UA Fort Smith Athletics

Elena Lovato recently finished her second season as the Head Coach at the University of Arkansas-Fort Smith. Lovato joined the Lions after spending two seasons as an assistant coach at Mississippi State University and two seasons as the Head Coach at Trinity Valley Community College, where she was the 2013-14 National Coach of the Year and led the program to back-to-back National Championships.

Lovato has made a significant impact on the UAFS program during her two years, leading the program to a 37-24 (.607) overall and 20-10 (.667) Heartland Conference record. In 2017-18, the Lions reached the 20-win mark and earned a berth to the NCAA Tournament.

From 2014 to 2016, Lovato served as an Assistant Coach at Recruiting Coordinator at Mississippi State, assisting the program to a 55-15 (.786) overall and 22-10 (.688) SEC record, as well as two NCAA Tournament berths, including one Sweet 16 appearance.

In her two seasons leading Trinity Valley, she guided the program to a 72-2 (.972) record. Her hard work and dedication resulted in the program winning back-to-back National Championships in 2012-13 and 2013-14. Her team’s success in 2013-14 also earned her NJCAA Division I Coach of the Year honors. Lovato recruited and coached six NJCAA All-American’s at Trinity Valley, including the 2013-14 WBCA Player of the Year, Adut Bulgak.

Prior to her return to Trinity Valley, she spent the 2011-12 season as an assistant coach at the University of Nebraska-Omaha, a NCAA Division II school that was making the transition to the Division I level. That stint followed one season as head coach at Grayson County Community College in Denton, Texas.

As the head coach at Grayson in 2010-11, she took a program that finished 4-26 the year before and led it to a 32-4 record, the Region V championship, and a fifth-place national finish. The successful campaign earned her coach of the year honors from the Texas Association of Basketball Coaches, North Texas College Athletic Conference and NJCAA Region V. She also coached two NJCAA All-American’s that season.

The 2009-10 season was her first stint as an assistant at Trinity Valley before being promoted to interim head coach for the final 11 games of the season. The nation started to take notice of the young up-and-coming coach during that stretch as she led the Lady Cardinals a 9-2 mark and a sixth-place finish in the national championship tournament.

Prior to her first stint at Trinity Valley, she was an assistant coach on legendary coach Joe Curl’s Houston staff in 2008-09 and a graduate assistant at Pittsburg State in Kansas during the 2007-08 season.

The Albuquerque, N.M., native played two seasons at West Texas A&M University from 1997 to 1999 before transferring to Missouri Southern State University, where she was a team captain and 1999-00 MIAA Newcomer of the Year. Lovato earned her bachelor’s degree in university studies from Missouri Southern State in 2005 and her master’s degree in physical education from Pittsburg State in 2008.

She went on to play professionally for two seasons in the Puerto Rican Women’s Basketball League from 2001 to 2002, earning First Team All-League honors after averaging 23 points and 10 rebounds in 2001. In 2002, she also played for the Chicago Blaze of the National Women’s Basketball League (NWBL).
 
  April 4, 2016   UAFS (NCAA Division II)
                        Head Coach
 
2014-16           Mississippi State University (NCAA Division I)
                        Assistant Coach/Recruiting Coordinator
 
2012-14           Trinity Valley Community College (NJCAA)
                        Head Coach
 
2011-12           University of Nebraska-Omaha (NCAA Division I)
                        Assistant Coach
 
2010-11           Grayson College (NJCAA)
                        Head Coach
 
2009-10           Trinity Valley Community College (NJCAA)
                        Assistant Coach/Interim Head Coach
 
2008-09           University of Houston (NCAA Division I)
                        Assistant Coach
 
2008                Pittsburg State University (NCAA Division II)
                        Graduate Assistant Coach