SAN ANTONIO -- University of the Incarnate Word women's basketball Head Coach Jeff Dow has completed his staff, the athletic department announced Thursday. Tanya Ray joins the Cardinals as an assistant coach/recruiting coordinator, Amber Cunningham and Beverly Holmes have been named assistant coaches, and Betsy Adams remains on staff as the director of basketball operations/student-athlete development.
 
Tanya Ray | Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
Ray joins the Cardinals as an assistant after eight years as the head coach at the University of Arkansas-Monticello.
 
"I'm excited about the veteran presence that Tanya will bring to our staff and our program in general," said Dow. "For the past eight years, she was the head coach at the NCAA Division II level, where she was able to oversee every facet of running a program. Prior to that, she had a very successful nine-year tenure as the top assistant and recruiting coordinator at Arkansas State for Brian Boyer, where they not only won a conference championship but also played in the postseason four times."
 
During Ray's time at UAM, she coached seven All-Great American Conference selections. She worked with Jordan Goforth, who was the 2012-13 GAC Freshman of the Year, a two-time All-GAC first team selection, and a D2CCA All-American. Ray also finished fifth all-time at UAM and third in GAC history in scoring. Her teams qualified for the GAC postseason tournament five times. Ray also had 12 Academic All-GAC selections to her credit. 


"I am thrilled to join Coach Dow's staff at the University of the Incarnate Word," said Ray. "He is a proven winner in this industry and has a tremendous passion for the game. I am eager to learn from him and assist him in helping take this program to the next level. I'm excited about the opportunity to work with this staff, the student-athletes, and the administration."

Ray came to UAM after serving as an assistant coach at the NCAA Division I level for 11 seasons. She spent nine of those years (2002-11) as the assistant coach and recruiting coordinator at Arkansas State in Jonesboro, Arkansas.

During her time at Arkansas State, Ray helped lead the Red Wolves to 155 wins, an average of just over 17 wins per year. ASU posted three 20-win seasons during Ray's tenure, and, in 2003-04, the Red Wolves captured their first Sun Belt Conference East Division championship. The next year, ASU advanced to the second round of the Women's National Invitational Tournament (WNIT). In 2006-07, the Red Wolves made their third postseason appearance in four years, advancing to the second round of the WNIT before falling on the road to eventual runner-up Wisconsin.

While with the Red Wolves, Ray coached 14 all-conference selections, two WNBA Pre-Draft Camp participants and four professional contract signees.

In addition to her coaching and recruiting duties at ASU, Ray also handled the team's travel budget and coordinated the scheduling of opponents, among other duties.

Before joining the staff at ASU, Ray served two seasons (2000-02) as an assistant coach at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma.
 
During Ray's tenure at Oklahoma State, she was the team's film exchange coordinator, while also helping with on-court coaching, recruiting and travel organization.

Ray entered the coaching ranks as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for one season (1999-2000) at Blinn College in Brenham, Texas. Here, she helped lead the Lady Buccaneers to a 23-8 overall record and an appearance in the regional semifinals, where they lost to eventual national champion, Tyler Junior College.

Ray's playing career consisted of four years at Brenham (Texas) High School, one-year stints at the University of Texas-San Antonio and South Plains College of Levelland, Texas, and two years at St. Mary's University in San Antonio.

The Brenham, Texas, native holds a bachelor's degree in exercise-sport science from St. Mary's (1999). She also holds an associate's degree from South Plains College in general studies.
 
Amber Cunningham | Assistant Coach
Cunningham joins the Cardinals after two years outside of the collegiate coaching ranks. During the 2018-19 season, she worked as an assistant coach for the Alamo City Aztecs of the Minor League Basketball Association (2018-19). Here, she helped guide the team to a 6-1 record and a berth in the regional championship game.
 
"It's great to be reunited with Amber again," said Dow. "She was with me for my first three years at ULM, and each year she improved steadily in every phase from on-the-floor coaching to recruiting to her scouting and preparation of opponents. She had a great career at Rice playing for two coaches I have a great deal of respect for in Christy McKinney and Greg Williams, and then followed that up by playing professionally for four years in Europe."
 
In addition to her time with the Aztecs, Cunningham spent a year as an English teacher at George Gervin Academy (2018-19) and a year with GM Financial (2017-18), both located in San Antonio.
 
"I am excited to return to the college level and I'm honored to be able to work with Coach Dow again," said Cunningham. "I look forward to working with the new staff and our student-athletes as well being part of the UIW program, which is relatively new to the DI level. UIW has a rich history and community that I am grateful to join."
 
Prior to her time in San Antonio, Cunningham spent three years (2014-17) as an assistant coach at the University of Louisiana Monroe. During her time at ULM, Cunningham designed and implemented practice plans, scouted opponents, and prepared game plans. She also worked with student-athletes both individually and in a team setting to teach cognitive aspects of the game. Off the court, Cunningham was responsible for both on- and off-campus recruiting activities.
 
Before joining the Warhawks, Cunningham spent the 2013-14 season as the video coordinator at Rice. She began her coaching career in the high school ranks as an assistant coach at Fairfax High School in her hometown of Los Angeles. During the 2012-13 season, Fairfax posted a 24-7 record and reached the CIF Los Angles Section Division I Championship Game.
 
Cunningham played collegiately at Rice (2002-06), where she helped guide the Owls to 79 wins and a trio of postseason appearances (WNIT Second Round, 2004; NCAA First Round, 2005; WNIT First Round, 2006). The 2004-05 squad that reached the NCAA Tournament finished 24-9 overall and won both the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) regular season and tournament titles.
 
Following her collegiate career, Cunningham had a four-year professional career in Europe. During her overseas stint, she played for Viernheim (Germany), Alexandria (Romania), Forssa (Finland), Gotha (Germany) and Sandhausen (Germany).
 
Cunningham graduated with a bachelor's degree in psychology from Rice in 2006 and earned her master's degree in teaching from USC in 2013.
 
Beverly Holmes | Assistant Coach
Holmes comes to UIW from the University of Louisiana Monroe, where she was most recently the director of women's basketball operations. While working as the DOBO for the Warhawks, Holmes oversaw the operations for the women's basketball program, including day-to-day scheduling, team and recruiting travel, monitoring the budget, supervising the student managers, managing equipment and operating as the team's video coordinator.
 
"I'm pleased that Beverly Holmes will have the opportunity to join us in her hometown of San Antonio," said Dow. "She came highly recommended to us at ULM by her college coach, Chuck Winkleman, who I have known for over 25 years. It was great to observe the progression she made within our staff from being our graduate assistant to our director of basketball operations, while stepping in on multiple occasions as a temporary assistant coach."   
 
During the 2018-19 season, Holmes served as an interim assistant coach for the Warhawks. She worked primarily with the point guards, running small group workouts and providing on-the-floor instruction. She was also responsible for scouting opponents and helping develop the team's defensive game plan.
 
"I am very excited and honored to be joining the University of the Incarnate Word women's basketball program," said Holmes. "I am grateful to Coach Dow for the opportunity to work together again. San Antonio is a wonderful city and UIW is a great university that I look forward to working for."
 
Holmes spent the 2017-18 season as a graduate assistant with the Warhawks. In this role, she prepared and assisted with all team practices and individual skill workouts, and she was responsible for the team's social media pages and video coordination. Additionally, she assisted with various administrative details involving compliance, recruiting, accounting, scheduling and community service.
 
Holmes played for Millsaps College for four years, helping guide her team to three regular season championships.
 
Holmes received a bachelor of business administration from Millsaps College in 2016 and a master of business administration, with a concentration in psychology, from the University of Louisiana Monroe in 2018.