LISTEN: Conversation with Karen Aston, Texas head coach

The Texas coach goes deep on the program, present and future

Karen Aston, Texas coach, didn’t mince words when discussing her effort to get transfer Karisma Ortiz, who’d left Penn State for Austin, eligible to play this season.

“Quite honestly, I didn’t expect Karisma’s waiver to be accepted,” Aston said on a recent podcast. “I mean, we appealed it, we tried everything we could, but I definitely wasn’t necessarily on the side of thinking that that was going to happen. I mean, if that was going to happen, then they might as well just say, “Okay, anytime there’s a coaching change, kids should be allowed to transfer and be eligible,” but that’s not the rule.”

Aston discussed both the contours and opaqueness of those rules, along with so much else about her program, during an extended conversation with me this week, following Texas’ big 66-60 win at Rocky Top over Tennessee.

I found her fascinating as usual, but let me also highlight a reason she cited for why players shouldn’t be so quick to transfer — offering Joyner Holmes and Imani McGee-Stafford as examples.

“There’s probably not a freshman in the country that’s going to tell you that they’re happy,” Aston said. “It’s a hard transition, it’s a really hard transition to make. And if they just stick it out, by the time they get to be the end of their sophomore year into their junior year, they’re starting to figure not only the sport out and what what’s expected at this level, but they’re also starting to figure out like who they are and what they want.”

Listen to the whole conversation. I always learn from Karen Aston, and so will you.

Here’s Part I:

And here’s Part II:

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