Gary Blair?

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eternaloblivion
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10:09a, 3/16/23
AG
I don't keep up with our ladies basketball team much but would like to get caught up.

We have bee historically very good under Gary Blair, is our ladies basketball team going dancing? I don't see much hype around the team…

Is Blair still the HC? What's our record this season?

Thanks
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wlc61
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10:52a, 3/16/23
AG
Is this person for real?
wlc61
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Kbeauty63
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In reply to eternaloblivion • 11:18a, 3/16/23
AG
eternaloblivion said:
I don't keep up with our ladies basketball team much but would like to get caught up.

We have bee historically very good under Gary Blair, is our ladies basketball team going dancing? I don't see much hype around the team…

Is Blair still the HC? What's our record this season?

Thanks
Umm...what rock have you been under for the last year?

Coach Blair retired at the end of the 2021-2022 season. Joni Taylor is our new WBB coach. As with all coaching changes - we have a rebuilding period. The ladies worked hard this year - but injuries & a totally new mindset in coaching made for a rough year. Many injuries didn't help. Our final record for the season was 12-19 - however in the SEC Tournament we made history by being the 1st 13th seed to make it to the quarter finals (for about 2 hours until Kentucky did it)
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BQ_90
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5:28p, 3/16/23
AG
Anyone gonna tell him that Sumlin is gone
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giggitygigem
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In reply to Kbeauty63 • 2:17p, 3/17/23
9-20
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Rudybryan
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In reply to BQ_90 • 3:59p, 3/17/23
BQ_90 said:
Anyone gonna tell him that Sumlin is gone
LMAO
Rudybryan
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Kbeauty63
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In reply to giggitygigem • 7:36p, 3/17/23
AG
giggitygigem said:
9-20
. Whoops! Was trying to read the numbers on ESPN
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HoopsAg
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9:52a, 3/20/23
User name checks out...
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Aggie1188
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In reply to giggitygigem • 9:09p, 3/20/23
giggitygigem said:
9-20
and nobody should be surprised. Former coach was recruiting flat out awful the last 2 or 3 years here. It was wild how bad recruiting got.
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Lake08
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8:55a, 3/21/23
Prob the worst team in the SEC. Thanks Gary
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DrQuincy
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9:31a, 3/21/23
AG
When your athletic director hamstrings you by announcing your retirement at the start of your final season, how difficult is it to recruit for the following year's team unable to give the athletes any idea of what to expect during their first season (play style, defensive scheme, playing time, coaches)? And what effect did that have on the performance of the team his final season, which we all know was abysmal after so many years of success? Additionally, how much success could Coach Taylor have had recruiting over the Summer when she also had to close things out in Georgia?

Coach Taylor came in and cleaned house off the court, losing any consistency between the programs and had to build from scratch, and the young women were reeling from the changes just like the coaching staff and fans were.

I learned to love women's basketball during the Blair years, and I hope Coach Taylor's sophomore season shows us why she was selected to replace a Hall of Famer.
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giggitygigem
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In reply to DrQuincy • 10:08a, 3/21/23
The last 4 classes(2018-2021) Blair brought to Aggieland contained 1 top 50 player (KK Green(48)), in the 2020 class. Taylor has already brought in three top 40 players in two classes, Barker(3) and Bowles(37) in '22 and Marshall(35) in '23. Blair lost his recruiting touch at least 3 years before his retirement announcement and his last Top 25 class came in 2017 with Chennedy Carter and N'Dea Jones. So to blame the Ross for Blair's inability to recruit high quality talent over a 4 year cycle in which they won an SEC regular season title doesn't make any sense to me.
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DrQuincy
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10:58a, 3/21/23
AG
I certainly agree that there was a marked decline in the program at the end of Coach Blair's time, and I agree that it was past time to retire - I would have liked to see him step down after winning the SEC, but I still think he and his staff were in a bad situation during that final season - two of the coaches were new as well. It was past time for change, but I believe the way his exit was handled heavily contributed to Coach Taylor's struggles this season.

