A former collegiate standout who holds the career scoring record at North Texas and a rising talent in the coaching ranks, Jalie Mitchell joins Texas Women's Basketball head coach Karen Aston's first staff on the 40 Acres as an assistant coach. Mitchell joined Aston at North Texas for the 2011-12 season after spending one year as an assistant coach at UNC-Wilmington. Together, Aston and Mitchell tripled the Mean Green's victory total in one season, as UNT went 15-16 during the 2011-12 season after winning just five games the previous year. In her one season at UNC-Wilmington (2010-11), Mitchell helped lead the Seahawks to unprecedented success with a 24-win season and the school's first ever post-season berth, as the team advanced to the second round of the WNIT. Mitchell played a key role in the development of Colonial Athletic Association Rookie of the Year Alisha Andrews and sophomore guard Jessica Freeman, who overcame ACL reconstruction in the offseason to play in all 33 games. Prior to her time at UNCW, Mitchell first entered the collegiate coaching ranks as an assistant coach for her alma mater. During the 2008-09 and 2009-10 seasons, Mitchell worked with the guards and helped turn the North Texas backcourt into a solid two-way attack. She mentored a trio of double-digit scorers, including Brittney James, an All-Sun Belt Conference selection who finished her career as the only player in school history to record at least 1,000 points, make 100 three-pointers and record 200 steals. Heralded as perhaps the greatest player to ever suit up at North Texas, Mitchell led the North Texas women's basketball team to the best four-year stretch in school history from 1998-2002. The Mean Green won 77 games in four seasons and had a remarkable home record of 42-4. Aston recruited Mitchell to North Texas during her two-year stint as an assistant coach in Denton before leaving to take an assistant position on Naismith Memorial Hall-of-Famer Jody Conradt's staff at Texas prior to the start of Mitchell's freshman season in 1998. During Mitchell's senior season, she was part of a team that set a school single-season record with 21 wins and advanced to the postseason WNIT. During that year, she averaged 19.4 points per game and scored 20 points or more 14 times. Mitchell turned in one of the most dominating single-game performances with a career-high 37 points, which still ranks as the fifth most in a single game at North Texas. She was named all-conference all four years at North Texas, concluding her career as the 2002 Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year. Mitchell is the Mean Green's all-time leading scorer with 1,764 points and ranks No. 1 in career free throws made and attempted. She also ranks in the top 10 in school history in 10 other categories. In her four-year career, Mitchell averaged double-figures in each season. She is the only women's basketball player in school history to win Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year honors and the only four-time all-conference player at North Texas. MItchell was inducted into the North Texas Athletic Hall of Fame in 2007 and is one of just two players to have her number retired. Mitchell graduated from North Texas with a bachelor's degree in finance in 2002. Upon graduation, Mitchell worked in the banking industry for six years before joining the collegiate coaching ranks. |
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