Texas A&M's Gary Blair makes big announcement ahead of 2021-22 season
Legendary Texas A&M women’s basketball head coach Gary Blair will retire at the end of the 2021-2022 basketball season.
Blair made the announcement on Twitter on Thursday morning and added a heartfelt note to the Aggie faithful.
Blair, 76, has been in College Station since 2003 and has been a coach at the college level since 1980. He boasts a .717 all-time winning percentage.
The Hall of Fame coach has amassed winning seasons in 35 of his 36 years as a head coach, and the Aggies won the national title in 2011. He has won five conference championships throughout his career. The Texas A&M women’s team currently has a 16-game NCAA tournament streak, evidence of the consistency Blair produces.
“Coach Blair is a legend in women’s basketball and college sports,” said Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork. “He has made a transformational impact on Texas A&M University, our athletics program and all of college basketball. His decades-long championship-caliber coaching acumen and recruiting ability has transcended many generations of women’s basketball players and his impact will be felt long after he hangs up the whistle.
“Gary Blair is more than just a coach. Because of his good-natured personality, he is beloved in the Bryan-College Station community and beyond. Coach is amazingly kind and has never met a stranger. I know he will continue to be a presence around Aggieland for years to come. On behalf of Texas A&M Athletics, I want to congratulate Coach Gary Blair on an amazing career, and we can’t wait to watch him and his team compete for one last season. Congratulations Coach Blair!”
Blair began his career as an assistant at Louisiana Tech and was a part of two national title-winning teams there, including the 1981-1982 team which won the first NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament. He was also a head coach at Stephen F. Austin and Arkansas.
Blair played college baseball at Texas Tech and originally hoped to be a baseball coach after graduation. Instead, he took over a physical education teaching job at a school in Dallas. When they started a women’s basketball team in 1973, Blair was their first head coach.
Texas A&M was ranked No. 23 in the preseason AP Poll, and they begin their year with an exhibition game against Oklahoma Baptist on Nov. 3. The Aggies have an exciting schedule this year, including a non-conference game with No. 25 Texas on Dec. 5.