OVERCOMING ADVERSITY

KAREN ASTON has gone through the joys and downfalls of rebuilding programs
before. However, she didn’t expect her first season as Texas’ head coach to be
this difficult. Texas is 10-16 overall and 3-12 in the Big 12. The team’s top two scorers
this season — junior guard Chassidy Fussell and sophomore forward Nneka
Enemkpali — missed the game against Kansas after facing a one-game suspension.

Junior guard Ashley Roberts is injured. And senior Cokie Reed and junior
Chelsea Bass both retired from …

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basketball due to health reasons. “It’s difficult for the team, because we can’t maintain a level of consistency with what’s gone on,” Aston said. “Success is consistency.” A former assistant to Jody Conradt, Aston took over the Longhorns last spring after Gail Goestenkors resigned.

Texas certainly faced tough times under Goestenkors, but several players did forge close bonds with her. The new coaching staff had to overcome resistance that’s common when
people face different circumstances — they fight, even when it’s not logical or productive.
Aston has former Texas men’s star Travis Mays, plus former Longhorn women’s standouts Amie Smith Bradley and Stacy Stephens on her staff.

At some point, their collective experiences will help the Longhorns realize what it means to
wear a burnt orange jersey. But Aston knows this team is nowhere near ready to even think about embracing Texas’ proud past. “They’re in the moment, and all
they say is, ‘This is really hard,’” she said. “They have to find a way to overcome
‘really hard.’”

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