in 2022–23, and 18–15 in 2023–24. The 2023–24 team also advanced to the second round of the WNIT.

Aston received the Big 12 Coach of the Year award in 2017 and was one of four finalists in 2017 and one of ten semifinalists in 2018 for the Naismith Women’s College Coach of the Year Award. She was inducted into the University of Arkansas at Little Rock Hall of Fame in 2019 and the Bryant High School Athletic Hall of Honor the same year. Aston is married to former WNBA player Claire Coggins, and the couple has a daughter.

For additional information:
“Karen Aston.” University of Arkansas at Little Rock Hall of Fame. https://lrtrojans.com/honors/hall-of-fame/karen-aston/9 (accessed August 22, 2024).

“Karen Aston.” University of Texas, San Antonio. https://goutsa.com/staff/karen-aston (accessed August 22, 2024).

Souza, Chip. “Aston’s Journey Started in Arkansas.” Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, January 4, 2015. https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/2015/jan/04/astons-journey-started-arkansas/ (accessed August 22, 2024).

“#TitleIX50 Pioneer: Karen Aston.” Ohio Valley Conference. https://ovcsports.com/news/2022/6/15/general-titleix50-pioneer-karen-aston.aspx (accessed August 22, 2024).

William H. Pruden III
Ravenscroft School