Photo by Matt Sachs, TexAgs
Texas A&M Women's Basketball
* He is expecting to host another good golf tournament this year, the ninth annual Gary Blair Celebrity Classic, with plenty of former A&M players and coaches and coaches from all different sports around the country. The event will be held on Friday, May 4th and the Traditions Club. Either Wally Moon or Mark Thurmond should be in for the event, which should make it an even better day. There will be a morning flight at 8 A.M. and an afternoon flight starting at 2 P.M. There will be a meet-and-greet at Hurricane Harry’s, along with a silent and live auction, the Thursday night before the event which he hopes people will come out and attend, even if they aren’t playing in the tournament.
* He is still looking for teams to play, but would really like some sponsors to step up and be part of the tournament. It costs $250 for an individual player and $1000 for a team, with each team of four paired with a celebrity coach. A bronze sponsorship costs $1500 and a gold sponsorship costs $5000. The community has been so good about supporting many different charities and he is thankful for all of the people that give back their time and money to the area.
* He has two coaches to replace because Coach Johnnie Harris will be moving with Coach Schaefer to Mississippi State to take over as the top assistant coach for the Bulldogs. She has been a rock for A&M and was a great recruiter and coach who meant a lot to the program. He’s very close to filling one of those spots and hopes to have an announcement within the next couple of days. He thinks people will be pleasantly surprised about who he is bringing in to take over the top assistant spot.
* Change can be good sometimes because it gives you different ways to coach and recruit. Kelly Bond is still with him and he believes that she will also be a head coach someday, but right now she is excited to still be at A&M which is the most important thing. Maryann Baker is also going with Schaefer to be the video coordinator and director of basketball operations at Mississippi State. He knows that wherever the Mississippi State clan goes, they will be successful. Schaefer will build up that program the right way and will instill the same values that A&M has had for the past nine years.
* In the coaching profession, you always keep a short-list of names to replace coaches if the coaches under you leave for whatever reason. He has talked to Pat Summit who has recommended one of her former assistants. He’s had calls from head coaches, AAU coaches, assistant coaches and high school coaches all who think they have the answer for him and all want to be part of his staff. The kids are in a great frame of mind and are borrowing men’s support staffer Barry Davis to help with individual workouts until someone gets hired. He’s an old school guy and it’s great to have someone who can show the girls how to play rather than just telling them how to play.
* The situation at Arkansas is about a person making the wrong decision at the wrong time of his life. People always talk about young kids, 18 to 22 year olds, that think they are bulletproof and aren’t going to ever do anything wrong like take steroids or make stupid mistakes, but then you look later in their life and they are doing stupid stuff like Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen spouting off his mouth. It’s not good for the game when things like this happen because it doesn’t develop a trust between the consumer and the icon. The consumer wants to see the ‘American Story’ which gets dirtied up sometimes. Everyone dirties up their ‘American Story’ at some point in their life, but the normal person’s mistakes don’t ever get seen because they aren’t constantly under the microscope like these big name coaches are. The coaches at A&M have done a good job of staying off of the front page of the newspaper, and instead are where they are supposed to be—the sports page. The decision by Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long was not a popular move with the fan base, but people make mistakes and consequences have to be paid for those mistakes. He’s sure that Petrino will get back into coaching, but he has some life problems to figure out before he does.
* With all of the rules that the NCAA has, eventually a mistake will be made and a secondary violation will be committed. Most times, it’s not because you are trying to cheat, but just because of the misinterpretation of the rules. What happened with Kelvin Sampson at Oklahoma and Indiana was not misinterpretation, but rather just doing something wrong. He declined to comment on the situation at Baylor because they have enough problems of their own, but he’s pretty sure that everything will work out for them and that it will just turn into a secondary violation. What he does know for sure though is that they have another national championship banner to hang and that they have earned it.
