University of South Alabama Athletics

Rachel Travis is entering her sixth season on the staff at the University of South Alabama working with the program’s point guards and scouting opponents, taking over as the Jaguars’ recruiting coordinator over the summer as well.

During her first three seasons on the staff, her efforts have helped the Jaguars post three straight records of .500 or better including back-to-back 20-win campaigns and consecutive national postseason tournament appearances.  Her first year at South the Jags earned 21 victories after advancing to the semifinals of the Women’s Basketball Invitational tournament, while the program set a school record with 25 wins, made its first appearance in the Sun Belt Conference Tournament championship game since 1989 and won a first-round contest in the WNIT the 2018-19 campaign.

Last season, Travis helped Shaforia Kines become a first-team all-league selection after she averaged 15.9 points per game — which ranked third in the SBC — while finishing second in both three-point field goals per contest and three-point field-goal percentage.  During the year, Kines recorded the 1,000th point and 200th three-pointer of her career and moved into the top 10 on South’s all-time assists list as she paced the team with 11 games scoring 20 or more points.

In 2018-19, Travis helped Kines rank among the conference leaders after averaging 13 points and 3.3 assists per game while making 75-of-194 (38.7%) of her three-point attempts.  The previous year — Travis’ first at South — Kines finished the season ranked fourth in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.6) and eighth in assists (116) in the league as she had 14 games scoring in double-digit points including dropping 10 or more in eight of the team’s final 10 games.

Travis came to USA from Longwood, where she oversaw coordinated travel, served as the academic and film liaison, and also played a vital role in recruiting, scouting and overseeing the day-to-day basketball operations for the program.
 
In her three years of assisting the Lancers, Travis helped the team win 16 games, as the squad had injury-riddled seasons under her watch. In 2014-15, Longwood posted a 4-26 record with Daeisha Brown — a preseason all-Big South selection — and leading rebounder Khalilah Ali limited to just a handful of games due to ACL tears. The following season Travis and the Lancers went 8-22 overall, and she aided in the development of forwards Kemari Jones and Eboni Gilliam. Longwood finished the 2016-17 season with another 4-26 record while missing several key upperclassmen once again. After the year was completed, Gilliam was invited to and participated in the WNBA Combine at the Women’s NCAA Final Four on April 2 in Dallas, Texas.

Before Longwood, Travis spent two years as a head coach at Florida Air Academy, an international school in Melbourne, Fla. In her first year at Florida Air, she helped guide the team to the 2012-13 3A District Championship. The squad went 10-0 in district play and 20-5 overall while advancing to the regional finals. She followed that performance by taking Florida Air back to the district title game in 2014 after amassing a 19-8 overall record and a 9-1 mark in district play. The team also advanced to the regional finals that same year.
 
Prior to her two-year stint at Florida Air, Travis held the varsity girls basketball head coaching position at the Episcopal School of Jacksonville for the 2010-11 and 2011-12 academic years.
 
A 2009 graduate of Northwest University in Kirkland, Wash., Travis has affected the lives of young people in a variety of roles. In addition to her responsibilities as head basketball coach, Travis also taught psychology and physical education at both Florida Air and the Episcopal School.
 
Travis began her coaching career as a girls basketball camp director and coach at Episcopal in the summer of 2010, the same year she began her semi-professional playing career. In August of 2010, she stepped in as Episcopal’s head coach while moonlighting as a starting guard for the Florida Lady Knight Hawks of the Women’s Blue Chip Basketball League.
 
She ended her playing career in 2011 to focus on coaching at Episcopal and has also held coaching stints as an assistant for the West Boca Elite AAU program (2013) and head coach for the Central Florida Elite Black 2015.
 
Travis was a four-year starter and three-year team captain at Northwest. A two-time academic all-conference selection, she graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in secondary education with an emphasis in health and fitness. In addition to being named to the dean’s list during her collegiate career Travis was also a three-time Cascade Conference Player of the Week.
 
A native of North Bend, Wash., Travis is CPR certified and a member of the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA).