He coached for 37 years closing with Texas A&M Aggies women's basketball, who he coached from 2003 until his retirement in 2022. The USA fell behind; Slovakia had a 2215 lead. After this season his 50th coaching Blair will retire and leave a stamp the size of Texas on the game of basketball. 42 (UConn wins Dance; WBB ratings boom), 'I'm very honored and humbled': Gary Blair discusses Hall of Fame honor. They used to ride in vans and wear tube socks. 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I never sat down during our games for 19 years. The USA team was dominant, winning their games by an average off 33 points per game. Sonja Hogg is the first lady of college basketball: she knew how to dress, how to press, and she knew how to recruit. However, I know that it is time for this to be my final season. [7][18], Gary Blair was also selected as a 2012 namesake for Texas A&M's extended orientation camp, "Fish Camp". The sport was narrowly on his radar in 1972 when he was a PE teacher at South Oak Cliff in Dallas. Blair said in a statement on Thursday. Blair is one of only three all-time DI womens basketball coaches to lead two different teams to the Final Four, and is one of eight coaches to lead three different teams to the NCAA Tournament. Then had Amber Nichols Shirey, who ended up staying there she is still the director of basketball operations there. Theyre not going to honor me after we beat their butt on the court. The focus instead will be on Blairs final season. The USA team won their opening seven games, behind the scoring leadership of Sheri Sam, who averaged 13 points per game. The team also won the 2008 Big 12 conference tournament title. He is a natural at making anyone feel like an old friend, and that went a long way as he continued to build up every program he touched. He should do it on his terms. [14], Following their successful season, Blair was named the Women's Basketball News Service National Coach of the Year. got fired (in 2002) he could have went to LSU, Baylor, Houston or a lot of other places. 10,331 Views | But he drew in others, like Sydney Colson and Danielle Adams around the same time, both of whom were on the Aggies 2011 national championship team. 500 With Win Over ISU", "Aggies claim first NCAA women's basketball championship", "Texas A&M women's coach Blair to retire at season's end", "Coaching great Blair inducted into Ladyjack Hall of Fame", "Southland legends Dumars, Blair to enter Conference Hall of Honor", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Gary_Blair&oldid=1149421149, 2007 Texas Association of Basketball Coaches Coach of the Year, 2006 Women's Basketball News Service National Coach of the Year, 2002 Texas High School Basketball Hall of Famer, 1995 Women's Basketball News Service National Coach of the Year, Five-time District VI Converse Coach of the Year, This page was last edited on 12 April 2023, at 03:53. Long-time assistant coach Kelly Bond-White is obviously helping with those recruiting efforts. You just told em you were looking for basketball players, Metcalf said with a shrug, not lovers.. I can get something out of all three of those. I even watch WWE. Pub Date: 01/27/2017 The beers were in the apartment office where she walked in, so I told my friends, 'I'm going to get a beer. 13 UCLA contains Stanford to avenge previous loss, Coaches credit mental strength of athletes during pandemic season, Indiana, Arizona are first-time dancers in the Elite 8, Clutch Nixon, Aggies ready for the Sweet 16. At the time of the offer, Blair was making an annual salary of $22,000. "He has a lot of wisdom. The Aggies open Blair's final season with an exhibition against Oklahoma Baptist at 7 p.m. on Nov. 3 at Reed Arena in College Station. Shelby Metcalf, who coached the men's team for 27 seasons, is the school's winningest coach. Gary Blair provides an update on retirement and life after basketball. Blair will complete a 50-year coaching career when this season ends. I miss talking about the game I watched the other night. Texas A&M announced on Thursday that its basketball court will be named in honor of retiring women's coach Gary Blair. Right now, it's a mess in college athletics. [6], When head women's basketball coach Marsha Sharp retired from Texas Tech in 2006, Blair got calls from his friends to take over the position. But there werent a lot of high school coaching jobs available. Generator vs power station: Which one is right for you? Blairs final season with the Aggiesbegins on Nov. 9 against A&M-Corpus Christi at Reed Arena. Taylor succeeds hall of famer Gary Blair and is inheriting a program that is one of eight schools in the past 20 years