Travis Mays named women’s basketball head coach at SMU

By Steve Lansdale

DALLAS, Texas — Travis Mays and the University of Texas women’s basketball team were unhappy witnesses to an unstoppable force from the northeast, watching their season end with a loss to the University of Connecticut in the fourth round of the NCAA Tournament. Connecticut head coach Geno Auriemma followed that win over the Longhorns by guiding his team to another national championship … and then making a call to Rick Hart, the athletic director at SMU, which was narrowing the search for a new women’s basketball head coach.

“You’re not going to make a hire based on any one recommendation,” Hart said, “but I will say this about Coach Auriemma: I’m imagining a lot of people want him to recommend them for jobs, and he didn’t call me with three names or five names or seven names — he called me about Travis.”

That phone call was part of the process that led SMU to hire the former UT star player and assistant coach[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level1)] to replace Rhonda Rompola as the Mustangs’ new head coach. Rompola retired after 25 years as the school’s head coach and left the Hilltop with more victories (439) than any coach in the history of all sports at SMU.

The move pushed Mays through a range of emotions. He achieved his goal of becoming a college head coach for the first time, but it also meant he and his family are leaving Texas, where he made his mark as both one of the best players in school history and as an assistant coach who has been hailed as an exceptional teacher and recruiter. When asked whether it was more difficult to convince SMU officials he was the right candidate to take over the program, or to leave his alma mater, Mays struggled with the answer.

“I don’t know which is harder, because they both are extremely tough,” he said. I have a lot of love for the University of Texas. I came there a boy, (and) I think I left a man. I have so many friends and family members there, but to get an opportunity of a lifetime, both of them are priceless.”

Hart called Mays to offer him the job when Mays and his family had just landed in Las Vegas for a vacation. The family quickly flew to Dallas for Friday’s announcement, meaning Mays had not yet had a chance for in-person farewells with the Longhorns.

“I haven’t even had a chance to get back to Austin when this happened, so the team found out with me being on the road, headed to vacation, and now I’m already being announced as the new head coach and I still haven’t seen one of them face-to-face yet,” he said. “We have communicated in text messages and on the phone, and some of the text messages brought me to tears. So it’s extremely hard. I’ve invested in some of those players, recruiting them since they were in the sixth grade, and now they’re freshmen, sophomores, even juniors at the University of Texas, so that’s extremely tough. Some of them said things like, “I’ve always wanted to play for you. Now I no longer have the opportunity to play for you, but I’m going to take what it is that you’ve given me and continue that.” What that does to me … you can’t put into words.”

Texas head coach Karen Aston also felt mixed emotions. She said she is proud and happy for Mays, but also hates to see him leave Austin.

“SMU is not only getting a great coach, but an even better person,” she said. “Losing Travis to SMU has been one of the hardest, yet proudest, moments of my coaching career. His hard work, loyalty, knowledge and passion have made him not only a great coach, but also a great friend to me and our program. I am immensely indebted to him for his efforts to help Texas become a better program. We all wish him the best of luck as he embarks on his new journey. He will always be a Longhorn.”

At SMU, Mays takes over a program that went 13-18 in 2015-16, including a mark of 7-11 against teams from the American Athletic Conference, the conference that includes Auriemma’s Huskies.

With the spring signing period just days away, Mays will hustle to assemble a coaching staff and sign up to five players to fill holes on the Mustangs’ roster.

“I’m just happy that SMU is in Dallas, in Texas, because it’s a talent-rich state,” Mays said. “Now, some people can’t do that locally and become successful, because they may be in a dry state where there’s no talent. We have loads of talent. Everybody in the country is coming here to get talent. I think Texas is a very, very prideful state, a family-oriented state, and if we can keep some of these kids in this area at SMU, I think I can have success for a very long time.”

In Mays, the Mustangs are getting a new coach who has been an assistant in the WNBA and in college, at several marquee programs (including Georgia and LSU) and under three coaches who now are in the Hall of Fame, including former Texas head coach Jody Conradt, who gave him his first job.

“Travis was outstanding as a player, very good and passionate about the game,” Conradt said. “I knew him as a player, and seeing him on the staff of a WNBA team gave me the comfort to hire him at Texas. It told me he had an appreciation for women’s basketball and a future in the field. He was a great hire at Texas, eager to learn, and he turned the passion he had as a player into a passion for teaching the game. He was a wonderful assistant with the ability to establish relationships and connects with players very well. He has a great opportunity at a prominent institution in an excellent location, and I’m excited to watch what he does at SMU. I know he will be successful.”

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