Briana Felix found her home at McKale Center.
As a girl, she tried swimming and ballet but was drawn to basketball. Felix watched her brothers play at former UA coach Lute Olson’s camps, and tracked the Wildcats as they won the 1997 NCAA Championship.
After playing point guard at Salpointe Catholic and Avila University, serving as a UA student manager, coaching at her alma mater and at Tohono O’odham Community College, and working Olson’s Basketball Academy and Blair Charity Group’s Arizona Basketball Academy, Felix is back at home.
Actually, it’s more of a home office. She serves as UA coach Adia Barnes’ assistant director of operations. Her office is steps from the McKale Center floor.
“It’s her dream job, and Bri is happy to be here,” Barnes said. “She is passionate about Arizona and the program. I love that she wants to be here, doing this job, and isn’t looking for the next thing, like some others do. Bri is a Tucson native and her heart and soul is Tucson. She loves it and I love that about her.
“She fits the culture and is inclusive, loyal, a hard worker, sweet and really cares about people. That’s a good combination for our staff and our players. All the things I want, she has. Bri loves basketball and what I like is that she’s been a head coach before and gets the timing of things and how it feels because she’s been there. Her experience is invaluable. A lot of people don’t get it. And no job is too big or too small for her. Anything I ask Bri to do, she gives 100 percent. And she does it all by putting a smile on your face and having a positive outlook.”
Briana Felix
Felix’s daily routine is hard to pin down. In the last year, she’s organized the Adia Barnes Basketball Academy, Native Heritage Night, an alumni reunion and the women’s empowerment luncheon series.
Simply put, she takes care of the little things so Barnes doesn’t have to worry.
Felix said she’s happy to do it, too. She is the first person a visitor sees when they walk into the UA women’s basketball offices.
“I want to be (Barnes’) biggest supporter,” said Felix. “Any way I can help her so she can just focus on basketball. I love that I can wear different hats and she trusts me with that. It’s a big honor to just be able to help her build, what I want to see, too, which is an awesome women’s basketball program.
“It’s cool to see her building it and taking off with it. It’s amazing to be part of it.”
The seeds to Felix’s success were sown back when she was watching both Wildcat teams and attending former UA coach Joan Bonvicini’s camps. She admired the way Bonvicini was in control.
“Joan’s were the first camps I went to that were led by a female voice,” Felix said. “Little did I know, but that was huge at that time. You were given that ‘you can do this.’ You see other females in that line that are strong, powerful, and confident. And, for me that is something that I wanted to be like.
“Between Joan and Lute, that’s a big reason I am here today. Being on staff now at UA, I think about what we are trying to achieve, community-wise, I think I was the epitome of that. It’s where I fell in love with it. I was going to economics camps here, engineering camps here; I was inundated with the school as a whole. But, I remember Joan and Lute being that main attraction. Joan, especially being a female, watching her team use their bodies and being aggressive. It’s a big reason I love this game and that starts with Joan.
“What Joan and Lute established here, how could you not fall in love with it?”
Felix remembered a tip that was shared by Bonvicini at one of those camps: Write your goal down on a slip of paper, put it under your pillow and sleep on it.
“I wish I could find my goal, but I am pretty sure it was getting to McKale,” said Felix. “I wanted to run out of that tunnel as a Wildcat. It’s funny how stuff happens. It wasn’t how I planned it, I’m not in a jersey, but I’m here. That’s a little check mark.”
Felix has had plenty of check marks along the way. As a junior, she led Salpointe Catholic to the state semifinals. Her team was coached by Kim Conway Greene, who played for Bonvicini from 1989-1993. Greene called Felix “a coach’s dream.”
“She never hung her head, always played hard, and would do anything you asked her to do,” she said.
Yet Felix walked away from the game she loved following the sudden passing of friend and former UA women’s basketball player Shawntinice Polk. Felix was a student manager on the team.
“Her passing did affect me quite a bit at that time. I had that moment, life is short. And, as a mid-20-something, I thought about what I wanted to do,” said Felix.
“I am so glad I was able to meet her and have that friendship. ‘Polkey’ was such a big presence. She made everyone feel welcome. I remember one of the first days of practice I threw a pass to her and got it back and it was a ‘Polkey pass.’ It took my breath away. She had this big smile and laughed. And, said ‘I’m sorry.’ I was like, ‘It’s OK; I can catch.’ What she brought, her passion for the game, I really respected her right off the bat.”
Once Felix got back into the gym – to coach at Salpointe — all the joy came back. She wondered why she had left.
Felix’s ties to UA go deeper than basketball. Her grandfather, Ernesto, helped build the lava wall outside Old Main. He wasn’t supposed to be in the United States, but he escaped Yaqui apartheid by the Mexican government. Her dad, Frank, attended the UA with help from many people, including Mo Udall. He’s now the city manager in Nogales.
Both men fought for their opportunities and to make it easier for their children. Her ancestry is important to her and she is helping the next generation. That’s what drives her now.
“Giving kids around Tucson that opportunity that most won’t have. I am very blessed to do it at this level; that Adia has given me this opportunity,” said Felix. “I’ve been able to see my dad’s leadership style and how he does it and transfer it to the basketball realm. It has been my new focus, especially with this position. Getting this out into the community is a blessing Coach has given me.”