to have a national title. According to Brown-McCoy, most of the girls had never traveled outside of the Dallas area. Gary Blair became Texas A&M's coach in 2003. He got a U.S. Army draft notice in 1969, and decided to enlist in the U.S. Marine Corps, completing a two-year tour of duty. You cant (raise your voice at young people) anymore. But I made an attempt to get them all here.. . The only friend Ive ever hired is Vic; everyone else I hire for their strengths. TexAgs is an independent site and is not affiliated with Texas A&M University. [3] Blair was inducted into the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 2023. "It's a French country house, and probably the only one in Bryan-College Station," Gary said. Exam copy availability, 2023 Texas A&M University Press | Orders: 800-826-8911 | John H. Lindsey Building, Lewis St. | College Station, Texas 77843-4354. Vic Schaefer came with me when Tom took the Colorado job. Only the last five years in high school we were allowed to go to state. South Carolina's Aliyah Boston recorded her 20th straight double-double, an SEC record, as the Gamecocks rolled in Texas A&M coach Gary Blair's final home game. But also, just excited for him. [3], In the summer of 1996, while his Arkansas team was in their offseason, Blair spent several months in Taiwan as the assistant coach of the U.S. Jones Cup team, which won the gold medal and became the first U.S. team to be undefeated at the Jones Cup tournament. The girls asked me if I'd coach them. When R.C. Pam Green went on to star at Missouri. Thats my strength. [14] This marked the first time in Aggie history that the women's basketball team had earned consecutive NCAA tournament berths. Things get started with the dinner Thursday, May 6 at the Brazos County Expo at 6 p.m. Plates are $20 for all-you-can-eat catfish. And a volleyball coach, and a track coach. Blair has been at Texas A&M since 2003, leading the Aggies to a national championship in 2011. Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair announced on Thursday that this season will be the last of his historic career. Overall, Blair has 852 career wins, 12th all-time in Division I history, and has led the Aggies to 16 NCAA tournaments, eight Sweet Sixteens, three Elite Eights and five conference titles along with the the 2011 national championship. The following year his team, which consisted of 9 freshmen and sophomores, won 23 games and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament. As for life after coaching, Blair said quality time with his family is at the top of his list. He can tell you all about their kids, their jobs, their successes. That team, that year, Blair said. Division regular season and conference tournament champion Joni Taylor is doing very well. [4] He also played a year of baseball for the Red Raidershe was a defensive center fielder with self-described poor hitting skills. He was a good kid, and he grew eight inches after high school. All rights reserved. He never meant to coach womens basketball. I played ping pong and basketball with Dennis Rodman when he was a kid. "I am fortunate that my health is still great, and I believe that I can still make an impact on our student-athletes and that I can give all my effort every single day. This outlines how and why we collect, store and use your personal data when you use our website. Blair led the Aggies to the national championship in 2011. Its still difficult to describe the scene after the final buzzer sounded, because the moment was just so damned surreal, writes head coach Gary Blair following the conclusion of the title game of the 2011 NCAA Division I womens basketball tournament. He was underpaid, he worked around facility issues, he had to better himself as a coach. As older coaches, we have to change with todays kids. It took me two weeks to make up my mind. He didn't play high school sports because South Oak Cliff was so hard to make teams back in those days. Brent Zwerneman is a staff writer for the Houston Chronicle covering Texas A&M athletics. Coachs Chair: Gary Blair, Texas A&M University, No. 2023 Maroon & White LP. What Im trying to do is max out every day. My friends sentme pictures. After 10 years in Fayetteville, Ark., Blair would make another move this time to a flailing Texas A&M team that was always sitting near the bottom of the Big 12 standings. Now divorced, Blair has a son and a daughter, and three grandchildren. As he reminisces, the corners of his mouth curl into a signature grin that has charmed basketball players, referees, parents of recruits and a lot of sports journalists for nearly 50 years. Gary Blair Court at Reed Arena will