We all want to make this season special for us and for him.". Then had Amber Nichols Shirey, who ended up staying there she is still the director of basketball operations there. She will be somebody we will keep an eye on throughout the year just as we will a lot of different coaches around the country.. Blair initially rejected the offer, but upon his wife's encouragement, he accepted it. Timing is everything in coaching. Guard Destiny Pitts said Blair has influenced her beyond basketball. Blair did the impossible. Our student body is 62,000 strong, and there are other things in life just as important as basketball. The Astros gave four underdog pitchers a shot. Barbara Brown McCoy went on to be a standout guard at Stephen F. Austin before going into high school coaching herself. Well, I wasnt busy coaching baseball, so I jumped on that chance. Vic Schaefer came with me when Tom took the Colorado job. Hes the winningest coach in Texas A&M history with a 430-170 record in 18 seasons. I (also) read three comic strips per day: Peanuts, Blondie and Beetle Bailey. We (coaching staff) spent two hours last night with current recruits, Blair said. I miss talking about the game I watched the other night. Blair and Homer Norton, who coached football from 1934-47, are the lone two A&M coaches to win national titles in the three major sports at the university: football, basketball and baseball. Nan visits Aggieland about a dozen times a year, and Gary visits Fayetteville about five times a year. Thats a long-winded answer but thats who I am.. "I've got nine grandkids that I want to go spend more time with. 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. ", Texas A&M naming court in honor of retiring Blair, The top 35 women's college basketball players in the transfer portal, Ex-Louisville star Van Lith picks champion LSU, New Big Ten boss Petitti ready to lead 'new era', Wake Forest's Spear, top-5 ACC scorer, in portal, Survey: Male athletes unsure of Title IX process, Oregon State AD Barnes released from hospital, S. Carolina brings on former Oregon PG Paopao, Ex-Iowa St. guard Donarski transferring to UNC, How Hailey Van Lith's transfer impacts NCAA champion LSU. He also started perfecting recruiting. 42 (UConn wins Dance; WBB ratings boom), 'I'm very honored and humbled': Gary Blair discusses Hall of Fame honor. Im a product of Title XI, as I was the first man to coach women in the city of Dallas. Blair, with a slight grin, also realized the game in the Erwin Center offers the chance for a jab at A&Ms (still) biggest rival and new Longhorns coach Vic Schaefer, his former top assistant at A&M. He thanked a myriad of administrators, coaches and current and former players for his success. I ended up coaching women's basketball because there wasn't a coaching job when I took the PE job at South Oak Cliff. 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. Post-spoiler alert: The NCAA chose Austin, and the Longhorns advanced to the College World Series. [3], Blair's first head coaching experience at the collegiate level came at Stephen F. Austin University in Nacogdoches, Texas. Nan is in her fifth year as Arkansas' director of nursing. No wonder he is coaching so long gotta reestablish himself. She was named to the Texas High School Hall of Fame and she was the first female athletic director in Dallas ISD in 2001. I got the girls involved in an intramural program, and that's when Title IX was passed. [8] After winning the first state championship, he was offered the head baseball job he had been waiting for, but he turned it down to remain coaching the women's teams. It makes you appreciate the road of women in sports. "It's a French country house, and probably the only one in Bryan-College Station," Gary said. The team also won the 2008 Big 12 conference tournament title. Brent Zwerneman is a staff writer for the Houston Chronicle covering Texas A&M athletics. Kelly Bond-White has been with me 21 years, he said. He was also inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2023. You cant ask for much more.. She coached a gold medal team for USA Basketball, and that always helps in recruiting. 3. Title IX came in 1972, and schools had to put womens athletics in larger cities, whereas before they had only existed in small towns. I had to rebuild Arkansas, but A&M was the hardest rebuild because when I got here, they were horrible. But things have changed so much. Blairs coaching tree includes Mississippi State coach Vic Schaefer and Arkansas coach Mike Neighbors, whose teams Texas A&M faces in Southeastern Conference play. ", "It's really special for us to be playing in his last season," Aggies guard Destiny Pitts said. Blair has been at Texas A&M since 2003, leading the Aggies to a national championship in 2011. I started out with something else in mind and I ended up on this path, coaching all these young women over the years. Hes eager for that final year of competition. Its been great this year to reflect at every gym we go to, to talk to other coaches Ive known for years, he said. 