It’s Austin College Crimson & Gold Challenge Week! See the comments for a link to give back to AC. I believe that to encourage others to give, one has to give first. So, on Crimson & Gold Challenge Week, I usually give a story. This year’s Challenge Week story is about Coach Jody Conradt, Coach Olivia Hunt, and women’s basketball.
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My outstanding University of Texas System colleague Christine Bunce retired this week. Christine is a huge Longhorn women’s basketball fan. Her boss Faye Godwin is also awesome and did what any awesome boss would do. She invited arguably the best women’s basketball coach in the history of the game to Christine’s retirement party: Longhorn Coach Jody Conradt.
Coach Conradt was an athlete who endured the unjust era of gender inequity before Title IX. But after that landmark legislation in the 1970s, Conradt became a coaching icon for women’s basketball. She demanded gender equity, high graduation rates, and more than anything, success on the court. Coach Conradt. Knows. Winning. Y’all.
Over a four-decade career both before and at the University of Texas, Jody Conradt’s teams won an incredible 900 games (.746 winning percentage); she finished her career second in all-time victories. Conradt’s squads consistently reached the NCAA tournament, earning multiple trips to the Final Four. And in the glorious season of 1985-86, your Longhorns went 34-0 and won the national title.
Here’s what you need to know about that 1985-86 season. The Longhorn women outdrew the men in attendance. In fact, Longhorn men’s basketball sometimes scheduled their games AFTER the women in order to retain the huge Conradt crowds. It was novel at the time, raising all kinds of wonderfully uncomfortable questions about compensation, revenue, and gender equity.
In the 1986 championship game, Conradt’s team defeated USC and the great Cheryl Miller. Reggie Miller will tell you himself: he might be in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, but he’s arguably not even the best player in his own family. I mentioned to Conradt on Wednesday that I attended a game in Austin back in 1986. In perhaps my favorite understatement ever, Coach Conradt told me “Hey, that was a pretty good year!”
So did Jody, Marc, and Roo John Cotton talk all things Longhorn at Christine’s retirement party on Wednesday? Heck no, man. We talked all things Roos.
Coach Conradt mentioned Claude Webb Jr.’s Luckett Hall roommate Butch Worley, a former Roo footballer who was one of her Longhorn Athletic Director colleagues. She talked about Roo Larry Tidwell, an exceptional women’s basketball coach in his own right. Conradt knew Hardee McCrary, a former UT assistant to Mack Brown, and John Cotton’s niece Bentley, a talented golfer for the Horns. She even told the story of a recruiting trip to Grayson County that went off the rails; that checks. 😊 Coach Conradt. Knows. Roos. Y’all.
If there’s one thing Austin College knows well, it’s women’s basketball. The arrival of All-American Maggie Roe was followed by the exceptional Roo teams of the late 1990s that nearly won a national title (and earned a Marc Roo Tale). Coach Michelle Filander’s teams in the 2010s consistently earned conference titles and NCAA tournament berths. Just last month I congratulated one of Coach Filander’s best players, Ann Savage, on her induction into the AC Hall of Honor.
So, what is the state of AC Women’s Basketball today? Boy, do I have good news. Dr. Rebecca Cantor, a former NCAA D1 athlete, is now President of Austin College. Dr. Cantor’s Athletic Director is now former Coach Michelle Filander. And Filander’s replacement to lead AC women’s basketball is her former player Olivia Hunt. How did Coach Hunt and her squad do in her first year? They won a 2026 conference title and advanced to the NCAA Tournament; that checks. 😊 Coach Hunt. Knows. Winning. Y’all.
For her efforts on behalf of the women’s game both on and off the court, Jody Conradt was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. See the comments for video of Coach Conradt’s impact on the game. I think I’ll give to AC Women’s Basketball today in the name of two outstanding coaches at the end and beginning of their careers: Jody Conradt and Olivia Hunt.
Thanks for being an exceptional colleague at the University of Texas for over 20 years Christine. My retirement gift to you is, not surprisingly, a Roo Tale. 😊
Jody Conradt & Texas defeats Cheryl Miller & USC in 1986
Reggie Miller: Maybe not even the best basketball player in his own family
Jody Conradt: Texas Title IX Legend
https://www.facebook.com/groups/540906862747161/?multi_permalinks=3220772694760551
How ‘bout that AC Coach Olivia Hunt?
