COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Women’s Basketball has added Ashleen Bracey to its staff as an assistant coach, Robin Pingeton announced Monday. A former player and graduate assistant under Pingeton, Bracey comes to Mizzou with more than five years of coaching experience.

“We are beyond excited to have Ashleen join our staff,” Pingeton said. “She is going to be a fantastic addition. I have known Ashleen for more than 11 years and have always been so impressed with her work ethic as well as her basketball IQ. She is a high-character, high-integrity individual who is very passionate about the game. She is without a doubt an up-and-coming star in this profession.”

Bracey joins the Tigers’ staff after three seasons as an assistant at UAB, where she helped guide the Blazers to 49 victories in that span. There, she served as the recruiting coordinator and played a major role in player development on and off the court for a program that produced its highest team GPA in a decade during the 2015-16 campaign. In Bracey’s time spent with UAB, the Blazers established a reputation for playing gritty defense. UAB led Conference USA in scoring defense last season, limiting opponents to just 57.2 points per game.

Bracey will continue having a significant hand in recruiting efforts at Mizzou while assisting with player development and mentoring. With more than 10 years playing and coaching at a high level under her belt, she will also be able to use her expertise to aid in scouting upcoming opponents for the Tigers throughout the season.

“I’m extremely fortunate for the opportunity to work for my former college coach, Robin Pingeton,” Bracey said. “The entire staff and the team are like family to me. I am blessed and honored to be a part of this program again. I am ready to jump right in, roll up my sleeves and get to work.”

The ties between Pingeton and Bracey date back to 2006, when Bracey chose to play college basketball for Pingeton at Illinois State. The duo helped the Redbirds become a consistent power in the Missouri Valley Conference. During Bracey’s playing career, Illinois State claimed three MVC Championships, clinched an NCAA Tournament berth in 2008 and advanced to the WNIT Final Four in 2009 and 2010.

As a senior, she was named team captain by Pingeton and engineered the Redbirds’ third consecutive 20-win season. Bracey led Illinois State in scoring with 14.7 points per contest and secured both All-MVC First Team honors and MVC All-Defensive Team recognition.

Upon graduation, Bracey signed a contract with Das Anos Liosia, a professional squad in Athens, Greece. She played a season with them before deciding to join the coaching ranks and immediately got a chance as an assistant coach at Eureka (Ill.) College. In August of that year, Bracey and Pingeton were able to reconnect as Bracey teamed up with her former coach and took a graduate assistant position at Mizzou in 2011.

In 2012, she spent a season as an assistant coach at Ball State, where she worked heavily with recruiting and created and administered game plans and scouting reports. Following that year, Bracey settled in at UAB on the staff of head coach Randy Norton, who was an assistant under Pingeton at both Mizzou and Illinois State. Now the well-traveled and experienced Bracey is back in black and gold and alongside Pingeton once more heading into the 2016-17 campaign.

— Mizzou Athletics —

COLUMBIA, Mo. – Mizzou Football’s Charles Harris (Kansas City, Mo.) has been named to the 2016 Ted Hendricks Award Preseason Watch List, as announced earlier this month by the Ted Hendricks Foundation. The award goes to college football’s top defensive end annually and Harris is one of 28 players named to the list. This is the fourth preseason watch list for Harris after being named to the Bednarik, Butkus and Nagurski watch lists earlier this summer.

Harris was a Second Team All-SEC honoree following the 2015 regular season. He led the SEC in tackles for loss (18.5) and registered seven sacks, emerging as the next star in a long line of standout defensive ends at Mizzou. He anchored the defensive line on one of the nation’s top defenses, starting all 12 games while finishing with 56 total tackles, two forced fumbles and a pass break-up.

The Ted Hendricks Award is named in honor of college football’s first three-time first-team All-American. As a defensive end at the University of Miami, Ted used his agility, height and reach to block passes and kicks, force interceptions and pressure quarterbacks and running backs. He roamed the front line, read plays and blitzed on impulse, completely transforming the way the defensive end position was played. His professional career spanned 15 years and 215 consecutive games. It included four Super Bowl victories, eight Pro Bowl selections and inductions into the College and Pro Football Halls of Fame. It is in the spirit of Ted Hendricks’ aggressive style of play, winning attitude and determination that the Defensive End of the Year Award for college football’s premier defensive end is presented.

On-field performance, exceptional winning attitude, leadership abilities, contributions to school and community and academic preparedness are some of the criteria used to determine the Award’s winner. Members of the national media, head coaches, professional scouts and former winners are included in the Award’s voting committee. Candidates may represent any class (Freshman through Senior) as well as any four-year NCAA accredited school. The candidate’s primary position must be defensive end.

The Hendricks Award voting committee will cast two votes: one to narrow the list of candidates to 4-6 finalists, and one to choose our winner for this season. Our Final Mid-Season Watch List will be announced in late November. The 2016 winner will be announced on December 7th.

— Mizzou Athletics —

COLUMBIA, Mo. (AP) — The University of Missouri said Tuesday it has hired San Diego State’s Jim Sterk as its new athletic director on a seven-year contract.

He will be paid a base salary of $700,000 and will start no later than Sept. 1. Interim Chancellor Hank Foley said Sterk was exactly what Missouri needs as it replaces Mack Rhoades, who left for Baylor.

Sterk has spent the past six years at San Diego State, helping the school to what Missouri said was the most successful five seasons in SDSU’s athletic history — 32 team conference championships and the fourth-highest combined winning percentage in the country in football and men’s basketball.

The 60-year-old Sterk was also the AD at Washington State and has held positions at Portland State, North Carolina, Maine, Seattle Pacific and Tulane. The former football and basketball player is a 1980 graduate of Western Washington and received his master’s degree in sports administration from Ohio University.

Sterk was recently honored as the AD of the year by National Association of College Director of Athletics and was selected to the Division I Men’s Basketball Committee.

San Diego State has hired Jenny Bramer as interim AD.

— Associated Press —