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. "Just because of the impact that he's had on the women's game. The beers were in the apartment office where she walked in, so I told my friends, 'I'm going to get a beer. Gary Blair provides an update on retirement and life after basketball. He began his career as an assistant at Louisiana Tech between 1980-85 as the Lady Techsters won two national titles, including the first NCAA women's basketball tournament in 1982 season. The USA team was dominant, winning their games by an average off 33 points per game. I dont know whats more important to them. When R.C. When you work with the top players in the country, they get to see why you're one of the top coaches in the country. All rights reserved. What can you say about it? I do not miss that, but I miss the evaluations. 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He is a graduate of Oak Ridge High School and Sam Houston State University, where he played baseball. Schools all send me away with a gift basket and the kindest words. We cant get separation on teams, no one plays us close, our defense is solid but were not stopping people theyre scoring on us. Ask Liucci: Spring football takeaways, A&M's spring sports & more, Follow The Money - Ep. COLLEGE STATION Shelby Metcalf once explained why he had no problem recruiting to a then-all-male military institute in Texas A&M in the early 1960s. I flunked out of architecture, which didnt make me eligible for baseball. 15th seed Troy in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. Whether youre shopping Way Day 2023 or Walmart, theres an al fresco set for you. For his efforts, Blair was inducted into the Texas High School Basketball Hall of Fame. It was shocking. [4] He also played a year of baseball for the Red Raidershe was a defensive center fielder with self-described poor hitting skills. Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair will retire after the 2021-22 season, officially making the announcement in a school release Thursday morning. I was the head coach for basketball, volleyball, track and cross country for eight years, and I loved it. Last: How long do you want to ignore this user? Over the past 19 seasons, the program . "I initially stayed behind because our son (Matt) was a senior in high school," Nan said of why she's never left Fayetteville, Ark. Sometimes you just go with the flow, and dont take life so seriously in non-serious moments. What's tough right now is that Tuesday was the first day on the road for all my coaches. Brent met his wife, KBTX . He grew up playing baseball, and as a 128-pound center fielder at Bryan Adams High School, he received all-city honors in 1963. I dont want to just win ball games; I want to make a difference and be in every game. Abe Lemons once described the difference between coaching and most other jobs. And thats OK. Available, Media: "Coach Blair is a legend in women's basketball and college sports," Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork said. The one thing I want to be able to do is that I want to leave on good terms. At the time of the offer, Blair was making an annual salary of $22,000. I pull for people whove had to go through things. 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. In the NCAA tournament, the team lost to eventual national champion Tennessee. He netted a national APSE second-place finish for breaking the Dennis Franchione secret newsletter scandal in 2007, and his coverage of Texas A&Ms move to the SEC from the Big 12 also netted a third-place finish nationally in 2012. A&M returns two starters and eight letter winners from the team that went 25-3 and won the Southeastern Conference regular-season championship last season. . Gary Blair cuts down a net after winning the 2011 national championship. . A&M's Blair, Arkansas-based wife make marriage work. [3] With a Number 6 seed[2] to the NCAA Tournament (A&M's first such invitation since 1996), Blair became only the fourth coach in NCAA history to take three different schools to the NCAA Tournament,[3] although this became his only appearance where his team lost in the first round. She was a nurse at Parkland Memorial who was moving into The Square apartments - Gary's longtime stomping grounds - in Dallas. The USA team won the game and the championship 7262. For my teams at South Oak Cliff, a professional league wasnt a possibility, so to see how far things had come was something.. The transfer portal, the constant debates about compensating athletes, a pandemic that canceled high school basketball seasons and an NCAA Tournament, the changes in recruiting in a world that has turned to virtual meetings at a high rate Blair would rather sit back and watch the game evolve around all of the new challenges rather than be in the midst of it. Blair will complete a 50-year coaching career when this season ends. . The team's success was noticed by their fans, who increased home attendance enough to allow the school to rank in the top 12 of NCAA Division 1 attendance leaders. Fantasy women's basketball: Will the addition of Candace Parker shake up fantasy values on the Aces? Where is this coming from?, We understand. The coming season will almost certainly include. 