be officially dedicated during a pregame ceremony on Feb. 24 when the Aggies face South Carolina. When he told us, we were a little surprised because we know that he could keep coaching if he wants to. Conference regular season and conference tournament champion I am missing work, and I am missing relationships. Garrido won five national titles while leading Cal State Fullerton and Texas, while Blair achieved what few figured possible in inheriting the Big 12s worst basketball program in 2003: a national title in 2011. See our updatedPrivacy Policyto find out more about cookies and how we use your data. While there he coached with Leon Barmore, who was co-head coach with Hogg at Tech for Blairs last three seasons in Ruston, La., before Barmore took over the program. He also started perfecting recruiting. I almost found out (against Georgia earlier this month) when we got beat in overtime. 23 in the AP preseason poll. Whatever social media tells them to do, they live it in that moment. teacher, while waiting for an offer to coach the baseball team, but when asked to coach the girls' team, he accepted. There wont be another one (like him), A&M mens basketball coach Buzz Williams said of Blair. Senior captain Jordan Nixon admitted she was caught off guard when Blair informed the team this would be his final season. Wishing you all the best in your retirement. Weve got plenty of time for that, Bjork said The great thing about the timing from only that perspective is you have all season to analyze, look at the landscape of college basketball, see what coaches are out there, see what the future holds and be able to analyze what that landscape is. Texas A&M's Gary Blair is retiring. In the final game, the USA beat South Korea to finish the competition with a perfect 93 record. Ive been at basketball schools all the way, to (A&M). "We both have careers. It won't be difficult to go see the team play, but it will be difficult to realize that I have a seat. Texas A&M named 2021 SEC Coach of the Year Joni Taylor as the eighth women's basketball head coach in program history on March 23, 2022. Blairs love for basketball and genuine interest in helping his players succeed on and off the court mixed with his charm is quite the combination. In 1977 we won our first state championship, and they asked me to be the head boys basketball coach and the coordinator of junior varsity football. I just need an arena with 94 feet to be able to compete.. I flunked out of architecture, which didnt make me eligible for baseball. Kit Lyle was with me at Stephen F., and more recently he was Chennedy Carters coach for her last two years of high school Mike Neighbors was a high school coach at Cabbot making $72,000 a year. Around that time, the school offered him the head baseball job hed coveted. His teams won seven straight conference championships, and appeared in the NCAA Tournament six times. [3] Despite Blair's winning record at Arkansas and taking the program to its first ever Final Four just four years earlier, then-women's program athletic director Bev Lewis relieved Blair of his coaching duties after the season. A member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, the 76-year-old Blair has a career record of 838-333 in 36 seasons at Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas and Texas A&M. Every possession is a game in itself. Blair oozes pride when he mentions the women who helped him find his calling all those years ago. The team won 23 games (losing 9), the third-most victories in school history and a tie for the most victories in conference play ever (11 wins, 5 losses in conference). "Aggieland is a special place and has always been my destination," Blair said. I am a product of Title IX, Blair said. As he had done at every stop so far, Blair got to Nacogdoches a small town in East Texas and started winning. "Skinny," Nan said, chuckling, of the man who would later lead Texas A&M to a national title thanks in part to his recruiting acumen. His teams reached the semifinals in the SEC tournament in both 2001 and 2002.[3]. 15th seed Troy in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. In the family: Kelly Bond-White, Texas A&M associate head . They asked for volunteers to coach (girls) basketball (at South Oak Cliff), and the girls next door asked me if Id coach. The numbers speak for themselves. I enrolled in May, 1969 when everyone was trying to stay out. He would drive me to ball games and couldnt come in and watch (due to NCAA rules), so he would sit in the parking lot and work with what whatever Internet we had around 2000. 