Four Candidates For UCF Women's Basketball Coach
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On Monday, the UCF Knights women's basketball program parted ways with coach Sytia Messer after four seasons.
During her four-season tenure, which included the Knights’ transition from The American to the Big 12, Messer never recorded a winning season, finishing 49-69 overall and 14-55 in conference play.
Her departure leaves the Knights once again searching for a women's basketball coach. Below are four women UCF athletic director Terry Mohajir may look into for the role:
1. Tahnee Balerio, Georgia Associate Head Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
Happy Birthday to our Associate Head Coach Tahnee Balerio! @TBalerio pic.twitter.com/4rZyggt2oO
— Georgia Basketball 🏀🐶 (@UGA_WBB) March 27, 2023
Tahnee Balerio is no stranger to UCF, as she served as an assistant and was later associate head coach for Messer’s predecessor, Katie Abrahamson-Henderson. During that time, the Knights compiled a 131-49 record and advanced to the postseason five times, including three NCAA Tournaments, with one of which included their first-ever NCAA Tournament win.
Balerio followed Abrahamson-Henderson to Georgia in 2022, where she has continued to serve as her associate head coach. She has helped the Lady Bulldogs reach two NCAA Tournaments in her four seasons in Athens.
While Balerio might not have head coaching experience, hiring her would allow the Knights to tap back into one of the people who helped create the most successful periods in program history.
2. Lynn Bria, Former Stetson Coach
𝗔 𝗹𝗲𝗴𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗯𝘂𝗶𝗹𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝗻 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗯𝗮𝘀𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹. 💚
— Stetson Hatters (@StetsonHatters) March 16, 2026
Thank you, Coach Lynn Bria, for 18 years of passion, mentorship and impact on generations of Hatter student-athletes.
🔗 https://t.co/2QM28ub4or #GoHatters | @stetsonhatters pic.twitter.com/TjqIUfmBRQ
The Knights would not need to hire a coach away from any program if they decided to hire Lynn Bria, since she recently stepped away from coaching Stetson in nearby DeLand, Florida, after 18 seasons on the job. During that time, she led the Hatters to 12 postseasons, including a pair of NCAA Tournaments. She also coached against UCF seven times, including this past season, which Stetson won.
Bria is also no stranger to the UCF program, as she served as the Knights' coach back for three seasons back into the late 90s, which included their second-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 1999.
Since her time in Orlando, Bria coached seven seasons for the Ohio Bobcats from 1999 to 2006, before spending a season each on the staffs of West Virginia and Miami (FL), before she returned to central Florida to coach Stetson.
Bria would bring familiarity to the central Florida area and experience turning programs around, considering she led the Hatters from a single-digit win team to an NCAA Tournament team from 2010 to 2011. Alternatively, if she is not chosen for the head job, her current availability could make her a potential candidate for the new coach’s staff, especially if she were to be making her head coaching debut.
3. Destinee Rogers, Arkansas State Coach
Should Mohajir want to tap into his personal rolodex, he could give a call to Arkansas State coach Destinee Rogers.
Back when Mohajir was the athletic director for the Red Wolves, Rogers was just an assistant under Matt Daniel. By the time he left for Orlando, Rogers had been promoted to associate head coach, but her ascent continued from there, taking over as the interim head coach after Daniel resigned in December 2021 and then having the interim tag removed the following season. She's remained in that role ever since.
Rogers is coming off back-to-back seasons with over 20 wins, including the Red Wolves’ first-ever NCAA Tournament appearance in 2025. That first 20-win season in 2024-25 was the first time since 2015-16 that the program got over 20 wins in a season.
4. Karen Aston, UTSA Coach
It’s been a few years since UTSA coach Karen Aston coached in the Big 12, but if Mohajir is looking to go after a coach with such experience, then she fits that bill. In fact, she was the Big 12’s Coach of the Year in 2017 as the coach of Texas.
Aston, who cut her teeth on the staffs of Baylor (1994-1996, 2006-2007) and Texas (1998-2006), led the Longhorns for eight seasons from 2012 to 2020, reaching the NCAA Tournament in six of them, including four Sweet 16 and one Elite Eight appearance. During her time in Austin, she coached several WNBA draft picks, including the first overall pick of the 2021 WNBA Draft, Charli Collier, and two-time WNBA all-star Ariel Atkins. She ended up not getting her contract renewed after the 2019-20 season, but after a season off, she was back on the court with UTSA.
The Roadrunners were coming off four consecutive single-digit win seasons, which did end up becoming five after Aston’s debut in 2021-22. However, since then, they’ve improved to reach the postseason the last three seasons, including a berth in this past season’s March Madness. Aston was also named the American’s Coach of the Year in 2025.
The women's basketball transfer portal opens on April 6.
Catch up on more UCF news below:
Three Questions For the UCF Offense (And Special Teams) During Spring Practice
Bryson Turner is a sports journalist who covers UCF Athletics. Turner has contributed to the Black and Gold Banneret, the home for UCF Athletics on SB Nation. He has called the Orlando area home since the age of 8 and received his bachelor's and master's degrees from UCF.
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