Baylor equestrian has hired Laura Brainard as the Western assistant coach, announced Wednesday by head coach Casie Maxwell.
Brainard joins the Bears after three seasons at Georgia, bringing a wealth of knowledge and experience to the Horsemanship and Reining squads.
“We are excited to bring Laura back to Texas and onto our staff here at Baylor,” Maxwell said. “She has great energy, values and passion for the sport which makes her a great addition to Baylor and our new staff. Laura has a championship background of being a student-athlete and coaching a NCEA program that will be invaluable to our program. She has really made her mark during her time coaching Georgia’s Western student-athletes and I look forward to what she can bring to the table here at Baylor.”
Brainard saw tremendous success during her time at UGA, helping lead the Bulldogs to back-to-back SEC Championships (2017, 2018) and back-to-back NCEA National Championship Runner-up finishes (2017, 2018). Her Horsemanship squad finished as the NCEA National Champion Runners-up in 2018 in the inaugural event championship format.
In the 2017-18 season, she helped coach two SEC Riders of the Year and totaled five All-America honors over the season. In her three years at Georgia, Brainard’s Western student-athletes collected 13 All-America selections.
The Bulldogs finished the season 13-1 (5-1 SEC) and the Western squad went 9-1 as a unit, with Horsemanship posting a 9-1 record and the Reining squad going 8-1-1.
Before joining Georgia in 2015, Brainard was a volunteer assistant coach at Texas A&M. She was a four-year letterwinner with the Aggies, helping lead the Western team to back-to-back national titles (2011, 2012) and the overall team title in 2012. She was an All-SEC Horsemanship rider in 2014 and was named the squad’s MOP rider in Horsemanship in her senior season.
Brainard graduated with a B.S. in Agriculture Economics from Texas A&M in 2013 before completing her Master of Science degree in Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communications in May of 2015.