Remember that the program's recruiting coordinator, Coach Wright, left for OU in 2021.
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aggiedrjdub
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In reply to DrQuincy • 12:39p, 3/21/23
AG
Maybe this is exactly how it was planned though. Can you imagine the grief coach Taylor would have endured if she had come in the year after the SEC win and tournament run and then had the kind of season coach Blair had? Their coaching systems are complete opposites. The type of athlete they recruit will also be different. This gave coach Taylor a year to get herself accustomed to texas a&m and begin building for the future without feeling like she had to win an SEC. Championship. Maybe we allowed coach Blair one final year for this reason?
Gig'em Aggies! c/o '98 W H O O P!
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greg.w.h
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In reply to aggiedrjdub • 2:28p, 3/21/23
AG
aggiedrjdub said:
Maybe this is exactly how it was planned though. Can you imagine the grief coach Taylor would have endured if she had come in the year after the SEC win and tournament run and then had the kind of season coach Blair had? Their coaching systems are complete opposites. The type of athlete they recruit will also be different. This gave coach Taylor a year to get herself accustomed to texas a&m and begin building for the future without feeling like she had to win an SEC. Championship. Maybe we allowed coach Blair one final year for this reason?
There is zero way that was what was going on.
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aggiedrjdub
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In reply to greg.w.h • 3:12p, 3/21/23
AG
lol maybe .001%?
Gig'em Aggies! c/o '98 W H O O P!
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happy days
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3:32p, 3/21/23
imo, a coach that wins a national title at a&m gets to go out on his own terms. Right now, that list includes Pat Henry, since Gary Blair and the golf coach are gone.

Gary Blair was a great coach. He and Vic made an incredible team. Anyone that thinks that was all Vic, didn't watch the tu-louisville game last night. Gary Blair had good teams at Stephen F Austin (yes, the Lumberjacks}, Arkansas and A&M. He was a master game day strategist.

Unless you are here to say thank you, gary, then just leave him alone.

That's my story and I am sticking to it.
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DrQuincy
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4:07p, 3/21/23
AG
I guess my thought was that he didn't appear to be leaving on his terms last season - it seems to me that he would have handled announcing his retirement much differently.

And I doubt that pulling the legs out from under a program that was consistently making the NCAA Tournament with 20+ wins to protect the next coach would make any sense to the boosters. A forced complete rebuild is not the norm in Div I WBB, is it?
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greg.w.h
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In reply to aggiedrjdub • 4:37p, 3/21/23
AG
aggiedrjdub said:
lol maybe .001%?
Nope.
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greg.w.h
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In reply to DrQuincy • 4:44p, 3/21/23
AG
DrQuincy said:
I guess my thought was that he didn't appear to be leaving on his terms last season - it seems to me that he would have handled announcing his retirement much differently.

And I doubt that pulling the legs out from under a program that was consistently making the NCAA Tournament with 20+ wins to protect the next coach would make any sense to the boosters. A forced complete rebuild is not the norm in Div I WBB, is it?
The handling of Blair's retirement seemed like a victory lap to me. The replacement of his assistants was odder than heck. Not hiring Kelly Bond-White was not unexpected if the school was moving on. Naming the court at Reed after him was a conciliatory gesture designed to celebrate him as he entered retirement. Blair appears to have chosen the high road including supporting Coach Taylor. He was very close to Andy and I wasn't surprised that we considered Joni in part due to that. But I also like her connection with her WNBA team executive husband being a great implied step up for recruits.
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giggitygigem
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8:26p, 3/21/23
He just couldn't recruit good players out of high school for a few years. It's ok to say that. I don't think he stayed too long at all I think he deserved that last season after winning the SEC regular season title. I do believe that KBW was the betting favorite but Joni is probably a better hire overall. We were bad this season for a number of reasons and yes the overall roster talent and balance left a bit to be desired, and yes that's partially on Blair but as I've said before, the loss of Nixon was probably the biggest unexpected factor in the overall decline of the team. It's not often that a team loses the bulk of its production, gets a new coach, and doesn't have the same level of talent ready to step in immediately all in the same off-season. That's just how the cookie crumbled. Next year we'll be a better team. All the respect in the world for Coach Blair.
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greg.w.h
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In reply to giggitygigem • 9:06a, 3/22/23
AG
That's a pretty good sum up of where we are for sure.

I absolutely loved Nixon and want the best for her because of what she did for our team and program and how she represented US. I have four (adult) children and each deals with different mental health issues and sometimes I just have to give them space to work through issues (as well as support and resources to help.)

