ABILENE – ACU director of athletics
Jared Mosley announced Monday night that the contract of head women's basketball coach Shawna Lavender will not be renewed and that she has been relieved of her duties, effective immediately.
Lavender was let go Monday, two days after the Wildcats finished a disappointing 2011-12 campaign. Picked to finish fifth in the revamped Lone Star Conference, the Wildcats ended up 7-13 in league play, which left them 10th in the 11-team league.
The Wildcats were a combined 23-30 overall and 15-19 in league play the last two seasons. Under Lavender's direction, the Wildcats reached the LSC Post-Season Tournament seven times and the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament twice. However, the Wildcats were just 3-7 in LSC tournament play and 0-2 in regional play.
"This is a tough decision personally because of my respect for Shawna both as a coach and as a friend," Mosley said. "She has had a tremendous impact on the young women who have come through our program during her time at ACU, and I have great deal of admiration for the role she's played in developing those young people.
"Ultimately, however, I believe we've reached a point in our program where we need a change of direction." he said. "We just haven't been able to reach the competitive level that we desire , and I believe we need to begin the process of making that happen."
Mosley said a national search for Lavender's replacement would begin immediately, but set no timetable for an announcement of a new coach.
Lavender leaves ACU with an overall record of 149-111 (.573 winning percentage) and those post-season appearances in nine full seasons.
She took over the Wildcat program with six games left in the 2002-03 season and led the team to a 5-1 record, narrowly missing the conference tournament.
That late-season momentum, however, carried over to the 2003-04 season, which saw the Wildcats finish 19-10 overall and second in the LSC South Division and reach the LSC Post-Season Tournament semifinals.
In 2004-05, ACU finished third in the LSC South Division, reached the LSC Tournament semifinals for the second straight season and earned a berth in the NCAA Regional tournament. ACU also posted 20 wins, the first time the program had posted a 20-win season since the 1998-99 campaign.
After a rebuilding season in 2005-06, the Wildcats rebounded in 2006-07 to finish 17-12 and reach the LSC Post-Season Tournament quarterfinals. In 2007-08, the Wildcats finished 18-11 overall and reached the LSC Post-Season Tournament semifinals.
The Wildcats finished 18-11 in 2008-09, but qualified for the NCAA Division II South Central Region Tournament for the first time since 2004-05.
The 2009-10 season saw Lavender lead the Wildcats to a 17-11 finish and fourth place finish in the Lone Star Conference South Division earning a berth in the LSC Post-Season Tournament for the fourth consecutive year. ACU got into the tournament with a win on the final day of the regular season at two-time defending champion West Texas A&M.
The win in Canyon was the first since the 2003 season and Lavender's Wildcats swept the Lady Buffs for the first time since the 1980-81 season. However, the Wildcats post-season run was cut short with a memorable triple overtime loss to Central Oklahoma in Bartlesville, Okla.
Lavender joined the coaching staff in July 1997 as a graduate assistant, and was then named a full-time assistant coach in spring 1999.
Lavender, a 1997 graduate of SMU, was a four-year letterwinner and led the Mustangs to a combined 78-40 record with two NCAA Division I tournament appearances. She scored a career-high 42 points in SMU's quadruple-overtime victory over TCU in 1997.
Lavender missed the 1995-96 season with a knee injury, but came back to start all 30 games in 1996-97 and average 10.4 points per game and rank fifth in the Western Athletic Conference in assists.
A two-time team captain, Lavender received a bachelor's degree in English from SMU and a master's in education from ACU. She was a Class 5A all-state selection from Georgetown High School and led GHS to a 63-8 record in her last two years after moving from Westwood High School in Round Rock. Lavender also played in the 1992 Texas high school girls' coaches' all-star game.
