Langford Named JMU's New Assistant
HARRISONBURG — Ashley Langford is the portrait of a journeywoman in the coaching profession.
Since graduating from Tulane in 2009 after a four-year career with the Green Wave, Langford has coached at five schools, with three of those stops lasting just a single season. James Madison became the sixth destination in Langford’s tour around college basketball as JMU women’s basketball coach Sean O’Regan officially introduced Langford as his newest assistant coach Wednesday, replacing Ashlee McGee, who left in April.
Langford, whose first day on the job was Saturday, said one thing that drew her to the position was the opportunity for stability the job provides, but it was far from the first thing that made JMU an appealing opportunity for her.
“I really wanted to be part of a winning program and help with that success,” said Langford, who coached last season at Old Dominion under Karen Barefoot, who left the Monarchs this offseason to become the coach at JMU’s Colonial Athletic Association rival UNC-Wilmington.
“This program is really family oriented, and that’s something that’s really important to me. The players and how they respond to [O’Regan] and all the other coaches, is one of a kind, and that’s not something you see every day.”
Langford’s gypsy-esque path to JMU is something that also endeared her to O’Regan as he enters his second year as a head coach. O’Regan said he looks for assistants with different viewpoints who are willing to challenge him because he wants to better understand all of the contrasting ways to look at different situations.
He said he believes the experiences Langford accumulated during her previous five stops will add to the discussions in coaches’ meetings.
“I don’t think she enjoys necessarily being a journeyman, but that’s what I consider her,” O’Regan said. “You’re going to learn a lot with a lot of different experiences. I want as much knowledge as I can get ... so to me probably the most important thing is somebody who thinks different than me so they can challenge me.”
O’Regan said he was also impressed by the amount of research Langford did prior to her on-campus interview. He said it was clear to him that she did a lot of homework on the Dukes, inlcluding watching several games from last year and assessing each individual player. He added the interview gave him an inkling about how organized she is on the job, another box Langford checked off for O’Regan.
Langford said she did a lot of research on JMU before the interview because she wanted to be able to not only judge the situation she was getting herself into, but also to make sure it was the right place for her at this point in her career.
“It’s all about a fit,” Langford said. “I’m doing my research, he’s doing his research, and I’m trying to make sure that this is somewhere where I should be and I can contribute and help. ... I just wanted to show him what I can bring to the table [and] how I can help them be more successful.”
Langford’s primary responsibility will be to work with the guards, a duty that fell to O’Regan for most of the past 10 years. He said he had trouble ceding control to his assistants last year in that area, but knew he needed to find someone during the search who he could trust with developing the guards properly.
Langford proved to O’Regan she fit the bill with her mock workout during the interview process and the passion she showed for the position. As a four-year point guard at Tulane, Langford said she knows how important they are to the JMU offense, and was excited to see how much younger players like rising sophomores Lexie Barrier and Kamiah Smalls will grow under her tutelage.
“That’s something that since becoming head coach, I’ve had a little trouble letting go of that joystick because that’s what I did for so many years and I have so much pride in that,” O’Regan said. “That’s something I needed to feel comfortable with her being able to do, and she certainly proved that to me.”