New season, new coach

SPORTS: TAMIU hires new women’s basketball leader

By Kaily Olivo
Editor-in-chief
Published Monday, Dec. 1, 2025

With the new basketball season underway for the Dustdevils, the women’s basketball program welcomed coach Casey Fowler.

Although originally from Missouri, Fowler began his time in Texas coaching at Arlington Baptist University, Dallas, a couple of years ago.

“You kind of hear about different things, but there’s really a different level of athlete here in Texas, and that’s across all sports,” Fowler said. “[They’re] just really good athletes in the state of Texas. So, I kind of found that out on my first time here.”

As Fowler discovered the opportunity to join the Lone Star Conference and Division II, he acknowledged that he is no stranger to NCAA Division II sports.

“I played Division II basketball myself, so [I’m] very familiar with it,” Fowler said. “And then to be able to get back in Texas, were all kinds of things that drew me to here.”

Besides his connection to Division II, he also noted TAMIU’s ability, as an international university, to offer another type of athlete as well.

“I think it’s a school you can win at … being an international school,” he said. “I think we can get international players, as well, and so both of those—international students and Texas students—are usually good athletes and basketball players. I think all those things combined made this a really good opportunity.”

Using all he’s learned from playing basketball to being in the military, Fowler sees this as a full circle moment.

“It’s nice to get back in Division II and you’re playing some of the schools you played against … but just I think the things you learned from that kind of come full circle for me … you take some of the stuff from the military back to coaching; so, for me, it’s kind of come full circle,” Fowler said.

When building this team, Fowler shares the priority of recruitment as it plays a part in the making of the whole team and the outcome of working with those players on the court.

“I think everything comes down to recruiting in college,” he said. “You’re only going to be as good as the players you recruit. I’m not just talking about it on the court. I’m talking about in the classroom. I’m talking about on weekends, just all of that stuff.

“First and foremost, we try to find the right players. Can we find coachable players that’ll listen? … I think we’ve put together a really good team and good people. I mean, so far, we have had no issues with them … they’ve shown up, they’ve worked hard in the things we’ve asked them to do.”

As a coach, Fowler focuses on the little, organizational things while working with players.

“How you do anything is how you do everything,” he said. “And so, if they can do one thing, if they can do the other. I think just little things like that, I think as a coach; it’s helped me, one, just being in a real-world leadership position or leadership position as a coach … just being organized, I think, the military helped with that … just that mental toughness piece.”

He shares the coachability aspect of the player and looks for that characteristic in a player as they recruit.

“We can teach people basketball, but it’s hard to teach people to be coachable,” Fowler said. “If you’re not going to listen to people, and that goes across all, that’s school. That’s basketball. That’s life. So, we try to do a lot of homework and find the right fit. And I think when you do that, it feeds off each other; you’re going to have people [who] want to be a part of the program.”

Besides his coaching experience, Fowler holds entries in the Guinness Book of World Records. During his service, he broke three Guinness records for NBA 3-point shooting.

“Those are kind of like individual sports because there’s nobody guarding you .. it has nothing to do with playing,” Fowler said. “It’s always something I wanted to do. It’s obviously not very easy to do.”

With years of practice and dedication, he shares his personal goal.

“I’m not an NBA player, it’s not my full-time job; I did it while I was in the military,” Fowler said. “So, making the time to continue to practice and stuff like that. It doesn’t matter if you’re 7 foot or 7-5 … Can you focus on this skill?”

As Fowler continues this transition with a new team, senior point guard Angelique “Angie” Morgan experienced several transitions in her TAMIU career with three new head coaches.

“The transition’s been not as bad as what people may think as this is my third new head coach,” Morgan said. “I think just my adaptability [to] new situations, new coaches and just wanting to learn different styles has made the transition easy for me … the transition has been really smooth and coach Casey is a really good guy and he’s really putting together a good team for something special to happen.”

In her first impression of Fowler, she recognizes her past experiences alongside his.

“Suprisingly, my first impression was he reminded me of my first coach from my first two years here, but something a little bit different,” Morgan recalled. “I think he’s a lot more on the calmer side. He was my first pick [during] the interview process, so I’m glad we got him.”

As Morgan adapts to the new coach, she studies Fowler’s style and is excited to compete alongside this team and coach.

“He’s new to me, as he is to everyone else,” she said. “So, everyone has adapted pretty well, in my opinion. We’re learning his drills, his system of playing. We’re just soaking in all the information.

“I’m just looking forward to playing basketball with people who want to be here and who have the same drive to come in everyday to get better 1%—every day during practice—and let that lead into games. You know, winning’s not everything. At the end of the day, you want to win with people with the same mindset as you and who love the game the same as you. Hopefully, our big goal is to get to the conference tournament and make a mark here at TAMIU, something different.”

As the season begins, Fowler and Morgan share the excitement and support they hope to see from the community.