Karen Aston


Karen Sue Aston is an American basketball player and coach. She has served as the head women's basketball coach at Texas, from 2012 until 2020, and at North Texas.

Background

In her career as a college assistant coach, Aston has served under three coaches in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. As associate head coach at Baylor, she worked for Kim Mulkey; in an earlier stint at Baylor she served under Sonja Hogg. Prior to becoming Baylor's associate head coach, she served eight seasons in the same capacity at The University of Texas at Austin under Jody Conradt.

Charlotte

Aston was introduced as the 49ers' new head coach on April 27, 2007. She replaced Amanda Butler, who left Charlotte after six seasons to coach her alma mater, the University of Florida. Aston inherited a 49ers team that had made five consecutive postseason appearances including a WNIT berth in 2007. After a WNIT appearance in 2008, she led the 49ers to the 2009 Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament Title, and an 11th seed in the 2009 NCAA Women's Division I Basketball Tournament. After a run to the final four of the WNIT in 2011, Aston abruptly resigned on April 6, 2011 and soon thereafter accepted the head coaching position at North Texas in order to be closer to her family in Arkansas.

North Texas

On April 11, 2011, Karen Aston was named the sixth head coach of the University of North Texas women's basketball program. She returned to the university where she had coached as an assistant from 1996 to 1998 under longtime UNT head coach Tina Slinker. Aston took over a program that had gone 5–25 the previous year, and tripled that win total her first year with a 15–16 overall record. On February 18, 2012, Aston earned her 100th victory as a head coach.

Head Coaching Record