2:28p, 3/5/20. In the eighth game, they played undefeated Slovakia, in a game that would determine the gold medal. It was shocking. He published his autobiography, A Coaching Life, last year. Last: How long do you want to ignore this user? Im very honest with the kids and their parents: when you earn your playing time, you will get your playing time. . I got the girls involved in an intramural program, and that's when Title IX was passed. A&M's Blair, Arkansas-based wife make marriage work. Were playing in a good arena, Blair said, and we won in Austin earlier this year.. It would have been 16 had the 2020 tournament not been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Beyond the trophies, beyond the impressive won-lost record compiled over more than four decades of coaching, beyond even the ungrudging professional respect he has achieved among his peers in a fiercely competitive occupation, Gary Blair values the images, moments, and memories collected during a life spent doing what he loves most: coaching . He announced in October that this would be his final season after 19 seasons at Texas A&M. What we want to do is make sure Coach is celebrated., Obviously we know (Bond-White) very well. Then-UT baseball coach Augie Garrido had no qualms predicting the NCAAs intent when determining whether Texas or the University of Houston, the latter of which sported the better record that season, would host a super regional in 2014. I ended up coaching women's basketball because there wasn't a coaching job when I took the PE job at South Oak Cliff. Gary Blair - Women's Basketball Coach - Texas A&M Athletics - 12thMan.com Gary Blair Title Head Coach Twitter CoachGaryBlair E-Mail gblair@athletics.tamu.edu THE BLAIR FILE COACHING HONORS Women's Basketball Hall of Fame Inductee: 2013 New York Athletic Club Winged Foot Award: 2011 Blair, 65, also became the oldest women's coach to win a national championship. Legendary Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair retired at the end of the 2021-22 season, but he is still a fixture in and around Aggieland. We were up five in OT and we struggled so much, but Georgia played great. The next year, it became a paid thing. 0 Replies | No way did I think I would still be coaching now. He didn't get drafted by the Detroit Pistons until he was 24. I'm a sports fan. They were ready to go. . To me, thats the least of my worries. The joy that bursts out of Gary Blair as he talks about his storied career simply cant be contained. I love it enough. I had to rebuild Arkansas, but A&M was the hardest rebuild because when I got here, they were horrible. A Dallas native, Blair was the head coach at South Oak Cliff High school from 1973-1980. We opened that arena in the 1983-84 season and we played Cheryl Miller and USC in the opening round (of the NCAA Tournament) and we got beat at home. A new professional league, and you were seeing more people at college games around that time, too. From 1993-2003, he was the head coach at Arkansas. Social media is now as important as the three-point line. On Thursday night, Blair will coach the Texas A&M womens team at home for the last time, as the school names the court at Reed Arena after him. Last: There are not any replies to this post yet. During his last six seasons, his teams were consistently ranked in the final AP Top 25 polls. Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial. He handled the defense, and it was the first time Id really turned over the defense to an assistant coach. Gary Blair is the son of Lee, a plaster foreman, and Jean, a housewife. He talks about his beginnings often, about the chances he was given and the opportunities he seized. Athletic Director Ross Bjork said that she would be among those under consideration. When I got to Arkansas I needed a national recruiter, so I hired Tom Collen from Purdue. Those were the programs, and then they died out to start the 1980s. Brent met his wife, KBTX-TV news anchor Crystal Galny, in the Dixie Chicken before an A&M-Texas Tech football game in 2002, and the couple has three . I started out with something else in mind and I ended up on this path, coaching all these young women over the years. Blair will leave Aggieland as the winningest coach in Texas A&M history. I got the girl's coaching job by default because nobody else wanted it. . "That makes this harder on Gary. Leon Barmore was the Bobby Knight of womens basketball. I THINK she heads up the Arky nursing school. I had to put silk flowers in the urinals at away games because we always had to use the boys locker room as visitors. . South Oak Cliff had just started its women's basketball program, and Blair became the team's first coach in 1973. Timing is everything in