John McPhail, Lady Movin’ Mavs head coach, speaks during a press conference Aug. 13 at College Park Center. McPhail held a volunteer assistant coaching role since 2022.
The UTA women’s wheelchair basketball team introduced new head coach John McPhail at a press conference Thursday.
McPhail, known as Dingo in wheelchair basketball circles, has been a volunteer assistant with the Lady Movin’ Mavs program since 2022. He is taking over for former head coach Morgan Wood, who announced in June that she was stepping down to be with family.
The team was shocked by Wood’s departure, according to senior player Brittany Yeomans, but became excited upon learning of McPhail’s promotion.
“We all kind of expected it anyways,” Yeomans said. “He really has gotten to know us, and he has a lot of passion for the sport and the program, so we just knew that we were in good hands.”
McPhail enters his first collegiate head coaching role with experience at nearly every level of wheelchair basketball. As a player, the Peakhurst, Australia, native was a Movin’ Mav from 2009 to 2014, a professional in Germany from 2015 to 2017 and a player with the Australian national team, becoming a 2010 world champion and 2020 Paralympian.
McPhail also gained experience running the UTA program before becoming the head coach, when he took on an interim role in early 2026 while Wood was on maternity leave.
McPhail is becoming the team’s head coach as the Lady Movin’ Mavs enter their first full season as part of the Athletics department, which McPhail said marks the beginning of a new era in the history of the program.
“I don’t want to just be here in Athletics. I don’t want to be part of the furniture,” McPhail said. “When we look back in 20 years, that we look back at 2026 as the day that we started for both programs, not just the women’s.”
Cezar Olivas, UTA’s assistant director of Adapted Sports, said that despite a wealth of candidates, some coming from other colleges or alumni with experience in the Movin’ Mav program, McPhail’s hire was one of the easiest he’s ever made.
McPhail said he’s felt a deep connection to the UTA campus and the people on it since he first arrived in Arlington as a college freshman, and he hopes to be with the university as long as he can.
“It’s the teams that you walk in with, the guys that you go to battle with, the ladies that you go to battle with,” McPhail said. “Every corner of this campus has amazing people who have been here for years, and I just will never leave.”
During his time assisting the Lady Movin’ Mavs, McPhail was also the head coach of the professional Dallas Wheelchair Mavericks, where he led the team to championships in 2024 and 2026.
McPhail said that he would continue to coach at Dallas despite his collegiate promotion but that his focus and preference on any scheduling conflicts would go to UTA.
“The Lady Movin’ Mavs are 100% my intention. We’ve already spoken about backup plans, between me and Cezar and Dallas,” McPhail said. “If we’ve got a tournament, or if we’re at a mission-critical part of the season, most of the guys on my team are 30 years old and should be able to run a practice session or two without me.”
Alongside team success, McPhail also said he hopes to increase the team’s popularity as it begins playing full-time in the 7,000-seat College Park Center.
“We’re going to try and get the most people here that we’ve ever had,” McPhail said. “I’m over having 20, 30, 40 people here, which are mostly friends and family, which is great. But it’s time to get into the community with UTA and Arlington, and really show that we are where we meant to be.”
The Lady Movin’ Mavs have made it to the national championship in each of the last four seasons, but fell to The University of Alabama every time. McPhail’s most immediate goal is to bring the team its third national championship, which would be the team’s first since 2018.
“You don’t get there four years in a row by luck. It’s just keeping what works, throwing out what may not work as well as it did a couple of years ago, and forging into the future and making sure that we can stand toe to toe with Alabama,” McPhail said. “Dynasties are meant to come to an end, and ours is ready to begin.”
@TyRoland06