Wesleyan girls basketball coach Jan Azar, whose 13 state championships are the most in Georgia high school basketball history, has resigned, she and the school announced jointly Friday.
Azar started Wesleyan’s program in 1999 and it won its first state title in 2002 and later a record-tying six straight from 2008 through 2013.
Wesleyan entered this season as the two-time Class A private-school champion and lost to Holy Innocents’ in the final last week in Macon. It was Wesleyan’s 16th straight appearance in the state finals and only the fourth loss.
Azar has sent 35 Wesleyan players into college basketball, including Anne Marie Armstrong and Kaelyn Causwell to Georgia, Erin Hall to Wake Forest, Katie Frerking to Auburn, Paige Mosley to Clemson and Mikayla Coombs to UConn.
Azar’s record in 21 seasons at Wesleyan is 571-113.
A graduate and former St. Pius player, Azar was inducted into the Gwinnett County Sports Hall of Fame in 2012.
The closest coach to Azar in state basketball titles is Selby Buck, who won 11 as a boys coach from the 1920s into the 1950s. The closest in state basketball championships is Buford’s Gene Durden, who won his seventh this season.
No replacement has been named. A natural candidate would be Carolyn Whitney, who was Brookwood’s girls coach this past season. She’s a former Wesleyan player and assistant coach on Azar’s staff for five seasons and led Brookwood this season to its first region title since 2011.
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