Texas A&M women’s coach Gary Blair was not named a finalist for the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2022, which was revealed on Friday.
The finalists were announced during a press conference in Cleveland during NBA All-Star Weekend. The entire Class of 2022 will be announced during the men’s Final Four, with induction set for Sept. 9-10.
Blair will retire at the end of the season. Earlier this week, Texas A&M announced that the court at Reed Arena would be re-named Gary Blair Court when the Aggies host South Carolina on Thursday.
Blair is in his 19th season in College Station and led the Aggies to the 2011 national championship. The 2013 Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame inductee has won 852 career games, putting him 12th among Division I coaches.
Of the Division I coaches ahead of him, Stanford’s Tara VanDerveer, UConn’s Geno Auriemma, Tennessee’s Pat Summitt, Bentley’s Barbara Stevens (who also coached at UMass), Rutgers’ C. Vivian Stringer, North Carolina’s Sylvia Hatchell, Notre Dame’s Muffet McGraw and Texas’ Jody Conradt are in the Naismith Hall of Fame.
With Texas A&M, Blair has led the Aggies to 15 straight NCAA Tournament appearances and 16 straight 20-win seasons. Both streaks appear to be in jeopardy this year, as the Aggies (14-11, 4-9 in SEC) are coming off a loss to Ole Miss on Thursday.
Before arriving at Texas A&M, Blair spent 10 years at Arkansas (1993-2003), where he won 198 games and led the Razorbacks to the 1998 Final Four. The Razorbacks made five NCAA Tournament appearances, three WNIT appearances and won the WNIT title in 1999.
Blair started his head-coaching career at Stephen F. Austin in 1985, where he won 210 games, led the Ladyjacks to seven straight conference titles, six straight NCAA Tournament appearances and four trips to the Sweet 16.
Before SFA, Blair was an assistant coach at Louisiana Tech under Sonja Hogg and Leon Barmore from 1980-85. He helped the Lady Techsters win national titles in 1981 (AIAW) and 1982 (NCAA) with future LSU coach Kim Mulkey at point guard.
Blair started his coaching career at South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas, Texas, where he started the girls’ basketball program, led it for seven seasons, and guided the program to 239 wins and three Class 4A state titles, the last of which came in 1980. Debra and Kim Rodman were among his players, the older sisters of future NBA star Dennis Rodman.
You can find Matthew Postins on Twitter @PostinsPostcard.
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