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The jumbotron at McCamish Pavilion displays a welcome for new Georgia Tech Women's Basketball head coach Karen Blair on Monday.
Alex Farrer/JOL
A day after Karen Blair was announced as the new head women's basketball coach at Georgia Tech to succeed Nell Fortner, who announced her surprise retirement last week, Blair met with the media for her introductory press conference and the official start of a new era on Monday.
After being welcomed into the Shah Media Room at McCamish Pavilion by "Buzz," the Georgia Tech Cheerleaders and the Georgia Tech pep band playing "White and Gold" followed by the fight song "Ramblin' Wreck from Georgia Tech," Blair, director of athletics J Batt and Georgia Tech president Dr. Angel Cabrera made their way to the podium for remarks and to answer questions.
Batt opened the festivities with some introductory comments and thanks to the entire athletics staff as well as the Georgia Tech Athletic Association board. He also thanked the student-athletes that were there who he said he asked for "a little bit of time and some trust" over the past week. Batt said his goal was to find some "certainty" for those student-athletes and to find the "best possible leader for the program," which he believes they have done in the hiring of Blair.
Blair also talked about the retirement of Fortner, which he described as a "surprise." He described Fortner as one of the classiest people he's ever been around.
"(Fortner) means a ton to me personally and I know to many in this room," said Batt. "I will miss Nell Fortner. I will miss Nell Fortner."
Batt said because of that retirement decision by Fortner, they were forced to step into a search quickly, and they were looking for three things in that search..."a person with a track record of success at the very highest level, someone who has a plan and someone who would be a great fit for Georgia Tech both athletically, personally and academically for our student-athletes."
Batt said during the interview process it quickly became apparent that Blair was the person they were looking for to fit all those criteria. He went through a little of Blair's resume, including being on staff at Maryland for three Big Ten titles, NCAA Tournament berths each year she was there, being the national assistant coach of the year and being a part of the staff at Maryland that one 80 percent of their games.
"She has a plan. She's well-equipped to execute in this new environment," said Batt. "She was directly involved in not only recruiting, as a tremendous recruiter, but also involved as the person that dealt with NIL, planning for the new rev share environment and has all the necessary contacts to execute on that plan."
Batt went on to talk about Blair helping Maryland land four top-20 recruiting classes with two in the top 10 and having the necessary contacts on the recruiting front and in the college basketball world to build "an excellent staff to move forward quickly in this new environment."
Batt then talked about how great of a person Blair is, saying that they did their homework with a lot of "digging and reference-checking" and she is a great person "whose values match up with Georgia Tech." Batt said that a member of the athletics staff had three years experience working with Blair at another institution so he had first-hand knowledge of her work ethic day in and day out.
Cabrera spoke briefly after that and started by saying how excited he was for this day and how much he loved Georgia Tech Women's Basketball.
"You'll be tired of seeing me and Beth on the sidelines," Cabrera joked to Blair.
Cabrera said he loves the sport for the excitement but even more for the caliber of student-athletes that play it as they go through the challenge of being a Georgia Tech and playing the sport at the highest level.
"It takes a very special, one-of-a-kind, young woman to do that," said Cabrera.
Cabrera reiterated what Batt said about Fortner being missed and being a class act and a "true Yellow Jacket" and that he tasked Batt with finding the best because they owe it to the student-athletes and the future generations of Yellow Jackets.
Cabrera said once Batt introduced him to Blair and he got to know her, he knew they had someone special. He said he was extremely excited to support her and do whatever they can to support the program "so we can be the best."
After posing for a ceremonial photo with a Georgia Tech jersey along with Cabrera and Batt, Blair gave some introductory comments.
"Thank you to everyone for for being here and I want to extend my sincere gratitude to President Cabrera and J Batt as well as the other athletics staff and the GTAA Board for bringing me here," said Blair. "Thank you for believing in me. You know I've been in this business for over two decades and I've waited a long time, but going through this process it was really easy for me to see that this was the right fit for me. I value high academics, and I want to be able to play competitive basketball. And I want to be in a community that loves basketball. I've seen it from the very beginning with these people that they're very passionate about this program, and so again, I can't say to you enough about how thrilled I am to be here and be part of the Yellow Jacket family,"
Blair went on to thank several people who have helped her along the journey, including Brenda Frese, who she coached alongside at Maryland, as well as Beth O'Boyle, Mike Petersen and Sam Morrow, who she's all worked on staff with and continue to show her support and serve as mentors for her. Lastly, she thanked Rhonda Rompola, who Blair played for at SMU and later got her first coaching job under.
"(Rompola) was the one that gave me a shot to get into coaching," said Blair. I wouldn't be here today without her, and she has been a very important person in my life that just believed in me, gave me this opportunity and has allowed me to live this life of coaching that has given me purpose. It has grown me as a person, and it just brings me joy. I can't express to you anything as much as like I just love basketball. I love being around young people. This is, you know when you know what you're meant to do is what you're meant to do, and I know I'm meant to do it and I'm meant to do it here with these people."
Blair then talked about her opportunity to speak with Fortner after accepting the job and how special she is to her.
