Original article (Gandy Announces Women’s Basketball Staff) on Grand Canyon University’s athletic website.

New Grand Canyon women’s basketball head coach Winston Gandy named his coaching staff, adding years of experience, high-level recruiting and postseason experience to the Lopes sidelines.

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Jalie Mitchell / Associate Head Coach

Mitchell strengthens Gandy’s first staff at GCU associate head coach after coaching 15 seasons, the last eight of which came as head coach at North Texas, her alma mater.

Mitchell was named head coach of North Texas prior to the 2015-16 season after serving as a Mean Green assistant for the two seasons prior. She led North Texas to three postseason appearances, including two WNIT berths and the WBI finals in 2019.

As the Mean Green moved to Conference USA in 2013, Mitchell led North Texas to back-to-back seasons of 10 or more conference wins (2020-22) for the second time in program history. She coached Terriell Bradley to All-CUSA first-team honors in 2017-18 and 2018-19, the first Mean Green player to earn first-team accolades in nine seasons.

Under Mitchell, the Mean Green defense ranked in the top 25 nationally for scoring defense (56.2 opponent points per game) and turnover margin (plus-5.48 per game) in 2017-18 and 19th in 3-point percentage defense (26.4%) in 2020-21.

Prior to North Texas, Mitchell was an assistant coach at Texas for three seasons from 2012-15, when the Longhorns went 60-41 and made the NCAA Tournament twice, including a Sweet 16 appearance in 2015. Mitchell was instrumental in recruiting Ariel Atkins, the 2017 Big 12 Player of the Year and WNBA Draft No. 7 pick, and All-American Brooke McCarty.

Mitchell had two assistant coach stints with North Texas and served as assistant coach for UNC Wilmington for one season in 2010-11, helping guide the Seahawks to a 24-9 record and the second round of the WNIT.

Mitchell was a prolific player in college, leading North Texas to new heights from 1998-2002. She was a four-time all-conference selection and 2002 Sun Belt Player of the Year, averaging 19.4 points per game as a senior. She is the program’s all-time leading scorer with 1,764 points and had her No. 44 jersey retired on Senior Night.

Mitchell was inducted into the North Texas Athletics Hall of Fame in 2007 as well as the Dallas Independent School District Athletic Hall of Honor in 2015.

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