1 of 5 Texas A&M head coach Gary Blair talks with his players in the first half of an NCAA college basketball game against Vanderbilt at the women's Southeastern Conference tournament Wednesday . He is the kind of guy who meets you once, sees you years later and remembers your name and some small random fact from a conversation you had. Leon Barmore was the Bobby Knight of womens basketball. In other sports Im pulling for the veteran coaches. Been engaged a year to a wonderful lady. Weve done a good job of bringing in the right kids with the right parents. The 2023 NFL Draft runs April 2729 live from Kansas City, Missouri. My all-city friend came to see us play the other day, and hes the bench warmer now. From 1993-2003, he was the head coach at Arkansas. [3], In the 20062007 season, Blair's Aggies again scored over 20 wins and reached the NCAA Tournament, this time as the fourth seed, and advanced to the second round of the tournament. My job was to massage the egos. [2] During his five seasons there, Louisiana Tech reached the Final Four in the NCAA Tournament four times, winning two national championships. The sport was narrowly on his radar in 1972 when he was a PE teacher at South Oak Cliff in Dallas. The only friend Ive ever hired is Vic; everyone else I hire for their strengths. Every game is a Super Bowl to me.. Division regular season and conference tournament champion Texas A&M's Gary Blair Texas associate head coach Johnnie Harris has worked alongside Vic Schaefer since 2007. [4], National champion Exam copy availability, 2023 Texas A&M University Press | Orders: 800-826-8911 | John H. Lindsey Building, Lewis St. | College Station, Texas 77843-4354. Been engaged a year to a wonderful lady. To me, thats the least of my worries. Im a builder, so I had to build that Stephen F team. [7] He was initially the boy's P.E. You can't stay inside the whole day. It was back then Old Dominion, Louisiana Tech, Long Beach State, Western Kentucky and Cheney State that were the big dogs. He stresses offensive rebounding and defense to his teams,[2] and his 2007 Texas A&M team ranked among the nation's best in scoring defense, blocked shots, and steals. I try to take the time to really reflect on my career and to really enjoy each and every moment of these last games of my career.. What I haven't gotten to do is spend a lot of time with my granddaughter and grandson.". 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 couldn't have done this 20 years ago, because we didn't have cellphones.". I didnt start coaching until I was 27. At each new place, there was a new challenge and something to build, but it was always worth it, he said. He was raised in the Forest Hills neighborhood of Dallas. We were in Okinawa when everyone was trying to pull troops back. Can you talk about how you assembled your infamous coaching staff at Arkansas? 3 in the country and be 30-0? responded Blair, before having a little fun at the expense of one of college basketballs all-time powerhouses. That team, that year, Blair said. Blair is one of only three all-time DI women's 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. Thought it was strange she never moved to College Station. We won state the next year in 1977. Nestled between the central and eastern parts of Texas, A&M was in proximity to loads of basketball talent in hotbeds for the sport like Houston and Dallas. You think of all the people over the years, he said. The team finished third in the Big 12, and reached the semifinals in the Big 12 Women's Championship Tournament. Rodman is a sports fan. We finished third, first, first, second and first. I have a lot of responsibility, a lot of flexibility, and I argue with my assistants all the time. our players and coaches wildly celebrating the biggest win in womens basketball history at Texas A&M . That is the trait Blair has most in common with Garrido, the iconic UT baseball coach who died three years ago this month from complications following a stroke: a super sharp wit masking a sharper drive to win. I have enough energy. 9 Replies | When theyre young we do a lot of individual practices to keep improving their skill level. Blair oozes pride when he mentions the women who helped him find his calling all those years ago. During his first season, the Lady Razorbacks won 15 of their 29 games, their first winning season in several years. You know, I think I could coach till I am 80, Blair, now 76, said. Bryce Young vs. C.J. I want to be the first coach at A&M to leave since Bear Bryant, on his own terms. Thats why its time. I switched my major to kinesiology. Wed take the kids home after practice just load up cars take them home. 8 b&w photos. The wit and wisdom of Blair, 75, will again be on a national stage starting at 5 p.m. Monday, when the second-seeded Aggies face No. Thanks David it's great to hear from Coach Blair Aggie Legend! Texas A&M coach Gary