AUSTIN, Texas (AP) Texas women’s basketball coach Gail Goestenkors resigned Monday, saying she is “tired” and needs to step away from basketball. Goestenkors was in the fifth year of a seven-year contract paying her $1.25 million per season and she needed to stay only until April 1 to get an automatic one-year extension.
“After a lot of soul searching …. I am tired and it’s not fair to this program,” Goestenkors said at a news conference to announce her decision a few minutes after she told her team. “It’s not fair to the kids to have a coach that’s just tired.”
Texas women’s Athletic Director Chris Plonsky, who gave Goestenkors a public vote of confidence two weeks ago, said she wanted Goestenkors to stay and insisted the coach was not forced out after a disappointing 18-14 season.
“I tried to re-recruit her (to stay),” Plonsky said.
Goestenkors, 49, said she would have made the same decision even if Texas had won more games this season or gone deeper in the NCAA tournament. She said she is healthy and not facing a medical problem that forced her decision.
