UTEP’s new women’s basketball coach Kevin Baker announced on Tuesday the addition of three full time assistants to the Miners’ coaching staff. Nicole Dunson (UTSA), Michael Madrid (San Jacinto College) and Lori Morris (Southwestern College) will join Baker for their first season with the orange and blue.
“I am beyond excited about the coaching staff that we were able to put in place,” Baker said. “I feel that we now have a coaching staff in place that will rival any other program in the nation.”
Nicole Dunson
Nicole Dunson spent four years as the assistant coach at UTSA. In those four seasons, Dunson worked to develop guard play for the Roadrunners, and helped them to a total of 54 wins. Last season, UTSA (10-8 C-USA) finished seventh in the conference standings, and tied for fourth place (11-7 C-USA) during the 2014-2015 season. These results improved on their 15th place finish the prior season.
The starting guard for UTSA last season, Loryn Goodwin, earned All-Conference USA first team honors. Under Dunson and the coaching staff, Goodwin averaged a team-best of 17.5 points per game and a team-best 134 assists.
Before Dunson came back to coach at the school she used to play for in UTSA, she was the girls’ varsity coach at Richard High School in Corpus Christi. In her two-year stay with RHS, Dunson led her team to the state playoffs in both seasons and won the 2011-2012 District 28-5A Championship. Dunson was then picked to coach the 2013 CBCA All-Star Game.
Dunson started her coaching career at San Antonio’s Harlandale High School, where she was the physical education and junior varsity track and field coach
During Dunson’s playing days, she spent two years at UCF before she transferred to UTSA. After Dunson was forced to sit out of the 2002-2003 season (transfer rules), she was also sidelined for the following year with a knee injury.
However, Dunson proved a valuable reinforcement for the Roadrunners when she finally hit the hardwood; she scored 8.8 points per game and connected on 42 percent of her three-point attempts. After her senior season (2005-2006), she was honored with the Southland Conference Women’s Basketball Student-Athlete of the year due to her shooting touch, leading her to knock down 44.1 percent of her three-point shots (18th in the nation that year). Her percentage is still good for the school’s single-season high in three-point field goal percentage.
Dunson also received the Arthur Ashe Jr. Sports Scholar Award in 2006 and was named the CoSIDA/ESPN The Magazine All-District VI honoree.
In 2005, she received her degree in biology from UTSA, and earned her master’s degree in education with an emphasis in sports psychology a couple of years later.
Michael Madrid
Michael Madrid spent 10 years coaching at the high school level and 13 years coaching at the college level.
Madrid began his coaching career at New Mexico’s Portales High School, where he willed his team to the 2001 Class 3A championship.
Then Madrid spent five years under Lubbock Christian University’s head coach Steve Gomez. Madrid spent one season as a graduate assistant coach and the following four years as the assistant coach. Throughout his five years, Lubbock Christian was the 2005-2006 NAIA National Runner-Up, but won the Sooner Athletic Conference championship in the 2006-2007 season.
Madrid also took his talents to Texas Woman’s University where he was the assistant coach for three years. In that time frame, he lifted the Pioneers to their first Lone Star Conference tournament championship in any sport. He also helped them advance to the National Collegiate Athletic Association South Central Region tournament.
Before Madrid made his way to SJC, he earned his first full-time head coaching job with Paris Junior College for two years. At Paris, he saw vast improvement from year one to year two. In Madrid’s first year with PJC, his team went 8-22, but during his second year at the helm, the team won eight more games than the year before (16-15).
At SJC, Madrid did wonders for the program in his two seasons as the women’s head coach. In his first season (2015-2016) with SJC, Madrid and his squad were the Region XIV Tournament runner-ups, which is the furthest any women’s basketball team had ever gone in the college’s history at the time. Then Madrid followed up that record-setting season with an even better outing for the 2016-2017 campaign, where the team went 24-9 and were participants in the NJCAA Tournament for the first time in SJC’s history. Overall, Madrid went 46-20 with SJC.
Madrid earned his bachelor’s degree in special education from Eastern New Mexico University in 1998 before he received his master’s degree in sports administration in 2001. He also got his master’s degree in education administration from Lubbock Christian University.
Lori Morris
Before spending two years as the head coach for Southwestern College, Lori Morris was the assistant coach and the recruiting coordinator for Air Force from 2013 to 2015. She also worked with the Cal State Fullerton program for one year (2012-2013) and was at Louisiana-Lafayette for four seasons (2008-2012), where she was the associate head coach for three of the four seasons. At ULL, Morris was responsible for the team’s defense and academic progress as well as adding recruiting help.
Before ULL, Morris was the head coach at Southwestern Junior College for the 2007-2008 season. There, Morris was responsible for conditioning, weights, study hall and grade checks. Morris brought a basketball player development class for high school players, as well.
Morris has an impressive track record in the high school level of coaching. She was named the head coach at Montgomery High School after serving as an assistant coach for only a year. At MHS, Morris ended up being the head coach for 20 years (1987-2007). She helped 18 of her athletes pursue their dreams of continuing their basketball careers at either the junior college or university level. Throughout her two decades at MHS, Morris won the Metro League Championships in 1990, 1995, 1996 and 1997. She also won the Mesa League Championships in 2002 and 2005, and the Southbay Championship in 2007.
As a player at the University of San Diego from 1980-1984, Morris led the team in assists in all four years. She ranks second all-time in school history with 469 career assists.
Morris earned her bachelor’s degree in language arts from San Diego in 1984 and worked her way to a master’s degree in education with an emphasis in administration from Azusa Pacific University in 1990.
