When you have been coaching as long as Gary Blair, it’s easy to forget some of the players who have helped you and all of the places you have won games.
But Blair never will forget April 5, 2011.
On that day, Blair reached the pinnacle of his profession as his Texas A&M women’s basketball team defeated Notre Dame 76-70 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis to earn the program’s first national title.
For Blair, who started working as a coach in 1973 at Dallas South Oak Cliff High School, the victory wasn’t a validation of his years in the business. Instead, it was a reward he shared with everyone he had come in contact with in nearly 40 years on the sidelines.
“I think back to all of those kids who have helped make me a better coach,” Blair said earlier this week while en route to a game against the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. “I am a whole lot better coach than I was when I was at Arkansas. We have learned as coaches. As coaches, you have to get better and study the game and relate to kids better and learn what will work in your system and then you blend it in.”
Since 2003, Blair has helped transform Texas A&M into one of the nation’s elite women’s basketball programs. At 1:30 p.m. today, Mississippi State (3-0) will put Blair and No. 6 Texas A&M to the test when they meet in the Super Series Challenge at Reed Arena.
Blair and the Aggies are building on their national title without leading scorer Danielle Adams, a MSU recruit, who scored 30 points in the championship game, was drafted, and played this season in the WNBA. The Aggies return six of their top nine scorers from last season’s team that went 33-5.
Texas A&M reached the title game thanks to a 58-46 victory against Baylor in the regional final. The win was the Aggies’ first against the Bears in four tries last season, and set the stage for a victory against Stanford (63-62) in the national semifinals.
Blair’s journey to the top included stops at many of the nation’s premier programs. He was an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech from 1980-85 before earning his first job as a Division I college head coach at Stephen F. Austin. He built that program into a national power from 1985-93 before becoming women’s basketball coach at the University of Arkansas. He led the Lady Razorbacks to the Final Four and helped build that program and push the Southeastern Conference west before taking on the challenge of rebuilding Texas A&M.
Blair praises the work of associate head coaches Vic Schaefer and Kelly Bond and assistant coach Johnnie Harris for helping create a winning environment. He said the continuity the four coaches share allows them to work so well together. He also said the transition from Arkansas to the talent-rich state of Texas has allowed the coaching staff to tap into a recruiting hotbed that has fueled the program’s rise.
“We’re trying to brand the school better than what it was nationally,” Blair said. “Everybody talks about our band and our football team, but our men’s basketball team is in the top 25 again. … We’re winning in every men’s and women’s sport at Texas A&M, and that did not used to happen. We have built a total, overall program.”
Now that Blair has helped mold Texas A&M into one of the Big 12 Conference’s best programs he is preparing to transition back to the SEC. He said he and his program will have to start all over again when Texas A&M switches conferences next season. He said the national recruiting ties his program has made since 2003 will help ease the transition.
“When I left the SEC, the SEC was by far the top women’s basketball conference RPI wise and with teams getting to the Final Four,” Blair said. “In the last seven years the Big 12 has been the No. 1 RPI conference and has been No. 1 in attendance the last 13 years. We’re going to bring the attendance factor (when we move into the SEC), and we will be right up there with Kentucky for second in the league in attendance. I think we will be in the top 25 for years to come, especially with the recruits we have having coming in in the next couple of years. The coaching staff has no plans to go anywhere else. We have been together and believe in each other and the system works.”
This season, Blair and the Aggies are reaping the benefits of the addition of 6-foot-5 center Kelsey Bone, a transfer from the University of South Carolina. Bone sat out last season after making an immediate impact at South Carolina her freshman season.
Blair joked he is in an unusual position of having height to coach. Bone has responded to that coaching, scoring 11, 15, and 16 points (all in 22 minutes or less) in the team’s three victories.
“She is getting more comfortable in her role and how we play ball,” Blair said of Bone. “We were lucky as heck she got homesick and wanted to come back. We were close to signing her out of high school, and there are not too many times you get a second chance, and we’re going to make sure we make it work.”
Tyra White, Sydney Carter, and Adaora Elonu, who were second, third, and fourth, respectively in scoring last season, return to lead the way for the Aggies, who have wins against Lamar, Louisville, and UALR.
MSU is coming off a 66-48 win against Alcorn State on Thursday night at Humphrey Coliseum. Senior Diamber Johnson leads the SEC in scoring (21.7 points per game), while freshman center Martha Alwal leads the SEC with 14.7 rebounds per game and 15 blocked shots.
Adam Minichino is the former Sports Editor for The Commercial Dispatch.
You can help your community
Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 43 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.