Such amusing (to outsiders) situations are when Blair is at his best. Melissa Gregg is a Dallas police officer. I had a rule for my kids that they had to play all of (the sports). The Make or Break For Jimbo's Tenure, Cromartie taking shots at the coaching staff. He said he intends to serve A&M, the Bryan Rotary Club and his charities for Special Olympics and those with special needs. I dont know whats more important to them. Fantasy women's basketball: Whose numbers could fall in 2023? No way did I think I would still be coaching now. Blair is a member of seven halls of fame, including the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame. He surpassed former men's coach Shelby Metcalf this season with 443 victories at A&M to become the winningest basketball coach in school history. I dont want to just win ball games; I want to make a difference and be in every game. Who was No. Since integration, there were no volunteers. 10,331 Views | What's tough right now is that Tuesday was the first day on the road for all my coaches. Hes a treasure not only on the floor but off the floor.. Post-spoiler alert: The NCAA chose Austin, and the Longhorns advanced to the College World Series. The USA came back, but was still behind at halftime. But things have changed so much. Hed built a program from scratch and helped bring visibility to girls basketball in the state. I will not be second-guessing. He can tell you all about their kids, their jobs, their successes. You want to see people compete. So Blair will walk away this season after making a massive mark in so many places. Here's how to score the best deals on tickets, plus all the free promotions you won't want to miss. The first year we were a Cinderella team and went to the Final Four. He loved the players. It didnt take long five successful seasons for others to come calling for Blair. Its been a great ride, Blair told The Athletic. Blair, 76, has won 838 games in his career at Stephen F. Austin . All the ones youve met and coached and had in your life. I play golf about four days a week in the mornings. Only the last five years in high school we were allowed to go to state. Last: How long do you want to ignore this user? Blair eventually took the leap and made the move, joining Sonja Hoggs staff as an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech, which went to four Final Fours and won two national championships while Blair was on the coaching staff. 6.12 x 9.25 x 0 in 288 pp. So Blair, then a hip 33 and coach of South Oak Cliff High's girls basketball team, strolled into the office and coaxed the manager to introduce him to Nan Smith. Fantasy women's basketball: Will the addition of Candace Parker shake up fantasy values on the Aces? got fired (in 2002) he could have went to LSU, Baylor, Houston or a lot of other places. He had to be a sports fan. He has been a member of Rotary International for more than 20 years. Flash02. Texas A&M was picked to finish second in the SEC preseason coaches' poll, and is ranked No. We keep starters in (for enough time) and develop everyone. The USA fell behind; Slovakia had a 2215 lead. 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. Going into the season, he ranked eighth among active Division I coaches for career coaching victories. 3. I have a lot of responsibility, a lot of flexibility, and I argue with my assistants all the time. I had to rebuild Arkansas, but A&M was the hardest rebuild because when I got here, they were horrible. [10], As the head coach of the women's basketball team at Arkansas, Blair compiled a 198-120 record. Thanks Coach. Bobby Knight would have a hard time coaching today, and Barmore. 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. The team finished third in the Big 12, and reached the semifinals in the Big 12 Women's Championship Tournament. Look at the impact hes had on a countless number of people. There wont be another one (like him), A&M mens basketball coach Buzz Williams said of Blair. All of my 750 wins have happened after I turned 40, because I was a late bloomer. [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. 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. After a divorce between Blair and his wife of 30-plus years, Blair married Kyla Gay in 2020. [12] In his first season with Texas A&M, Blair worked very hard to attract fans to the women's basketball games, and by the end of the season attendance had increased 71 percent over the previous year, the best increase in the Big 12 Conference. Texas A&M names court for women's coach Gary Blair in his home finale . "My wife and I want to do some traveling starting next summerwe've got a lot of places picked out," Blair said. Meanwhile, Nan had advanced through the nursing ranks, winning numerous honors along the way, and was 11 years into a teaching career at Arkansas when her husband was hired to coach the Aggies. Early in his first season, he offered four free tickets to a game during an interview on a local radio station. I had to play the Title IX card to get a director of basketball operations. He handled the defense, and it was the first time Id really turned over the defense to an assistant coach. He also has four grandchildren: Logan, Lola, Landry and Reagan. [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. Blair stated, "It wasnt the right fit or the right time. 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! Sometimes you just go with the flow, and dont take life so seriously in non-serious moments. Ive had such a great career, he said. Blair will become just the third women's coach, along with Tennessee's Pat Summitt and NC State's Kay Yow, to have a court named for them. 3:36p, 3/5/20. He didn't play high school sports because South Oak Cliff was so hard to make teams back in those days. Around that time, the school offered him the head baseball job hed coveted. I love it enough. I hired him from $72,000 to $14,000, and he had kept up with everything through his high school, and he knew so much about recruiting nationally through AAU. All of a sudden it was a power, sort of like Long Beach Poly. "Thank you and Gig 'Em. 