 | |||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Born | (1968-06-19)June 19, 1968 (age 57) Ocala, Florida, U.S. | ||||||||||||||
| Listed height | 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) | ||||||||||||||
| Listed weight | 190 lb (86 kg) | ||||||||||||||
| Career information | |||||||||||||||
| High school | Vanguard (Ocala, Florida) | ||||||||||||||
| College | Texas (1986–1990) | ||||||||||||||
| NBA draft | 1990: 1st round, 14th overall pick | ||||||||||||||
| Drafted by | Sacramento Kings | ||||||||||||||
| Playing career | 1990–2002 | ||||||||||||||
| Position | Shooting guard | ||||||||||||||
| Number | 1 | ||||||||||||||
| Coaching career | 2002–present | ||||||||||||||
| Career history | |||||||||||||||
Playing | |||||||||||||||
| 1990–1991 | Sacramento Kings | ||||||||||||||
| 1991–1993 | Atlanta Hawks | ||||||||||||||
| 1993 | Rochester Renegade | ||||||||||||||
| 1994–1995 | Panionios | ||||||||||||||
| 1995–1996 | Ironi Ramat Gan | ||||||||||||||
| 1996–1997 | Tuborg Pilsener | ||||||||||||||
| 1998–1999 | Mabo Pistoia | ||||||||||||||
| 1999–2002 | Mens Sana 1871 Basket | ||||||||||||||
Coaching | |||||||||||||||
| 2002–2003 | San Antonio Silver Stars (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
| 2004–2007 | Texas (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
| 2007–2011 | LSU (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
| 2011–2012 | Georgia (assistant) | ||||||||||||||
| 2012–2016 | Texas (associate HC) | ||||||||||||||
| 2016–2021 | SMU | ||||||||||||||
| Career highlights | |||||||||||||||
As player:
| |||||||||||||||
| Career NBA statistics | |||||||||||||||
| Points | 1,273 (11.1 ppg) | ||||||||||||||
| Rebounds | 233 (2.0 rpg) | ||||||||||||||
| Assists | 326 (2.8 apg) | ||||||||||||||
Stats at NBA.com  | |||||||||||||||
| Stats atBasketball Reference | |||||||||||||||
Medals
| |||||||||||||||
Travis Cortez Mays (born June 19, 1968) is an American women'sbasketball coach and former professional player who was the women's head coach forSouthern Methodist University (SMU) from 2016 until 2021.[1][2] Mays was selected by theSacramento Kings in the first round (14th overall pick) of the1990 NBA draft. Born inOcala, Florida, he played basketball forVanguard High School before enrolling at theUniversity of Texas to compete for theLonghorns. After his time in the NBA, Mays played professional basketball in several leagues in Europe.[3]
Mays went toVanguard High School where he was a scholastic All-America standout, and he then proceeded to play basketball for theUniversity of Texas. Mays and teammatesLance Blanks andJoey Wright were known as the "BMW – The Ultimate Scoring Machine" during the 1989–90 basketball season.[4] That Longhorn team advanced to theElite Eight in the1990 NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Tournament.
Mays ranks second in UT men's basketball all-time scoring (2,279 points) and also is second inSouthwest Conference all-time scoring.[3] He was the first player to earn back-to-backSWC Player of the Year honors.[3] Mays' career scoring average was 18.4 points per game.[5] He scored in double-figures in 100 of 124 career games[6] and was the only UT men's player in history to score more than 700 points in a season at the end of his Longhorn career, having scored 743 points as a junior and 772 as a senior.[7] His single-season scoring record has subsequently been broken byKevin Durant. In the 1989–90 season that ended in the Elite Eight, Mays had a scoring average of 24.1 points per game as a senior.[5] In 2002, he was inducted into the UT Men's Athletics Hall of Honor.[6]
Mays was selected by theSacramento Kings with the 14th pick of the1990 NBA draft.[8] During his rookie campaign for the Kings, he was named to theNBA All-Rookie Second Team, averaging 14.3 points per game in 64 games.[9][10] He spent the next two seasons with theAtlanta Hawks, where two games into his second season, he ruptured both tendons in his right ankle and was out for the remainder of the season. He returned for his finalNBA season the next year. Mays had an NBA career scoring average of 11.1 points per game.[10]
Mays' professional career extended to European and international basketball, as he played in Greece, Israel, Turkey, and Italy. In 1994 Mays signed withGreek clubPanionios BC, where he would spend the entire season.[11] In the Greek League, Mays averaged 23.8points, 2.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game.[11] Highlights of his European career include his selection to the European All-Star Game, leading Panionios to the European Championship final eight with 27.5 points per game, and a First Team All-Star selection (1999–2001) on Italy'sSiena squad. He retired as a player in 2002.
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990–91 | Sacramento | 64 | 55 | 33.5 | .406 | .365 | .770 | 2.8 | 4.0 | 1.3 | .2 | 14.3 |
| 1991–92 | Atlanta | 2 | 0 | 16.0 | .429 | .500 | 1.000 | 1.0 | .5 | .0 | .0 | 8.5 |
| 1992–93 | Atlanta | 49 | 9 | 16.1 | .417 | .345 | .659 | 1.1 | 1.5 | .4 | .1 | 7.0 |
| Career | 115 | 64 | 25.8 | .410 | .362 | .749 | 2.0 | 2.8 | .9 | .1 | 11.1 | |
Mays spent the 2002–04 seasons coaching and scouting as an assistant coach for theWNBA'sSan Antonio Silver Stars franchise.[3] He also coachedAAU boys' basketball for the Tennessee/Alabama "Pump" team in the summer of 2003. From 2004 to 2007, he returned to his alma mater and served as an assistant coach underJody Conradt for theTexas Longhorns women's basketball team. Mays' primary duties were working with UT's guard play and recruiting. He was instrumental in signing, among others, Erika Arriaran, Crystal Boyd, Earnesia Williams, andBrittainey Raven.
After Conradt retired, Mays worked in the same capacity with theLouisiana State University women's team from 2007 to 2011.[3] He then spent one year as an assistant coach for the University of Georgia women's basketball team. From 2012 to 2016, he returned again to UT as the associate head coach under new head coachKaren Aston.[3] In 2016, he became the head coach atSMU.[1][12] He was let go on March 8, 2021, after 5 seasons at SMU.[2]
| Season | Team | Overall | Conference | Standing | Postseason | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SMU Mustangs(American Athletic Conference)(2016–2021) | |||||||||
| 2016–17 | SMU | 19–15 | 7–9 | T5th | WNIT Third Round | ||||
| 2017–18 | SMU | 10–20 | 4–12 | 10th | |||||
| 2018–19 | SMU | 11–19 | 5–11 | T-8th | |||||
| 2019–20 | SMU | 13–16 | 7–9 | T-6th | |||||
| 2020–21 | SMU | 0–6[a 1] | 0–2 | 11th | |||||
| SMU: | 53–76 (.411) | 23–43 (.348) | |||||||
| Total: | 53–76 (.411) | ||||||||
National champion Postseason invitational champion | |||||||||
Mays earned aBachelor of Arts degree inpsychology from UT in 1990.[9] He receivedItalian citizenship through his wife Mirella, herself ofItalian ancestry.[13]