Blair, against Mississippi earlier this season, has his own style of wit and wisdom. Oct. 28, 2021 Updated: Oct. 28, 2021 11:36 a.m. Ask Liucci: Spring football takeaways, A&M's spring sports & more, Follow The Money - Ep. Dennis stayed and became the best he could be. Just last week Texans GM Nick Caserio was deflecting rumors of a possible departure. "They make a difference," Nan said. Humility. In the eighth game, they played undefeated Slovakia, in a game that would determine the gold medal. During his last six seasons, his teams were consistently ranked in the final AP Top 25 polls. I just want to be that guy that hopefully did it the right way.". Those misses included big names like Brittney Griner, who went to Baylor, and Nneka Ogwumike, who played at Stanford. I played ping pong and basketball with Dennis Rodman when he was a kid. So special, in fact, that when Blair was offered the opportunity to move up to the collegiate basketball level and coach at Louisiana Tech in 1980, he was unsure if he would go. The first five years at Tech we were national champs, national champs, second, third, and Elite Eight. In his final season with the Lady Razorbacks, the team finished the season ranked 24th nationally and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Try a week on us. In womens basketball, we went to state the first year we could go to state in 1976. That was a special time for the game, he said. For me, hes been almost like a grandfather, she said. He announced in October that this would be his final season after 19 seasons at Texas A&M. . [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. Ive got a saying: today I gave all I had, and what I kept Ive lost forever. The Make or Break For Jimbo's Tenure, Cromartie taking shots at the coaching staff. Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair, 76, announced on Thursday that he will retire at the end of this season. Hes helped me a lot off the court, too.. We were up five in OT and we struggled so much, but Georgia played great. He was 239-18 at South Oak Cliff. All the other men coached boys basketball and football. Hes done tremendous things in the game of basketball. Blairs final season with the Aggiesbegins on Nov. 9 against A&M-Corpus Christi at Reed Arena. He also has four grandchildren: Logan, Lola, Landry and Reagan. Blair was intrigued by the universitys facilities, its athletic prowess in other sports and its location. In the 200708 season, Blair led his squad to a school-first NCAA Elite Eight appearance and a 298 overall record. I can get something out of all three of those. It won't be difficult to go see the team play, but it will be difficult to realize that I have a seat. A member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, the 76-year-old Blair has a career record of 838-333in 36 seasons at Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas and Texas A&M. Its also important to get kids involved in other things on campus besides basketball. "Then our daughter (Paige) and I started a business together, grandchildren had come along, and things just kept moving on.". Shelby Metcalf, who coached the men's team for 27 seasons, is the school's winningest coach. Y'all keep playing.' RUSTY BURSON, author of. I have no regrets and just hold my colleagues, my players and the game in such high regards. Blair joined TexAgs Radio on Monday morning to discuss life after basketball and so much more. 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 . Gary Blair Kelly Bond-White Kayla Wells Texas A&M Women's Basketball Blair's legacy honored despite dropping final home game to South Carolina By Olin Buchanan February 25, 2022 2 4,578 Tweet Share Jump to Discussion Whether you're a teenager or a 76-year-old basketball coach, leaving home isn't easy. a reporter reminded Blair he had defeated Nebraska in the 2010 Big 12 tournament when the Cornhuskers were 30-0 and ranked No. On Thursday night, Blair will coach the Texas A&M women's team at . Texas A&M said nearly 60 of Blair's former assistants or players became head coaches, including six currently at the Division I level: LSU's Kim Mulkey, Texas' Vic Schaefer, Arkansas' Mike Neighbors, Auburn's Johnnie Harris, Georgia Tech's Nell Fortner and Lamar's A'Quonesia Franklin. He was underpaid, he worked around facility issues, he had to better himself as a coach. tears streaming down the faces of former players . 