Father Flanagan er...Gary Blair as COY

[DefenseBB]

Maybe it's his folksy demeanor, his suit and tie or just being less vocal on the national seen but Gary has won an NCAAT and has taken a very disparate group of women, most of whom were castoffs or rebels from other teams and made them a cohesive force in the SEC and a #1 seed for the NCAAT as of this writing.

Look at the "misfits" he has molded-
Cierra Johnson-Louisville
Destiny Pitts-Minnesota
Jordan Nixon-Notre Dame
Zaay Green-Tennessee
Anne Dreimane-Colorado State
Alexis Morris-Rutgers/Baylor
Aaliyah Wilson-Arkansas
That's 7 D1 players who transferred into his program. I thought Kentucky was going to be the "surprise team on the national level" this year with all their transfers and returning players but they are a bit disjointed.

While it was odd that Georgia's Joni Taylor won the SEC Coach of the year, Gary has done a great job melding all of these players to one common goal.

I also know some tout Brenda Freese for COY given what she's done after all the defections but two items work against her in my book- 1. She hasn't played as tough a schedule and 2. She's caused all these defections in the 1st place so it's her own doing.

Gary, by taking all these young ladies in reminds me of the Bing Crosby character "Father Flanagan"... and deserves NCOY.

What say you my WCBB aficionados?

 

[Plebe]

Blair would have my vote. How in the world he didn't get SEC COY is well beyond me.

 

[MSSportsGuy]

Blair likely deserved COY over Taylor for what he accomplished this year. Taylor did a good job pulling GA back into the conversation after some tough years but Blair is likely in the final year or two of coaching. If his team manages to win a title (not saying he will but they are in contention) then I suspect he retires.

 

[SECbbfan24]

Blair would have my vote. How in the world he didn't get SEC COY is well beyond me.

Should have unless they assumed he would win COY nationally.

Not a big Joni fan but she did do a good job this year for sure.

 

[DefenseBB]

Blair likely deserved COY over Taylor for what he accomplished this year. Taylor did a good job pulling GA back into the conversation after some tough years but Blair is likely in the final year or two of coaching. If his team manages to win a title (not saying he will but they are in contention) then I suspect he retires.

What? Those "tough years" were her own doing. This is her 6th year as Bulldogs head coach and she was on that staff prior to being named head coach so um, not buying your logic. Frankly, the SEC is really bifurcated on coaches- either really good or really bad.
Stephanie, Elzy, Yo, Nikki 1, Nikki 2, Terry are very bad. Lance, Kristy, Joni and Robin look good by comparison but I would not put any of those 3 as "good" on their own. That leaves Dawn, Gary, Kelly, Mike as the 4 good coaches.

 

[SECbbfan24]

Stephanie, Elzy, Yo, Nikki 1, Nikki 2, Terry are very bad.

To be fair to Coach Yo, she had made Ole Miss much more competitive. They choked away 2 wins to LSU. We will see if this trend continues of improvement. One of these coaches have elevated their programs while the others made theirs worse.

agree with the others. White is awful, her teams are never healthy or they transfer. Fargas has refused to recruit and invest in putting up an offense for years. McCray and Elzy took very talented teams and put a product on the floor that was really bad. Florida coach can’t seem to get the team over the hump and win games they should or could win.

 

[LETTERL]

When I think of Gary Blair, I think "class". That dude has class. He isn't exempt from getting emotional and celebrating a good play from his team...but you never hear, and have never heard, of any controversy or negativity, during his coaching career. And he often seems to do more with less than most other programs.

 

[triaddukefan]

When I think of Gary Blair, I think "class". That dude has class. He isn't exempt from getting emotional and celebrating a good play from his team...but you never hear, and have never heard, of any controversy or negativity, during his coaching career. And he often seems to do more with less than most other programs.

I don't like many WCBB coaches.. but he is one of my favorites.

 

[DefenseBB]

To be fair to Coach Yo, she had made Ole Miss much more competitive. They choked away 2 wins to LSU. We will see if this trend continues of improvement. One of these coaches have elevated their programs while the others made theirs worse.

agree with the others. White is awful, her teams are never healthy or they transfer. Fargas has refused to recruit and invest in putting up an offense for years. McCray and Elzy took very talented teams and put a product on the floor that was really bad. Florida coach can’t seem to get the team over the hump and win games they should or could win.

To be fairer, Coach Yo can recruit a little bit but Austin will probably depart after this year so how competitive will they be next year and have you seen her actually "coach" in the games, she's brutal.

 

[ed4ourgirls]

. . .

Gary, by taking all these young ladies in reminds me of the Bing Crosby character "Father Flanagan"... and deserves NCOY.

Speaking as one who has watched too many films on TCM, I can tell you that in "Boy's Town" the
Father Flanagan character was played by Spencer Tracy (with Mickey Rooney as the incorrigible kid).

You may be thinking of Crosby as the priest in "Going My Way".

 

[HuskyMJ]

To be fairer, Coach Yo can recruit a little bit but Austin will probably depart after this year so how competitive will they be next year and have you seen her actually "coach" in the games, she's brutal.

I don't think she can go pro yet. She was in the ESPN Mock Draft but someone had said she is too young so maybe we wont' see her listed.