It didn’t take long – and the search didn’t go far – for Westlake to fill a sudden need for a head girls basketball coach.

A week after Keith Smith resigned as Westlake’s coach to accept the same position at East Texas powerhouse Longview, athletic officials hired Chap assistant coach Allison Wooley as the school’s new head coach.

Wooley, a 2000 Westlake graduate and former collegiate star at Trinity University in San Antonio, had served as the junior varsity coach and top assistant coach for the Chaps since the 2008-09 school year.

“I have loyalty to the program and the school, and I’m excited about this opportunity,” Wooley said. “I just want to build on what Keith has done the last couple of years.”

Last season, Westlake went 28-7 and reached the second round of the Class 5A playoffs.

Although Wooley, 28, has never served as a head coach, she worked as an assistant coach at Southwestern University in Georgetown prior to her return to Westlake. She impressed athletic officials in her role as Smith’s top assistant, said Eanes assistant athletic director Al Bennett.

“We believe that she is the total package, and we wanted to get her now when we had the chance,” he said. “I think that she’ll step in and do a tremendous job and take us to the next level.”

The Chaps had success under Smith, who went 139-60 in his six seasons at the school. However, Westlake – which captured two state titles and 10 consecutive district championships in the 1990s – won just two playoff games under Smith.

Wooley starred as a forward in the 1990s for former Westlake coach Cathy Self, and her hiring marks a return to that dynastic era. Since Self departed Westlake after the 1999-2000 season, the Chaps have hired all three coaches from outside the school district.

“This is a return to our roots,” Bennett said. “We haven’t had that deep connection to Westlake in our head coaching spot in a while.”

After her career at Westlake, Wooley had an all-American career at Trinity, where she received a master’s degree in teaching. She earned Most Valuable Player honors at the NCAA Division III tournament in 2003 and hit a last-second shot that lifted Trinity to a national championship.

Smith accepted the job at Longview June 14, according to the Longview News-Journal. He takes over for Tommy Aldridge, who is 10th all-time among American girls high school basketball coaches with a career record of 908-150. Aldridge led the Longview program since its inception in 1978 before retiring last month. In 32 seasons with Longview, Aldridge never had a losing season, won 25 district titles, won 30 games 19 times and coached three teams that advanced to state semifinals, including the 1983-84 Class 5A state championship team.

“I never thought I would leave Austin,” Smith told the News-Journal. “But I think now is the time to try something different.”

Smith also told the Longview newspaper that he wanted to live closer to his parents. Joe Ann and Doyle Smith live in Calhoun, La., which is 15 miles west of Smith’s native Monroe, La.