Ashleen Bracey is in her fifth season as an assistant coach at Mizzou. A former player and graduate assistant under Robin Pingeton, Bracey has nearly a decade of coaching experience at the collegiate level. Mizzou has continued to evolve into a marquee program with Bracey on staff, as the Tigers have earned three trips to the NCAA Tournament in her first four seasons on staff.
Bracey has played a crucial role in Mizzou’s recruiting efforts while on staff, as she contributed immensely to Mizzou’s Class of 2019 which boasted a No. 12 national ranking by espnW. The duo of Aijha Blackwell (No. 8-ranked recruit) and Hayley Frank (No. 29-ranked recruit) would go on to earn All-SEC Freshman Team honors in 2019-20, becoming the fifth and sixth Tigers since 2016 to earn the distinction. Blackwell and Frank also became the first pair of freshmen in program history to average double figure scoring outputs in the same season.
Mizzou won 22 or more games in each of Bracey’s first three seasons on staff, including its second consecutive season with 24 wins in 2018-19, a win total which ranked fifth all-time in program history. Mizzou reached the NCAA Tournament for a fourth consecutive season in 2018-19, a feat that had not been accomplished since 1983-86.
In 2018-19, Mizzou advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament for the second time while Bracey has been on the Tigers’ bench. In SEC play, Mizzou racked up 10 victories, giving the team 10+ wins in league play in three consecutive seasons for the first time since 1982-85. Mizzou also defeated four opponents ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 and six ranked opponents overall (AP/Coaches), the most since 1982-83.
Mizzou closed the 2017-18 season with its third consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, as the Tigers entered the Big Dance as the No. 5 seed in the Lexington Region, its highest ever in a 64-team NCAA Tournament.
In her first season on staff, 2016-17, Bracey helped guide Mizzou to its second consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance and a third-place SEC finish. It marked the Tigers’ highest finish in league play since joining the SEC and the highest since 1990. Pingeton’s squad piled up 11 SEC wins, the most since 1990, putting together two separate win streaks of five or more in league action in the same campaign for the first time in program history.
Mizzou capped off the special 2016-17 season with a trip to the Big Dance, advancing to the second round with a win over South Florida in the tournament opener. It gave Pingeton and company wins in back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time in program history.
Bracey joined 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 in 2015-16, limiting opponents to just 57.2 points per game.
Bracey has 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 also uses her expertise to aid in scouting upcoming opponents for the Tigers throughout the season.
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.
