AUSTIN, Texas (AP) ? After five seasons of disappointing results and failure to live up to high expectations, Texas women's basketball coach Gail Goestenkors resigned Monday, saying she is "tired" and needs to step away from basketball. At a news conference to announce her decision, Goestenkors seemed relieved to be free from the emotional and physical burden of shouldering the expectations ? and criticism ? that she should have rebuilt the program into a national championship contender by now. Texas women's athletic director Chris Plonsky, who gave Goestenkors a public vote of confidence two weeks ago, appeared saddened by the decision. Plonsky, who hired Goestenkors, said she wanted Goestenkors to stay and insisted the coach was not forced out after a an 18-14 season that again ended with a loss in the first round of the NCAA tournament.. The Longhorns seemed to be peaking at the right time this year when they ended the season on a three-game winning streak, including impressive thumpings of rivals Oklahoma and Texas A&M. But even that rise could get Texas no better than a No. 8 seed in the Big 12 tournament and the Longhorns lost their first game in the league tournament, 81-58 to Texas Tech. Baylor, which won the national championship in 2005, has remained one of the top programs and is the top overall seed in this season's NCAA tournament behind 6-foot-8 forward Brittney Griner. Texas A&M, long a women's basketball backwater, won the national championship last season under coach Gary Blair. The success of those two programs, both within two hours' drive from Austin and closer to the recruiting hotbeds of Houston and Dallas, didn't help Texas, and nor did the overall competition in the Big 12, arguably the toughest conference in women's basketball.
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