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. Sport makes us better. The game, the players. The 2023 NFL Draft runs April 2729 live from Kansas City, Missouri. He just mentioned his fiance during halftime of the Ark/Aub game - I know I'm out of touch, but I had no idea he was even divorced, much less ready to get married again! I'm a sports fan. He was only 5-foot-11. Im 72, but a young 72. We have a little travel in our plans, and I have a busy month of September coming up. But the way you saw their confidence grow, the way they lit up in the gym and had so much fun and worked so hard. Following his high school graduation in 1963, he enrolled at Texas Tech University, where he failed out of architecture, and moved to California to become a restaurant manager. The game was tied at 45 all, when the USA hit several free throws to take a lead they would not give up. We have recently updated ourPrivacy Policy. He has photos of them in his office at A&M, former players and their families grinning alongside him. Im very honest with the kids and their parents: when you earn your playing time, you will get your playing time. 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. Exam copy availability, 2023 Texas A&M University Press | Orders: 800-826-8911 | John H. Lindsey Building, Lewis St. | College Station, Texas 77843-4354. Blair endorsed her as his eventual successor. I thought Id be a baseball coach, but after four and a half years of college I quit for a while and went to California to take a summer job as a restaurant manager. [19], On October 28, 2021, Blair announced he would retire from coaching at the conclusion of the 2021-22 season. Now Texas A&M women's basketball head coach Gary Blair is ready to welcome everyone back this year for the 18th annual event to help support Special Olympics. Conference regular season champion At the time of the offer, Blair was making an annual salary of $22,000. The players I have been lucky enough to coach, to know. Wishing you all the best in your retirement. Great for Gary. . Longtime Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair announced Thursday that this season will be his last with the Aggies, with the 76-year-old set to retire at season's end. When I cant compete for championships anymore, its time to leave. Been divorced for about 4 years. I told Sue that two things have to happen: you have to come with me and my wife has to come with me. He ranks 12th in Division I history and fourth among active coaches. 9 seed for the NCAA Tournament and reached the NCAA Final Four. In other sports Im pulling for the veteran coaches. 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. Division regular season champion 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. 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 . I miss going out and talking shop with your colleagues and then getting up and doing it again. Not too many players transfer from Texas A&M. "[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. Try a week on us. 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. Thirty-four years later, Nan still thinks so - and the two have a mutual attraction. She was the first 6-3 kid who could play all five positions. Blair was intrigued by the universitys facilities, its athletic prowess in other sports and its location. He has also held his "Celebrity Golf Classic" to benefit Special Olympics for over 15 years; recently, the program has raised over $100,000 annually. I turned it down to stay with the women. 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. For me, hes been almost like a grandfather, she said. Can you talk about your experience coaching at Louisiana Tech, at the dawning of womens collegiate basketball? He is a graduate of Oak Ridge High School and Sam Houston State University, where he played baseball. Last: There are not any replies to this post yet. 8 b&w photos. 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. Chennedy (Carter) hit a three and I thought we would pull it off, but Georgia controlled the OT. You played baseball in college. He was in my third-period PE class. Been divorced for about 4 years. [14] This marked the first time in Aggie history that the women's basketball team had earned consecutive NCAA tournament berths. It would have been 16 had the 2020 tournament not been canceled because of the COVID-19 pandemic. I flunked out of architecture, which didnt make me eligible for baseball. 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. He says this is home and it feels right., I sat there and just listened to him and how he could express himself with everything hes going through. If youve ever spent any time with Blair, you know the story or pieces of it, anyway. [3] For the first time in his career, however, one of Blair's team suffered a losing season. 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. 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. After the season, the Texas A&M Board of Regents approved a one-year contract extension through 2012, and a $150,000 salary raise to $800,000 annually. 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. It worked, and I dont know if it could ever work again with the egos that the three of us had. I dont hire bobblehead dolls. You could tell Cheryl was the next coming. 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. "I always evaluate myself on: Am I giving everything I have, is my health good and am I still able to make an impact on young lives?" The following year his team, which consisted of 9 freshmen and sophomores, won 23 games and reached the second round of the NCAA tournament. 