Spoke to Coach Aston and Washington

racerx5908

racerx5908

2,500+ Posts
I attended Sunday's TRUE session at the Erwin Center. This is part of Steve Patternson's new push to allow season ticket holders to improve their seats. Also, it gets more regularly attending fans bunched closer together (they hope). Anyway, the coaching staff was there. I took this opportunity to ask coaches Aston and Washington some questions that have permeated this board. Why not right? And surprisingly, they (Aston!) were candid with some of their answers.

Question to both coaches: So, you know who you're going to hire as the new assistant coach but you can't say right?
Answer (Washington): Yes (with a smile), but we have to wait for the process to play out.
Answer (Aston): Yes. We hope to announce the hire tomorrow (5/18).

Question to Washington: So, who's the last player coming in? You have a scholarship. Is it that girl transferring from USC?
Answer: Oh no! No, we have way too many guards. We've had 4 forwards come in for interviews. But that's about it.

Question to Aston: So Imani having another surgery?
Answer: It's to remove the screws that were put in last year. They have to come out sometime.

[oh - duh]

Statement to Aston: I was really bummed out to hear about Nekia.
Aston: [sigh] Well, you know sometimes, things don't work out. It (UT the school) was just becoming a burden and for some people it's not the right fit.
Statement to Aston: Well at least she'll be going with Jalie.
Aston: Yes(!) that is the best thing about the situation. We know she will be taken care of.
Statement to Aston: And there are no hard feelings.
Aston: Abosolutely! We're all good friends and nothing has changed.

And then I mumbled something about rumors that coaches were coming from the WNBA or that Ariel was transferring or that the message boards were analyzing pictures of who did or did not attend a celebration party or awards ceremony to figure out who might be disgruntled and transferring.

She just looked at me and almost rolled her eyes. Almost.

Anyway, Karen was pretty cool.
 
Thanks for taking the initiative.

After finding out Ariel had post-season surgery, I went back and re-read some of her tweets. Knowing what kind of athlete and competitor she is, fit the situation of dealing with injury/rehab frustrations.
 
really nice event. Didn't upgrade though. Already had the tour and all but it is always nice to see the digs again. Seriously nice stuff.

Heard Coach Aston speak about the new hire at her talk session. Hope the news is announced Monday but, if not, it is coming very soon. Coach seemed very positive that everything was worked out and an announcement would be made Monday.

Also, I was happy to hear that the players were ready to go back to work after the UConn game. That had to be an eye-opening experience for them. Glad it didn't crush them but rather is serving as motivation. We should have a solid group of seniors next year with Imani, Express, Celina and Brady.

One last thing, there is one more ship available for 2015 but it may not be used. They are also looking at European players for that ship but may not be decided until August due to different academic systems.

Expect everyone to be on campus by the second session with Lashann and Christina possibly missing the first session. Jordan will get a look as a 4/3 forward. Christina is raw but is a rebounding beast and has humongous hands.

Erin Floyd was among the injured as well. She had knee surgery in April. Walking well today when she gave one of the tours of Cooley.

That's all the news fit to print I can remember. Hopefully, this will take off and attract a bigger crowd in the future. Only thing I didn't like were the crawfish given out by Joe's Crab Shack but I don't like them anyway.
 
Thanks for the info. Glad to hear we will know about the assistant head coach tomorrow.

Not shocked we aren't in the market for a transfer guard; it's all about the power forward position for that last 'ship; obviously, two of the four players who came to visit were Akhator and Imovbioh. Wonder who the other two were, and if we will sign one. Would sure like some help at that position for this coming season.
 
So how was the process if you wanted to upgrade? Did they just have you go into an empty fec and choose new seats? How where the available ones marked? How many where there s d how many picking at one time?
Thanks
 
airtightskipole said:
So how was the process if you wanted to upgrade? Did they just have you go into an empty fec and choose new seats? How where the available ones marked? How many where there s d how many picking at one time?
Thanks
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1. You have to be a member of the Longhorn Foundation
2. They have a formula which factors the $$ you've contributed over the years and the number of years you have been buying various team season tickets.
3. Based on the number, which is called the Loyalty Points, you are slotted into time slots with which you can pick your upgrade.
4. On the open seats at the Erwin Center are the price (better seats cost slightly more). If you want those seats, you tell a helper that you'd like to trade up. They take the information of your existing season tickets and move you and tell you if you owe more money.
6. The seats you freed up by moving are then marked with "open" for the people who have later time slots (lower loyalty points) than you.

http://i57.tinypic.com/30j1evm.jpg

http://i58.tinypic.com/sgqt8g.jpg


Picture of the Erwin Center about 5 minutes before my slot appended to this post. The white sheets on the back top of the seats indicate seats free for upgrade
 
Great news!! Of all the candidates discussed subsequent to the initial tweet and blog post, I was really hopeful the choice was Thompson. I think this is going to be a huge asset on the recruiting trail (not that we need much help on that front given recent successes)....welcome to Texas, Tina!!!! :bounce1::bow:
 
Spectacularly exciting hire- some things are worth waiting for! (oh, and I will be watching from my upgraded seat with no extra donation made.)
 
