June 11, 2010

HOUSTON, Texas - Mary Gleason has been announced as the new head women's basketball coach at Houston Baptist University. Gleason, a Houston native, comes to HBU and the Great West Conference after seven years as an assistant coach in the Ivy League at both Princeton and most recently Dartmouth.

Gleason becomes the fourth head coach in HBU history. For the last three years, she has served as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Dartmouth, helping to engineer back-to-back Ivy League championships in 2008 and 2009. Gleason coached numerous All-Ivy selections for the Big Green, including the 2009 Ivy Player of the Year and 2008 Ivy Rookie of the Year.

"I'm ecstatic to be coming home and being a part of an exciting new chapter in HBU women's basketball," said Gleason. "The excitement of building a new tradition at HBU on a Division I level is what really attracted me. It's in a great city and the enthusiasm of the leadership at HBU is great."

Before her time at Dartmouth, Gleason was an assistant and recruiting coordinator at Princeton, winning one Ivy League title and setting a program record for most wins in both a single season and in conference play in 2006. While at Princeton, she coached numerous All-Ivy honorees and the 2005 Ivy Rookie of the Year.

Prior to her time in the Ivy League, Gleason was an assistant at New York University for three seasons, reaching the Division III Elite Eight and winning a pair of conference championships. Her final recruiting class at NYU reached the Division III Final Four as seniors.

Gleason graduated from Southern Methodist University in 1995 after playing four seasons for the Mustangs. She set the record for most career three-pointers made at SMU and helped lead the Mustangs to the WNIT Championship game in 1993. In 1994 and 1995, SMU made its first appearances in the NCAA tournament, including earning the first tournament win in program history in 1995.

After her time at SMU, Gleason spent three years playing professional basketball in Europe for Division I teams in Switzerland and Spain. In 1998, she was an invited participant to try-out for the Houston Comets. Gleason went to high school just two miles from the HBU campus at St. Agnes Academy.

"We are very happy to be able to welcome Mary Gleason to HBU as our new head women's basketball coach," said HBU director of athletics Steve Moniaci. "As a former player at both St. Agnes and SMU, she is familiar with the local and state basketball scene, but also brings with her a wealth of experience nationally having served as an assistant coach at Princeton and most recently at Dartmouth. She will put together a great staff and team that will represent this institution very well, and we are looking forward to tremendous things from them in the future."