Travis Mays - Women's Basketball Coach - University of Texas Athletics

Travis Mays

Title:
Associate Head Coach

TROPHY CASE
• NCAA Final Four - 2008 (Assistant Coach)

Travis Mays’ roots with the University of Texas run deep, as he was a standout guard on the men’s basketball team from 1986-90 and a two-time Southwest Conference Player of the Year. He has served two stints on the Texas women’s basketball staff, most recently as associate head coach from 2012-16.

Mays’ responsibilities at Texas included coordination of the Longhorns’ offensive schemes, preparing opponent scouting reports, instructing players at the guard position and recruiting.

Four years ago, Mays brought back with him to the Forty Acres a decorated coaching resume that included vast experience as an assistant coach at both the collegiate and professional levels. He has worked for three Hall of Fame coaches in Van Chancellor, Jody Conradt and Andy Landers.

His pedigree as a player includes more than a decade of professional experience, including three seasons in the NBA.

That Mays came to the sport of women’s basketball was by chance. That he has become one of the nation’s top assistant coaches certainly is not. He is characterized by a rock-solid work-ethic, a contagious enthusiasm for the game of basketball and a relentless drive on the recruiting trail.

Mays has been an integral part of Texas’ rise back to among the nation’s elite. He has helped direct recruiting efforts that have secured back-to-back top-six classes and three top-15 signing classes in a row. The Longhorns’ most recent signing class was ranked No. 3 nationally by ESPN.com and included the No. 2 and No. 6 players nationally.

In his final season at Texas in 2015-16, Mays helped direct the team to a 31-5 record, marking the program’s most victories since the 1987-88 season. The team tied the program record for most Big 12 Conference wins (15) in a single season and advanced to the NCAA Elite Eight for the first time since 2003.

The 2015-16 Longhorns opened the season with the third-best start (16-0) in program history and finished regular-season non-conference play undefeated for the second consecutive year. It marked the first time in program history that Texas has recorded back-to-back undefeated regular-season non-conference schedules.

During the 2015-16 campaign, the University of Texas became just the fifth NCAA Division I women’s basketball program to reach 1,000 victories all-time.

In his first three seasons with Texas, the Longhorns posted a combined 58-41 record, including a 24-11 mark in 2014-15. Mays ability to break down opponents and recommend critical in-game adjustments shined in the 2014-15 postseason, a span in which Texas advanced to the championship game of the Big 12 Conference Tournament and advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16.

Mays began his career with the WNBA’s San Antonio Silver Stars, serving as assistant coach and head scout for the franchise, which had recently moved from Utah, for two seasons in 2003 and 2004.

He returned to Austin in 2004 as an assistant coach for the Longhorns. Texas won 53 games during his three-year span, including a final No. 13 ranking in 2005. Three players were drafted to the WNBA during Mays’ initial coaching tenure in Austin, including guard Jamie Carey.

Following his initial stint on the Forty Acres, Mays headed to LSU, where he spent four years as an assistant coach from 2007-11. The Lady Tigers won 19 or more games in each of Mays’ four seasons in Baton Rouge. The 2007-08 campaign was one of the best in program history, as the Tigers went 31-6, posted a perfect 14-0 record in the Southeastern Conference and advanced to the NCAA Final Four. That was the first of three NCAA Tournament berths in which Mays would coach while at LSU.

In his first seven seasons as a collegiate assistant coach at both Texas and LSU, Mays helped ink seven nationally acclaimed recruits, and all seven of the recruiting classes that Mays assisted in assembling ranked among the nation’s top-25, including four top-10 efforts and the No. 1 class in the nation for Texas in the fall of 2004.

Prior to returning to Austin, Mays was an assistant coach at the University of Georgia for the 2011-12 season. The Lady Bulldogs finished the year 22-9 and advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s first round.

Mays remains one of the most electrifying players in Texas men’s basketball history. A 2002 inductee into UT's Men's Athletics Hall of Fame, Mays is still No. 2 among the Longhorns' career scoring leaders with 2,279 points and was the first player to earn back-to-back SWC Player of the Year honors in 1989 and 1990.

As a senior, Mays was a second-team Associated Press All-American. He averaged 24.1 points per game and led Texas to the regional finals of the NCAA Tournament. Included in that NCAA run was a 44-point outburst against Georgia in the first round that still ranks 14th-most all time in March Madness history. His 23 free throws made and 27 attempts at the line vs. the Bulldogs remain NCAA Tournament records.

A native of Ocala, Fla., he received his bachelor’s degree in psychology from the University of Texas in 1990. Mays and his wife, Mirella, have two children: daughter Cherrell and son Trevor.

COACHING EXPERIENCE
SCHOOL	POSITION	YEARS
San Antonio Silver Stars (WNBA)	Assistant Coach / Head Scout	2002-04
Texas	Assistant Coach	2004-07
LSU	Assistant Coach	2007-11
Georgia	Assistant Coach	2011-12
Texas	Associate Head Coach	2012-16