Feels good to guess right for once haha!!! And I guess that Aston "eye roll" was more of a "how could they possibly know that already". So happy to hear this. I think this kicks our already great recruiting into overdrive and gives us instant credibility to walk into any home in America
 
Ok Tina-time to get to Austin and recruit, recruit, recruit! We need the Bigs to win the National Championships!
Tina Thompson is a really classy person! I lived in Houton during the Comets rein and she was just a super representative for the team. Congratulations on a Great hire Coach KA!! You did good!
 
Moooooo said:
Thanks for the info. Glad to hear we will know about the assistant head coach tomorrow.

Not shocked we aren't in the market for a transfer guard; it's all about the power forward position for that last 'ship; obviously, two of the four players who came to visit were Akhator and Imovbioh. Wonder who the other two were, and if we will sign one. Would sure like some help at that position for this coming season.
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Pretty sure the other two were the Caron-Goudreau twins. I saw a tweet from someone about them visiting over the weekend of the 9th. When I went back to try to find the tweet, I couldn't remember where I saw it. Oof!
 
utfannforlife said:
Feels good to guess right for once haha!!! And I guess that Aston "eye roll" was more of a "how could they possibly know that already". So happy to hear this. I think this kicks our already great recruiting into overdrive and gives us instant credibility to walk into any home in America
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To be honest, was surprised by WNBA choice. I brought that (WNBA) up to coach Washington and he gave a "surprised" look (as well as 3 fans sitting around near him). Good poker face!
 
hoopsalot said:
Spectacularly exciting hire- some things are worth waiting for! (oh, and I will be watching from my upgraded seat with no extra donation made.)
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Yes, I upgraded without additional donation as well (moved down two rows and 6 seats closer to center court). I spoke to my assigned ticket issue person who's gotten to know me by face (I've run into him at softball games as well) and he agreed the old method of "upgrades" was cloaked in secrecy and no one knew how to get better seats - unless you happen to know someone.
 
Great hire, as i've said numerous times, we are going to get back to national prominence, in coach Aston I trust.
 
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racerx5908 said:
Yes, I upgraded without additional donation as well (moved down two rows and 6 seats closer to center court). I spoke to my assigned ticket issue person who's gotten to know me by face (I've run into him at softball games as well) and he agreed the old method of "upgrades" was cloaked in secrecy and no one knew how to get better seats - unless you happen to know someone.
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I got my first ever season tickets. Couldn't attend event so gave input over phone and selection was made on my behalf. Got center court, behind media tables, first row of permanent seats (one row of folding chairs in front in that section). I have no way of knowing for certain, but seems like a good place to be.
 
overseasbbfan1 said:
I got my first ever season tickets. Couldn't attend event so gave input over phone and selection was made on my behalf. Got center court, behind media tables, first row of permanent seats (one row of folding chairs in front in that section). I have no way of knowing for certain, but seems like a good place to be.
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If you can, bail from those seats. We were offered those seats last year, sat in them for a pre-season and one regular season. Then we asked for our old seats back! I know the seats. They are right on the center line. But: 1) the seats are not elevated high enough from the foldout sets in front of you. 2) the media tables are in front of those seats as well. You spend a lot of time looking through heads. Sorry to put it in a public forum.
 
racerx5908 said:
If you can, bail from those seats. We were offered those seats last year, sat in them for a pre-season and one regular season. Then we asked for our old seats back! I know the seats. They are right on the center line. But: 1) the seats are not elevated high enough from the foldout sets in front of you. 2) the media tables are in front of those seats as well. You spend a lot of time looking through heads. Sorry to put it in a public forum.
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No worries, and thanks for the input. I will probably stick with the selection, at least for the first year. I think my seat is in the middle of the two media tables (there's a gap between the two), so not directly behind either. And I tend to stand up a lot during games so perhaps not being elevated much above the folding chairs won't be as big a deal as it might be for others. Of course, if it is problematic, I will definitely change for the following season.
 
jusme828 said:
Pretty sure the other two were the Caron-Goudreau twins. I saw a tweet from someone about them visiting over the weekend of the 9th. When I went back to try to find the tweet, I couldn't remember where I saw it. Oof!
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Interesting. I would assume they both want to play together, and we don't have two 'ships available at this time.
 
I didn't upgrade but moved to the exact same seat on the other side of the arena so that I could sit by some friends. I really liked the way they did it with all available seats labeled in the empty arena. I knew my friend's seats so found a seat was available next to them, so I'm really happy. Oh and I got a really nice sweatshirt hoodie for participating! Unlike Babhorn I liked the crawfish and drinks. The band was nice too and it was really nice to hear Coach talk candidly about last season and the players. I will definitely attend the event the next time, even if I'm not changing seats.
 
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