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. Im very honest with the kids and their parents: when you earn your playing time, you will get your playing time. . Blair still marvels at the serendipity that brought him to coaching. Gary Blair is the son of Lee, a plaster foreman, and Jean, a housewife. Bill to earn a bachelor's degree in health and physical education with a minor in journalism from Texas Tech. [13], The following year the Aggies improved, earning a postseason invitation for the first time since 1996. I want to be known in this community as more than just a basketball coach, and people appreciate that. Our fans were getting restless, he offered in his typical bemused delivery. Right now, it's a mess in college athletics. I wait for people to screw up and then go in on the white horse and resurrect the program. TexAgs is an independent site and is not affiliated with Texas A&M University. This is my 19th year (at A&M), Blair said with a cracking voice and misty eyes. Hes a five-time winner of APSE National Top 10 writing awards for the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News, including in 2021 breaking the bombshell college football story of the decade: Texas and Oklahoma secretly planning a move to the SEC. Theres no one in my generation who will ever eclipse his achievements. People ask me how retirement is every day. 9 Replies | Pub Date: 01/27/2017 Whatever social media tells them to do, they live it in that moment. It will be a symbol of all those that helped build this program and all the Aggies that battle on that court, not just in women's basketball, but in men's basketball and volleyball as well. I play golf about four days a week in the mornings. I brought Sue Donohoe with me, who was a great recruiter and a real people person. I was in the middle of that with recruiting. I think we shared that reaction, Nixon said. He handled the defense, and it was the first time Id really turned over the defense to an assistant coach. South Oak Cliff had just started its women's basketball program, and Blair became the team's first coach in 1973. 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. You cant explain how special it is to see your team work that way and win those games.. "My wife and I want to do some traveling starting next summerwe've got a lot of places picked out," Blair said. I was an architecture major at TTU and a walk-on for baseball. The USA came back, but was still behind at halftime. We missed out on plenty of them, he said, laughing. Since then, the team has won more than 70 percent of its . Blair joined TexAgs Radio on Monday morning to discuss life after basketball and so much more. Nan drove in from Fayetteville on Friday night in time for the Aggies' first-round NCAA Tournament game against Albany starting 5:35 p.m. Saturday in Reed Arena. He talks about his beginnings often, about the chances he was given and the opportunities he seized. Brent was named national beat writer of the year by the Football Writers Association of America for 2021, the first Texan to earn the honor, but hes most proud on the sports front of earning Dayton Invitational Basketball Tournament MVP honors in 1988. If youve ever spent any time with Blair, you know the story or pieces of it, anyway. 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. I wanted to coach baseball, the former Texas Tech outfielder said. Gary Blairs teams have earned an NCAA tournament berthevery year from2006-2021. 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. Aggies associate head coach Kelly Bond-White has been with Blair all 15 years in the program, and assistant coach Bob Starkey has been there for six. This portable Cubii under-desk elliptical is $129 off today. I'm trying to adjust. I just need an arena with 94 feet to be able to compete., - Gary Blair on being honored in opposing gyms this season. Flash02. He should do it on his terms. Every one of the players he helped coach during that tournament later went on to play in the WNBA. 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. ", "I love Aggieland, and I love Fayetteville," Gary said. The numbers speak for themselves. I am missing work, and I am missing relationships. After serving on former Georgia coach Andy Landers' staff in Athens from 2011 to 2015, Taylor had a breakthrough season in 2020-21, as the Lady Bulldogs went 21-7 and advanced to the SEC . After a divorce between Blair and his wife of 30-plus years, Blair married Kyla Gay in 2020. He was also interviewing for the New Mexico State job, which he didnt want to take. Head Coach. So after 18 months and seven days I sprinted back to Texas to finish my last year of school. They asked for volunteers to coach (girls) basketball (at South Oak Cliff), and the girls next door asked me if Id coach. Somebody that might be better than me can get the job done better. He was with me two or three years. He was previously head womens basketball coach at the University of Arkansas and Stephen F. Austin State University. Oct 28, 2021. . 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 children: Will, Zoe and Brady. 28 color photos. We have a little travel in our plans, and I have a busy month of September coming up. A few of them came in and said they needed a basketball coach, he said. 5 Aggies", "With Title, Texas A&M Coach Has Another Story to Tell", "Former SFA head coach to be inducted into Ladyjack Hall of Fame", "Click here to find out more! The focus instead will be on Blairs final season. The competition was held in Taipei, Taiwan. "This little, good-looking redhead walked by," Blair said. . 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.
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