Gary Blair breaks news of more staff turnover, talks UA & Baylor
Notes from Gary Blair interview
* Didn’t get to see Texas Rangers pitcher Neftali Feliz pitch last night because he was entertaining a prospective coach at the A&M baseball game.* He is expecting to host another good golf tournament this year, the ninth annual Gary Blair Celebrity Classic, with plenty of former A&M players and coaches and coaches from all different sports around the country. The event will be held on Friday, May 4th and the Traditions Club. Either Wally Moon or Mark Thurmond should be in for the event, which should make it an even better day. There will be a morning flight at 8 A.M. and an afternoon flight starting at 2 P.M. There will be a meet-and-greet at Hurricane Harry’s, along with a silent and live auction, the Thursday night before the event which he hopes people will come out and attend, even if they aren’t playing in the tournament.
* He is still looking for teams to play, but would really like some sponsors to step up and be part of the tournament. It costs $250 for an individual player and $1000 for a team, with each team of four paired with a celebrity coach. A bronze sponsorship costs $1500 and a gold sponsorship costs $5000. The community has been so good about supporting many different charities and he is thankful for all of the people that give back their time and money to the area.
* He has two coaches to replace because Coach Johnnie Harris will be moving with Coach Schaefer to Mississippi State to take over as the top assistant coach for the Bulldogs. She has been a rock for A&M and was a great recruiter and coach who meant a lot to the program. He’s very close to filling one of those spots and hopes to have an announcement within the next couple of days. He thinks people will be pleasantly surprised about who he is bringing in to take over the top assistant spot.
* Change can be good sometimes because it gives you different ways to coach and recruit. Kelly Bond is still with him and he believes that she will also be a head coach someday, but right now she is excited to still be at A&M which is the most important thing. Maryann Baker is also going with Schaefer to be the video coordinator and director of basketball operations at Mississippi State. He knows that wherever the Mississippi State clan goes, they will be successful. Schaefer will build up that program the right way and will instill the same values that A&M has had for the past nine years.
* In the coaching profession, you always keep a short-list of names to replace coaches if the coaches under you leave for whatever reason. He has talked to Pat Summit who has recommended one of her former assistants. He’s had calls from head coaches, AAU coaches, assistant coaches and high school coaches all who think they have the answer for him and all want to be part of his staff. The kids are in a great frame of mind and are borrowing men’s support staffer Barry Davis to help with individual workouts until someone gets hired. He’s an old school guy and it’s great to have someone who can show the girls how to play rather than just telling them how to play.
* The situation at Arkansas is about a person making the wrong decision at the wrong time of his life. People always talk about young kids, 18 to 22 year olds, that think they are bulletproof and aren’t going to ever do anything wrong like take steroids or make stupid mistakes, but then you look later in their life and they are doing stupid stuff like Miami Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen spouting off his mouth. It’s not good for the game when things like this happen because it doesn’t develop a trust between the consumer and the icon. The consumer wants to see the ‘American Story’ which gets dirtied up sometimes. Everyone dirties up their ‘American Story’ at some point in their life, but the normal person’s mistakes don’t ever get seen because they aren’t constantly under the microscope like these big name coaches are. The coaches at A&M have done a good job of staying off of the front page of the newspaper, and instead are where they are supposed to be—the sports page. The decision by Arkansas Athletic Director Jeff Long was not a popular move with the fan base, but people make mistakes and consequences have to be paid for those mistakes. He’s sure that Petrino will get back into coaching, but he has some life problems to figure out before he does.
* With all of the rules that the NCAA has, eventually a mistake will be made and a secondary violation will be committed. Most times, it’s not because you are trying to cheat, but just because of the misinterpretation of the rules. What happened with Kelvin Sampson at Oklahoma and Indiana was not misinterpretation, but rather just doing something wrong. He declined to comment on the situation at Baylor because they have enough problems of their own, but he’s pretty sure that everything will work out for them and that it will just turn into a secondary violation. What he does know for sure though is that they have another national championship banner to hang and that they have earned it.
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