We will be better in the fall and could be competitive with probably the middle of the conference this fall. Joni seems process oriented and the best coaches always are.
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Rudybryan
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In reply to giggitygigem • 10:31a, 3/22/23
giggitygigem said:
He just couldn't recruit good players out of high school for a few years. It's ok to say that. I don't think he stayed too long at all I think he deserved that last season after winning the SEC regular season title. I do believe that KBW was the betting favorite but Joni is probably a better hire overall. We were bad this season for a number of reasons and yes the overall roster talent and balance left a bit to be desired, and yes that's partially on Blair but as I've said before, the loss of Nixon was probably the biggest unexpected factor in the overall decline of the team. It's not often that a team loses the bulk of its production, gets a new coach, and doesn't have the same level of talent ready to step in immediately all in the same off-season. That's just how the cookie crumbled. Next year we'll be a better team. All the respect in the world for Coach Blair.
A little simplistic........first we have overall talent......what we have is a complete change of system (Gary vs Joni.).....all new plays........all new positions.........all new expectations of how to play.....all new plays......new defense.....new offense.....new training routine............new rules period..........now throw in injuries that plagued us all year- with a continual rotation of players.....there was no consistency because we never had a core group of players.....every few days the cast of players changed so coaches had to start over trying to get everyone on the same page. Through all this the coaches were able to have the kids maintain a positive attitude and never give up. I'm just looking forward to next year..........PS The kids also had to go to school, do community service, school/team obligations........and just life.......I am proud of their accomplishments.



Rudybryan
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BQ_90
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11:46a, 3/22/23
AG
unless your legend goes out completely on top, like after a title or Final Four; the transition will be painful

I think next year will give a better indication of Joni's system and style than this year.
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giggitygigem
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In reply to Rudybryan • 12:47p, 3/22/23
It's ok Rudy, Blair left the cupboard scarce, you can't honestly tell me he didn't. I agree with all the things you said but two things can be true. This season we did not have the "overall talent" and there is no evidence to support the theory that we did. One top 30 player from any class, a freshman, does not make a roster of overall talent, not in this conference. Feel free to compare to the overall talent of even Kentucky across classes and you'll see that we did not have the level of talent needed to truly compete at a high level in the SEC last season. Not to mention that instead of playing and developing the players he recruited (Green/Jones) he brought in Q Hoppie to swallow up those minutes in his last season, forcing them to come in to Joni's first year with even less experience. It's ok to admit it Blair left a lot of work for the next coach, Joni's putting it together now. there was also no need for the ellipses overload.
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Rudybryan
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In reply to giggitygigem • 3:29p, 3/22/23
giggitygigem said:
It's ok Rudy, Blair left the cupboard scarce, you can't honestly tell me he didn't. I agree with all the things you said but two things can be true. This season we did not have the "overall talent" and there is no evidence to support the theory that we did. One top 30 player from any class, a freshman, does not make a roster of overall talent, not in this conference. Feel free to compare to the overall talent of even Kentucky across classes and you'll see that we did not have the level of talent needed to truly compete at a high level in the SEC last season. Not to mention that instead of playing and developing the players he recruited (Green/Jones) he brought in Q Hoppie to swallow up those minutes in his last season, forcing them to come in to Joni's first year with even less experience. It's ok to admit it Blair left a lot of work for the next coach, Joni's putting it together now. there was also no need for the ellipses overload.
If you want better recruiting like SC LSU UCONN SANFORD LOUISVILLE ND etc we must push the State Legislature on the NIL laws because we are out gunned .........everyone on the South Carolina team start with $25,000 and work up from there.........even Joni said we can't compete in the $$$$$$ of NIL thanks to Texas state law....
Rudybryan
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Gap
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4:48p, 3/22/23
AG
The NIL difference with Louisiana and some other states as compared to Texas is that the coaches including head coaches in those other states can literally sit at the table with the recruit and their family and make a NIL offer. With Texas schools, the coaches can't be directly involved like that.
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giggitygigem
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In reply to Rudybryan • 5:36p, 3/22/23
Agreed, but what about the classes from 2018-2020 before NIL was introduced? What was Blair's excuse only being able to recruit 1 top 50 player in those three classes? Also, it doesn't seem to have stopped Joni Taylor from attracting 3 such players in only 2 classes with this NIL disparity. Vic hasn't done too bad in Austin either? Like I said. It's okaaaaaaay
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Divining Rod
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6:20a, 3/23/23
This is a great thread! thanks to everyone for all of the insight.

And let's count our blessings. We just retired one of the greatest coaches in the history of WNCAA, and we replaced him with an apparent great coach poised to restore what he built- a great women's basketball tradition!
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