Former NAIA Coach of the Year named new women's basketball coach

Texas A&M University-Texarkana has hired Chris Minner to take over the women's basketball program, the school officially announced late last week. Minner, who spent the past three seasons as the head women's coach at Midway University (KY), inherits a team that went 29-2 last season, winning both the Red River Athletic Conference regular season and tournament titles, and advanced to the second round of the NAIA national tournament.

"I'm excited to be back in Texas and back in the Red River Athletic Conference. Texarkana has great athletic and academic facilities, as well as a supportive administration and community," Minner said. "My goals are to establish sustained success in the women's basketball program by competing for conference and National Championships on a regular basis.  I look forward to recruiting quality student-athletes who the Texarkana community will be excited about supporting on and off the court.  I'm excited to be here and I am thankful to [athletic director] Michael Galvan and the committee for selecting me." 

Minner went 62-25 in his three seasons at Midway, including a 23-9 record last season. He previously led the Our Lady of the Lake program for seven years, compiling an astounding 189-45 overall record, including a record of 123-11 in conference play.

"Coach Minner brings a tremendous amount of experience in the NAIA and the Red River Athletic Conference," Galvan said. "We had a great pool of candidates and Coach Minner has a resume of winning wherever he goes but more importantly he is focused on recruiting character driven student-athletes. Having standards of excellence and using them as a foundation for his program has proven to be a formula for success."

Minner was named NAIA National Coach of the Year in 2015 after a 30-2 season with the Saints, during which they won the RRAC title and held the No. 1 national ranking for several weeks. His teams made seven trips to the NAIA national tournament, including four appearances in the Sweet Sixteen, and a trip to the Final Four.

Minner holds a Bachelor of Arts in English from Sonoma State University, a Master of Arts from St. Mary's College, and an MBA from Our Lady of the Lake.