Dave Campbell’s Texas Basketball has learned that Mary Hardin-Baylor will name Katie Novak as the women’s basketball head coach. Novak returns to Texas after spending one season at NCAA Division II Hawai’i Pacific, where she led the Sharks to a 14-14 overall record and a 12-8 record in the PacWest Conference.

Before heading to Hawai’i, Novak led an incredible turnaround at Sul Ross State. The Lobos finished 14-11 in her final season at the helm in 2021-2022, marking the program's first winning season since 2003. The Lobos finished that season with its most single-season conference wins (10) since joining the American Southwest Conference.

Novak was named the ASC Coach of the Year in 2021 after leading SRSU to a 10-14 overall record and a 7-5 mark in ASC action. She led the Lobos to their first win in the ASC tournament and hosted the semifinals and finals of the conference tournament for the first time in history. She completed her time at SRSU with a 42-83 record in six years at the helm.

Novak received the Sul Ross Academic Excellence in Coaching Award in 2020-2021 for her work as head coach of the women’s basketball and women’s tennis programs.

Before arriving in Alpine, Novak spent three years as an assistant coach and strength coach at Our Lady of the Lake in San Antonio. OLLU won three consecutive Red River Conference titles and made three straight appearances in the NAIA tournament during her time with the Saints.

Novak was a standout at the collegiate level and was a starter and team captain at NCAA DII Saint Joseph’s for three years before suffering a knee injury. After receiving a medical hardship redshirt from the NCAA, she finished her collegiate career as part of the first Division I team at UIW.