Mays not returning as SMU women’s coach after 5 seasons

DALLAS — SMU coach Travis Mays will not return next season after compiling a 58-50 record over five seasons.

Athletic director Rick Hart said Monday night that he had decided not to renew Mays’ contract.

“The on-court record of our teams did not reach the level of success we hoped for our program,” Hart said.

The Mustangs, whose last NCAA Tournament appearance was in 2008, lost all six games they played this season. The last was Dec. 20, before the team decided not to play any more games because of health and safety concerns surrounding COVID-19.

Mays played three seasons in the NBA after being a two-time Southwest Conference player of the year at Texas. He guided SMU to only one postseason appearance, a berth in the 2017 Women’s NIT.

When hired in 2016, Mays replaced Rhonda Rompola, who had been head coach for 25 seasons and at the time had been part of 35 of the program’s 40 seasons. Rompola led the Mustangs to seven NCAA Tournaments, the last in the season they had a program-record 24 wins.


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