Head Coach | Matt Wallis

A veteran of the American Southwest Conference (ASC), Matt Wallis enters his ninth season as the head coach of the Concordia University Texas women’s basketball program. Wallis, who spent four years in the same position at former ASC foe Schreiner, was introduced as the eighth head coach in program history on May 9, 2013.

In his seven seasons with the Tornados, Wallis has racked up 84 victories overall, including 53 in league play. CTX finished the 2017-18 campaign with a 15-12 overall record and advanced to the ASC semifinals for the first time since the 2011-12 season. Additionally, Concordia won 10 games in ASC play which was the most since the 2012-13 season. It was the seventh straight year the Tornados had advanced to the ASC tournament.

Wallis led a youthful squad into a shortened 2020-21 season, battling adversity due to the COVID-19 pandemic and registering a 2-8 record overall and in ASC play. Madi Maxwell put together a stellar sophomore campaign, receiving an ASC West First Team selection after a season as the fifth-leading scorer in the conference.

In 2019-20, Wallis had a revamped roster with six freshmen coming aboard. The Tornados returned to the ASC Tournament, qualifying as the fourth seed out of the ASC West, after a 9-17 year, including a 6-10 mark in conference play. Kaycie Dunkerley closed out her historic career with a strong senior year, breaking the program and ASC record for 3-pointers made in a career, finishing with 222. Dunkerley was named an ASC West First Team selection, while Payton Berger grabbed ASC West Honorable Mention. Meanwhile, Natalie Velardez was selected to the ASC West All-Freshman Team, while Madi Maxwell earned ASC West All-Defensive Team honors.

During the 2018-19 season, CTX missed out on the ASC Tournament for the first time under Wallis' tutelage, finishing the season 8-17 on the year. Kaycie Dunkerley set the program's single-season 3-pointer record, knocking down 79 on the year, and earning ASC West First Team honors. Payton Berger averaged 13.6 point and 8.3 boards and had six double-doubles on the year and was named to the ASC West Second-Team.

Concordia finished the 2017-18 season on a tear, winning eight of their final 10 games, including winning their final six games at Concordia Fieldhouse. Five different players earned ASC honors, including Jaela Dejean, who grabbed her third ASC West Division first team honors while also being selected to the ASC All-conference team for the second straight season.

Dejean, Mercedes Ellison, Lindsay Carter, Sara Perez and Payton Berger earned all-conference honors as well. The Tornados played stellar defense under Wallis in 2017-18, holding opponents to just 61.5 points per game and 35.9 percent from the floor.

In Wallis' seven years at the helm, CTX has defended home court extremely well, going 44-36 at Concordia Fieldhouse, including a 10-1 home record in the 2016-17 season.

Three Concordia Texas players earned all-conference honors in Wallis' first year, including Tyler Compton, who was a second-team pick. Compton ranked third in the league in scoring at 17.6 points per game. Margaret Milling and Domonique Liddell also earned honorable-mention all-league honors. Milling ended her career as the program's all-time leader in steals in the Division III era.

The Tornados boasted one of the top scoring defenses in the conference in each of Wallis' seasons. In 2014-15, Concordia limited opposing teams to an average of 65.6 points per game, and the squad ranked second in the league with 12.7 steals per contest.

Wallis bettered that 2014-15 mark in 2015-16 by holding foes to just 62.3 points per contest.

In 2016-17, Wallis took the Tornados to the ASC Tournament as the three seed in the ASC West, sporting a 16-10 (9-7) record, his best mark since joining Concordia. Jaela Dejean, Brenisha Payne and Mercedes Ellison all earned ASC all-conference honors.

While at Schreiner, Wallis registered a 22-77 overall record. However, in his last year, he guided the Mountaineers to their best season in school history. The program set a school record for victories, led the ASC in 3-point field goal percentage defense and ranked second in the league in scoring defense. In addition, the program posted a team GPA of 3.12 during the 2012 fall semester.

Wallis, who coached eight All-ASC honorees and nine players who made the ASC Spring Academic Honor Roll, was also actively involved in other areas of the Schreiner Athletics Department. He implemented a study hall program for seven athletics teams, hired and managed 40 work study positions and served as a gameday administrator at home athletic events around the basketball season.

Prior to Schreiner, Wallis served as an assistant coach with the Texas-Dallas women’s basketball program and helped lead the Comets to their two best seasons in school history at the time. The Comets recorded their first winning campaign with a 16-10 record in 2007-08 before registering a school-record 21 victories, which included being ranked as high as 17th nationally, during the 2008-09 season.

Before returning to the women’s game, Wallis spent four years as the first-ever head coach of the Texas-Tyler men’s basketball team. With Wallis on the sidelines, the Patriots finished second in the ASC East Division in only their second year of varsity competition, and also posted the second-highest winning percentage among NCAA Division III provisional members.

Wallis, who held assistant coaching positions at Texas Wesleyan and Montana State, competed collegiately at Austin College from 1994-97 when the school was an ASC member. He captained the 1996-97 team that won the ASC championship and earned honorable-mention all-conference laurels after averaging 13.5 points and 9.7 rebounds per game as a senior. Wallis stayed at the school for two more seasons as a graduate assistant women’s basketball coach and helped lead the program to back-to-back NCAA Division III Tournament appearances.

Wallis earned a bachelor’s degree in physical education at Austin College in 1997 and a master’s in Kinesiology from Texas A&M-Commerce a year later. He is a native of Arlington and currently resides in Austin with his wife, Ashley, daughter Evryn and son Landry.

Coaching Highlights:
• Six ASC Tournament Appearances
• 2016-17 ASC Player of the Year and D3hoops.com All-West Region Second Team selection Jaela Dejean
• 2015-16 ASC Newcomer of the Year Jaela Dejean
• 21 All-ASC selections
• Six ASC All-Defensive selections
• Four ASC All-Freshman selections