After eight seasons in Austin, Texas women's basketball coach Karen Aston will not return, athletic director Chris Del Conte announced on Friday.
Aston, who was 184-83 as the Longhorns' head coach, made four straight Sweet 16 appearances in the 2014-17 seasons, and went 31-5 and made the Elite Eight in 2016-16 season.
But Aston was was 32-47 against AP Top 25 teams and was just 1-18 against Baylor, which won a national championship last season. Texas finished this season with a 19-11 record and a third-place finish in the Big 12, going 11-7. It was the Longhorns' worst record since Aston's first season, when she went 12-18.
"This was an extremely difficult decision as Coach Aston's contract was up and we put a great deal of thought into it, but decided not to extend it," Del Conte said. "After evaluating and reviewing where we stand as a program and discussing the future, we have determined to move in a different direction with our continued goals to work to contend for conference championships and NCAA elite status."
Texas had also suffered a string of high-profile transfers in recent seasons.
Last July, the No. 8 overall prospect in the 2018 class rankings, Sedona Prince, a 6-7 post from Liberty Hill in the Austin area, transferred to Oregon after sitting out her freshman year recovering from a broken leg, citing "medical reasons."
She later told the "Pour Your Heart Out" podcast that she felt "neglected" during her recovery.
"I felt very alone through my entire process and I felt very unsafe to the point to where I couldn't -- for my career and my body that I'm going to have the rest of my life -- I couldn't stay," she said. "I couldn't be there and allow myself to be hurt anymore, allow myself to be neglected anymore. That's when I decided to transfer."
The Longhorns' 2017 recruiting class featured three ESPN 100 recruits who all transferred prior to their junior seasons: Rellah Boothe, ranked as the country's No. 1 forward; Chasity Patterson, considered the No. 1 guard; and Destiny Littleton, the No. 10 guard.
Aston was an assistant at Texas from 1998-2006 before serving as head coach at Charlotte from 2007-11 and North Texas in 2011-12. Her overall record is 285-146 in 12 seasons.