Once-Dominant Lady Longhorns Now Long Shots Competitors Catch Up With, Pass Program That Was Once Unbeatable

The fans cheer as loudly as ever, and the championship banners that ripple from the ceiling are still an imposing sight.

But the once-powerful Texas Longhorns are searching for an identity.

Hobbled by injuries this year and costly transfers in recent years, Texas is in jeopardy of missing the NCAA women’s basketball tournament for the first time since 1983.

At 9-10 heading into the weekend, no Texas team under 19-year coach Jody Conradt has had a losing record this late in the season. The 10 losses already match the most in a Conradt year.

And with a tough schedule remaining, there are murmurs that the unthinkable could happen: a losing season.

Conradt, the all-time victory leader in women’s college basketball, is as competitive as she was in 1986, when she celebrated the only national championship won by an undefeated team.

The losses are harder to take than ever before, she says. But she remains positive. She nurtures, teaches, pushes and prods her freshman- and sophomore-laden team.

“I have been more of a teacher this year than I have in a long time,” Conradt said. “There have been times when we put dots on the floor and said, `You go here and you go there.”’

Conradt is used to building. She is widely credited as one of the modern architects of her sport.

She not only was among the first to successfully use an up-tempo style of play, but also marketed the sport feverishly to anyone who would listen. She demanded the same facilities and other advantages that men’s teams had and held her program to the same standards while producing a perennial powerhouse.

The Longhorns’ string of 183 straight victories against Southwest Conference foes from 1978-1990 is Conradt’s proudest achievement and may never be matched.

“I think it was Jody and (Tennessee coach) Pat Head Summitt who really broke all of the barriers associated with the potential of women’s college basketball,” said Donna Lopiano, former women’s athletic director at Texas and executive director of the Women’s Sports Foundation in East Meadow, N.Y.

“They proved you could sell out an arena, generate a million dollars with a woman’s program and do anything that the men’s programs were doing. I credit them with making possible the success of everyone who has followed in their footsteps.”

But with the success at Texas - an average of 29 victories per season and nine SWC championships - came copycats. As women’s college basketball gained prominence, coaches borrowed Conradt’s methods and began beefing up their own programs.

Now, Conradt is faced with the reality that competitors have caught up.

“I believe that we did have a major impact on how women’s basketball was accepted and played across this country,” Conradt said. “Circumstances aren’t the same as when we were dominant. But no one is going to be dominant again. We have been talking for years about parity coming and it’s finally here.”

The refusal to admit partial academic qualifiers at Texas has forced Conradt to be more selective in recruiting, which she admits has become more of “an inexact science.”

And the increased efforts of other top programs to recruit in Texas also has weakened the Longhorns’ once overpowering grip on the Lone Star State.

The decision by three players to leave the team in the past three years also hurt. Aside from leaving the Longhorns with only one junior and three seniors, the defections were used by competitors who told prospective recruits that there was turmoil in the Texas program.

Conradt said the “false reasons” were damaging and unwarranted. She said one of the players, Sonya Brown, left because she had cancer. Brown died recently. The other two, Dee Dee Dobbs and Kim Brandl, transferred for personal reasons.

“Sonya asked that we maintain confidentiality about her illness,” Conradt said. “We never revealed why she never enrolled and never played. People used that as an excuse to make up false reasons and take shots at our program.”

Conradt’s sophomore class is loaded with talent, including 3-point scoring whiz Danielle Viglione, hard-working rebounder Amie Smith and feisty point guard Angie Jo Ogletree. But injuries to Viglione, Ogletree and senior guard Nekeshia Henderson have caused chemistry problems this season.

The losses have come against teams that were once easy victims, such as California, Sacramento State and Utah. The reverberations could be felt statewide when new SWC heavyweight Texas Tech handed the Longhorns their worst loss in 17 years, 84-40 on Jan. 28.

Tech’s success the past three years is due in large part to perhaps the most notable Longhorns’ defector, Sheryl Swoopes, who left Austin because she said she was homesick for her native West Texas and ultimately led Tech to the 1993 national championship.

“All season I just kept telling myself after each loss, `We have hit bottom. We have hit bottom,”’ Smith said. “And hopefully now we have actually hit the bottom and we’re starting to work our way back up.”

Erica Routt, the lone junior on the team, says despite the setbacks, Conradt has never come down on the team.

“I know it’s hard for her right now,” Routt said. “Her being the most winningest coach, she is not used to having a losing record. But she is being real positive and we are just helping each other through this difficult time.”

Fans continue to support the team, perhaps even more than before.

“It’s interesting to see what’s happened with this team,” Conradt said. “Attendance is still up. Austin likes this team and these players. The fans believe that because they are young, they need the support and are turning out.”

Lopiano said the continued support is a tribute to Conradt.

“Jody never sold a winning team as a condition for support,” Lopiano said. “She said, `I will give you kids with 150 percent effort, who graduate, who are role models and spokespeople.’ That’s what she promised and that’s what alums want.

“I don’t have any doubt that she will get the team back to national prominence,” Lopiano said. “She is going to be like a dog with a bone. She’s determined, and Jody doesn’t like not being good.”