Gary Blair to retire | The Boneyard

Gary Blair to retire

A farewell season for an elder statesman and a legend.

Some of the lesser-known chapters in his illustrious career:

"Blair, who was an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech from 1980-85, was head coach at Stephen F. Austin from 1985-93, going 210-43 with six straight NCAA tournament appearances. Blair also coached at South Oak Cliff High School from 1973-80, winning Class 4A titles in 1977, 1978 and 1980 with a runner-up finish in 1979. Blair was 239-18 at South Oak Cliff."
 
visitingcock said:
Great statement by Gary:

Lucrative opportunity for some coach. Top Ten revenue producing school,
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Yeah. Walz might be on their radar. If not. I think they are gonna snatch a Pac-12 coach
 
Coming into this season, Blair is the top sitting head coach in SEC wins with 154, just ahead of Staley's 152 SEC wins. Summitt led the way with 306 SEC wins, and Landers had 273.

Pat Summitt - Tennessee (1974-2012): 306
Andy Landers - Georgia (1979-2015): 273
Gary Blair - Arkansas (1993-2003), Texas A&M (2012 - ): 154
Dawn Staley - South Carolina (2008 - ): 152
Joe Ciampi - Auburn (1979-2004): 145
Sue Gunter - LSU (1982-2004): 132
Sharon Fanning - Kentucky (1987-1995), Mississippi State (1995-2012): 125
Matthew Mitchell - Kentucky (2007-2020): 119
 
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Well, we’ll have to enjoy the last season of the best interview in WCBB. I hope he becomes an announcer or commentator. Maybe he can replace another ex-SEC coach — Andy Landers comes immediately to mind.

Whatever he does, I hope he really enjoys his retirement.
 
I was already planning on it, but now there's no way I'll miss out on being at Reed Arena on Dec. 5 for the UT-A&M game. Will be an emotional day, I'm sure, for both head coaches.
 
Thank you Coach Blair for all of those moments in women's college basketball
 
ConwayGmck said:
Coming into this season, Blair is the top sitting head coach in SEC wins with 154, just ahead of Staley's 152 SEC wins. Summitt led the way with 306 SEC wins, and Landers had 273.

Pat Summitt - Tennessee (1974-2012): 306
Andy Landers - Georgia (1979-2015): 273
Gary Blair - Arkansas (1993-2003), Texas A&M (2003 - ): 154
Dawn Staley - South Carolina (2008 - ): 152
Joe Ciampi - Auburn (1979-2004): 145
Sue Gunter - LSU (1982-2004): 132
Sharon Fanning - Kentucky (1987-1995), Mississippi State (1995-2012): 125
Matthew Mitchell - Kentucky (2007-2020): 119
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I was really confused by this stat until I remembered much of his Texas A&M years don't count due to the conference.
 
GCKSFN4L said:
I was really confused by this stat until I remembered much of his Texas A&M years don't count due to the conference.
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Yes you're correct. I should edit that to show only his SEC years, as it is confusing and I didn't realize it either.....
 
Blair is truly one of the greats and has been highly successful without drawing a lot of attention to himself or giving the impression he was bigger than the program. He has quietly won quite a few games, pulled a rabbit out of a hat to win a title against long odds, and has his hand prints on several other great coaches.
 
It's too bad that this is it, but you could pretty much see that it was coming.

a very fine coach who has competed vs the best. Last season's SEC title was pretty impressive.
 
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Dwilliams02 said:
If not. I think they are gonna snatch a Pac-12 coach
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I've heard this a whole bunch of times in recent years, and it keeps not coming to fruition. We'll see. I know Pac 12 coaches are generally underpaid compared to other conferences, but either they've been unwilling to go, or they weren't that high on the list for various positions that have come open over the last several years.


Congrats to Blair on a very good career. Enjoy your goodbye tour.
 
bballnut90 said:
I love Gary Blair, just seems like a really good guy. Congrats on a phenomenal career.
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I have his autobiography, which was published several years ago. it's a really outstanding read. Highly recommend it to all fans of women's basketball.

www.tamupress.com

A Coaching Life

“It’s still difficult to describe the scene after the final buzzer sounded, because the moment was just so damned surreal,” writes head coach Gary Blai...
www.tamupress.com

To me the most fascinating chapter of his career is how he got his start. He kind of fell accidentally into coaching high school girls' basketball after he took a job as a PE teacher at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas. His team won 3 state championship over a 4-year period. At SOC he coached Debra and Kim Rodman (Dennis Rodman's sisters). Then he took an assistant position at Louisiana Tech for Leon Barmore, where he helped LaTech to 4 Final Fours and 2 national titles.
 
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I thought the fanbase was so set on Associate Head Coach Bond White. If anyone could be hired from the Pac, I think Cori Close would be a possibility because of her low pay, low fanbase and also her dad just passed and he lived close by. But she has her #1 class coming in and she's stepping into a much worse situation.
 
One of the legends of the coaching profession. Always classy, humble, and approachable. Thanks for helping to grow the game of women's basketball.
 
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