coaching. Blair is well-known and well-liked throughout the SEC. Whether youre shopping Way Day 2023 or Walmart, theres an al fresco set for you. "Just because of the impact that he's had on the women's game. Blair still marvels at the serendipity that brought him to coaching. A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair. "[5], After his graduation from Texas Tech, Blair hoped to find a high school baseball coaching job in Lubbock, but he was offered the physical education coach gig[tone] at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas, a predominantly Black school. I didnt want them to go back home because at that time there were a lot of single parents out working, which meant kids had a lot of time between 4 and 7 p.m. to get into trouble. I wait for people to screw up and then go in on the white horse and resurrect the program. Blair joined TexAgs Radio on Monday morning to discuss life after basketball and so much more. I'm going to sit down and enjoy watching. You know, I think I could coach till I am 80, Blair, now 76, said. At each new place, there was a new challenge and something to build, but it was always worth it, he said. You get to appreciate what coaching is. Gary Claude Blair (born August 10, 1945)[1] is a retired women's basketball head coach. . . [5] He earned his master's degree in education from the school in 1974. Conference tournament champion, List of college women's basketball coaches with 600 wins, "Big 12 Coaches Owe Much to Louisiana Tech", "Q&A with Texas A&M women's hoops coach Gary Blair", "Pepperdine Timeout 4 HIV/AIDS Tourney Up Next For No. I turned it down, he said. Hes done tremendous things in the game of basketball. Vic turned it down and came with me to Texas A&M, and Amber stayed. I just need an arena with 94 feet to be able to compete., - Gary Blair on being honored in opposing gyms this season. I have no regrets and just hold my colleagues, my players and the game in such high regards. From throwing candy in the stands to entice students to come to games and support their womens teams to saying yes to just about every media request ever made to building the confidence of just about every player he ever coached, Blair has been an integral figure in womens basketball. He figures to be honored in opposing gyms. I apologize. In his 37 years as a collegiate head coach, Blair only suffered two losing seasons,[2] and has reached postseason play 28 times, including 23 NCAA Tournament appearances and Final Four appearances in 1998 with Arkansas and 2011 with Texas A&M. Texas A&M coach Gary Blair, against Mississippi earlier this season, has his own style of wit and wisdom. We were just coming off of a state championship team and I had just got married. Can you talk about your experience coaching at Louisiana Tech, at the dawning of womens collegiate basketball? Two days later, the Aggies defeated Notre Dame 76-70 in the championship game to win the tournament for the first time in school history. That was a special time for the game, he said. She was named to the Texas High School Hall of Fame and she was the first female athletic director in Dallas ISD in 2001. [12], Blair is married to Kyla Blair and has four children and nine grandchildren. At that time where were no coaching jobs, so I took a PE teacher job, and I volunteered to be the golf coach. Oct. 28, 2021 Updated: Oct. 28, 2021 11:36 a.m. You name it. Save on AeroGarden indoor herb growing kits at Amazon, Create a bonsai tree out of bricks with this $40 LEGO set, Preorder 'The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom' today, Astros vs Phillies: How to get tickets and free swag this weekend, There are a ton of great patio furniture sets on sale right now. Baseball was my best sport I starred but I was 120 pounds even though I worked out, and I never got a double my whole high school career. Although I am excited to begin a new chapter in my life, I am even more excited to compete this year. 2023 Maroon & White LP. He had to be a sports fan. Then Arkansas made the mistake of not hiring him when I left. I told Sue that two things have to happen: you have to come with me and my wife has to come with me. I knew him from Sam Houston State when I was at Stephen F. He was making $44,000 at Sam Houston and I brought him in at $55,000. 978-1-62349-536-7 Cloth I'm trying to adjust. Melissa Gregg is a Dallas police officer. Postseason invitational champion . I was in the middle of that with recruiting. This is my 19th year (at A&M), Blair said with a cracking voice and misty eyes. It wasnt long before we saw he was a money-making machine.
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