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. Blair is well-known and well-liked throughout the SEC. Mobile phones. Thanks David it's great to hear from Coach Blair Aggie Legend! I started out with something else in mind and I ended up on this path, coaching all these young women over the years. It wasnt long before we saw he was a money-making machine. We (coaching staff) spent two hours last night with current recruits, Blair said. 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 . "It's who's going to retire first who's going to win that battle," said a grinning Gary, 66. Texas A&M announced on Thursday that its basketball court will be named in honor of retiring women's coach Gary Blair. He knew all the kids and traveled to see them. The two appear to have only one regret concerning their long-distance arrangement. "But I've done Fayetteville. However, I know that it is time for this to be my final season. "Aggieland is a special place and has always been my destination," Blair said. Conference regular season and conference tournament champion Ive never fired a person in my life, back to restaurant manager days. But hes still the most positive man and most popular coach in this town. So, with both drenched in successful careers, how have the two made a long-distance marriage work? What I haven't gotten to do is spend a lot of time with my granddaughter and grandson.". How did you get into womens basketball, and where did you get your basketball knowledge? Hes bald and Ive got a full head of hair, so Im loving it. Blair can keep going, listing players from those South Oak Cliff teams. We won state the next year in 1977. Then Arkansas made the mistake of not hiring him when I left. TexAgs is an independent site and is not affiliated with Texas A&M University. Brent is the author of four published books about Texas A&M, three related to A&M athletics. Thats a long-winded answer but thats who I am.. 15th seed Troy in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament. After I completed my failure in architecture, I had to sit out a semester and a summer before I could come back, and by that time baseball was over. kissing my wife on the floor of Conseco Fieldhouse . 5,245 Views | Longtime Texas A&M women's basketball coach Gary Blair announced Thursday that this season will be his last with the Aggies, with the 76-year-old . Blair still marvels at the serendipity that brought him to coaching. I (also) read three comic strips per day: Peanuts, Blondie and Beetle Bailey. What can you say about it? My weakness is Im not hard enough to fire someone. I have enough energy. I miss all that, but it's time for the next chapter. Would be hard to leave that. [21], Blair has received the following honors over his coaching career:[22], Blair was inducted in the Women's Basketball Hall of Fame in June 2013. A&M's Blair, Arkansas-based wife make marriage work - Chron They asked for volunteers to coach (girls) basketball (at South Oak Cliff), and the girls next door asked me if Id coach. 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. 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. Unfortunately, these kids today, before they get finished with a practice theyre talking to their supporters, their friends or their mama about their bad practice. 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 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. All three of us were six months apart in age. The competition was held in Taipei, Taiwan. COLLEGE STATION - Gary Blair was in mid-swing in a water volleyball game that summer day in. Brent met his wife, KBTX . You dont ever say that, but sometimes youve got to admit somebody might be better than you particularly in the changing world that were living in today.. I am missing work, and I am missing relationships. "I've got our kids and grandkids up in Arkansas with me," Nan said. They were ready to go. In the eighth game, they played undefeated Slovakia, in a game that would determine the gold medal. . 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. Humility. The Astros gave four underdog pitchers a shot. It will be nearly impossible for Texas A&M to replace women's basketball coach Gary Blair, who announced Thursday that he will retire at the end of the 2021-22 season. "When they're together, you can just tell how much they care about each other," A&M guard Sydney Carter said. [24] His credentials include 28 years of head coaching experience at Stephen F. Austin, Arkansas and Texas A&M with a 71% lifetime winning percentage, along with the 2011 Division I National Championship.[25]. This is a reflection year more than anything, and I'm trying to get organized. Search by keyword, author, title, and more.. Schools all send me away with a gift basket and the kindest words. I wanted to coach baseball, the former Texas Tech outfielder said. 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. Blair and Lewis did not get along, and their professional relationship became even more strained once the Arkansas athletic programs were divided and Lewis became the women's AD. Sonja Hogg is the first lady of college basketball: she knew how to dress, how to press, and she knew how to recruit. . Athletic Director Ross Bjork said that she would be among those under consideration. ". They made it to the UIL Texas state tournament five years in a row and won the title three times. His teams won seven straight conference championships, and appeared in the NCAA Tournament six times. In 2003, Gary was hired from Arkansas to revive the Big 12's worst program in A&M. Blair arrived at Texas A&M in 2003,[11] taking over the Big 12 Conference's worst team, which had not had a winning season in seven years. He was stationed in Okinawa during his duty. He was also inducted into the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2023. Those impressive accomplishments arent good enough for Blair, who began his career in 1973 as a coach at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas. At each new place, there was a new challenge and something to build, but it was always worth it, he said.
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