"Last thing I'll say, I had a chance to talk to Coach Nell today. And like you said, I mean, Nell is just a fabulous human. I've known Nell for years upon years, the legacy that she has not only built here, but just her career," said Blair. "Nell has impacted so many people throughout her career. I mean players, coaches, there's just so many. So I have the utmost respect for her. I mean she has built this program. You know, it's nationally renowned, gone to Sweet 16s. She's set the standard that the standard is to go to the NCAA tournament. That's what you guys brought me here for. You guys have brought the standard, it's here. I want to continue to grow that and that to be the standard for us going forward, is that we're dancing, we're dancing in March."
Blair then spoke directly to the student-athletes, a few of which were in attendance for the press conference, as she said her job is to support them and lead them and help them be the best they can be on the court and in the classroom. She said she wants them to have a great college experience and be part of a sisterhood like she was with her former teammates and that they always feel like coming back "home" to Georgia Tech.
She ended her opening remarks with appreciation for everyone who has helped her get to this point.
"To every player I've ever coached, every colleague I've ever worked alongside and to my family and friends, I thank you for the support. I'm not here today without that," said Blair. This job is about people. It's about relationships, trust and growth. I hope I can do the same for these young ladies and the young ladies in the future. And to the Yellow Jacket community, this is what I can tell you. I'm ready. I'm here to work. You know, I want to compete and I want to lead with integrity. That's what it's about for me is we want to compete to win. We want to have a standard of excellence. That's what we will work towards every single day. And again, I'm excited about it. I appreciate you guys for bringing me here and I'm ready to get to work. So thank you."
Blair took questions from the media after that with the first one being about what her plan was to start at Georgia Tech.
"Yeah, I think my first plan right now is these student-athletes that are here right now in this room," said Blair. "Like the current team that is here, it's really important for me to meet with them, get to know them, them to get to know me. And so that's like right now as my first priority. And then secondly is getting into the portal and making sure that we have a really competitive roster for next year. So those are my priorities is right now."
Blair was then asked about finding players that either fit her style or just finding players that are talented overall.
"At Georgia Tech there has to be the right fit," said Blair. "You know you've got to want to be able to have the competitive academics and you want to be able to have the competitive basketball. That's not for everybody. The student-athletes that you that we will bring here and the student-athletes that are here, that's special. That's a special fit. So for me, it's about finding the right fit and what we need and what gels with what we currently have. I think any good coach will tell you there's always different roles that need to be filled and that's my job to get that figured out."
Blair was asked about possibly getting players in the portal from the state of Georgia and the Atlanta area as well as recruiting with those spots being priorities.
"That's one of the things that's so intriguing about Georgia Tech is where we're located. I mean our job is we want to make sure that we're recruiting our city, our region and our state. That is our job," said Blair. "We want to to be able to keep these athletes here, and that's going to be my biggest selling pitch. We don't have to...I mean, again, we're a global brand. Does that mean that we can recruit nationally? Absolutely. But we have to make sure that we're taking care of home base. Again, this has been a bit of a whirlwind of a process. So hiring a staff is definitely on my radar. But like I said, first and foremost, it's making sure that I take care of the student-athletes that are here first."
Blair was asked about what style of play she wants to have for her teams or if it will be a mixture of everything she's learned from the coaches she's worked for.
"I think you have to first figure out what your roster is," said Blair. "If you're asking me from an offensive standpoint, I like to play with pace and space. I'm a big person that has to do with ball movement and player movement. I also want players to learn how to play the game. I'm not a coach that wants to sit up here and run 75 quick hits, and I want them to learn. Like that's a part as players, as you're playing the game, and as the season goes along, they should be learning each other, learning each other's reads. So, offensively, that's kind of what it's about for me. From a defensive standpoint, you know it's about controlling tempo. You've always got to be able to control tempo, and you've got to be able to disrupt rhythm. So depending on what your roster looks like, you know then you'll be able to kind of put that in place."
Blair was asked about what she thought of the current landscape with NIL and the transfer portal.
"I think if you talk to anybody that knows me, I love a challenge," said Blair. "And if we're not saying we're facing challenging or interesting times right now in athletics, then we're kidding ourselves. But for me, I actually embraced it these last three years. That is kind of as a No. 2 (at Maryland) what I was working on. That was my No. 1 job was trying to figure out how to best go forward in this new environment so I embrace it, I'm excited about it and I know right now that this program is very well supported and that's another reason that it made it a really easy decision to be here."
Blair was asked about Georgia Tech players that have recently gone into the transfer portal to which she answered she definitely wants to try to get them to "start here and finish here."
Blair was asked with her track record as a strong recruiter how exciting it is to be able to recruit Atlanta and the metro-Atlanta area now at Georgia Tech.
"I mean that's the beauty of being here. There's just so much talent that's really close to this university," said Blair. "And that's why I said it's going to be a focal point for myself and my staff is to keep those players home. This is a great place to be. We're building this program that has a really good foundation. I think Nell's done a good job. There's a lot of momentum surrounding this program and this university, and we want to sustain that and elevate it."
Blair was lastly asked about the transfer portal again and what she would be looking for from the players she tries to find in the portal. She said from coaching for 26 years she has built a great network of people she can trust to help her find the right players that are the right fit for the program.
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Georgia Tech's mascot "Buzz" and Georgia Tech cheerleaders await the arrival of new women's basketball coach Karen Blair at her introductory press conference.
Alex Farrer/JOL
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Georgia Tech president Dr. Angel Cabrera (from left), new women's head basketball coach Karen Blair and Georgia Tech athletic director J Batt speak during Monday's press conference.
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