Texas women's track and field coach placed on paid leave

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Texas placed veteran women's track and field coach Beverly Kearney on paid leave Monday pending a review of unspecified "issues" in the program.

Texas did not provide additional information and Kearney did not respond to a request for comment. She has been head coach at Texas since 1993.

Kearney, 54, is one of the nation's most successful coaches in women's track and field with seven national championships, six while coaching Texas and one at Florida. Her teams have also won 23 league titles. She also won seven NCAA Coach of the Year titles. Texas finished fourth in the 2012 NCAA Indoor Championships.

Kearney also organizes an annual Minority Mentorship Symposium in Austin, which introduces minority student athletes to minority executives to help them get career advice. The symposium is sponsored by her Pursuit of Dreams Foundation, a nonprofit that seeks to "equip and educate individuals with the practical knowledge and insight they need to align their pursuits with their passions."

In 2002, Kearney suffered spinal injuries in a Florida car accident that killed two other women.