Karen Blair learned to bet on herself. It raised expectations at Georgia Tech

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Coaching basketball never crossed Karen Blair’s mind despite a successful playing career at Southern Methodist University.

After graduation, she headed to Atlanta to train at PepsiCo. It was the late 1990s, and bottled Frappuccino was the next big thing. Blair’s first job was back in Dallas, slinging caffeinated samples at hockey games and radio station events.

“I just didn’t think I was going into coaching,” Blair said Monday at ACC Basketball Tipoff media days.

Her first job did provide lessons. On networking. On managing people. On getting comfortable in unexpected situations.

Then, in 1999, Blair accepted an invitation to join the staff at her alma mater.

Nearly 30 years later, Blair has built a coaching career around that same willingness to put herself in unfamiliar circumstances. It eventually led her to Georgia Tech, where she is entering her second season trying to build the Yellow Jackets into a more consistent winner.

“You’ve always got to be trying to grow yourself,” Blair said. “Whether that’s grow your network, growing your recruiting base. That’s how I always tried to challenge myself in new ways.

“That growth mindset has always been who I have been.”

The Yellow Jackets return seven players and four starters, including leading scorer Talayah Walker, from last season’s team that finished 14-19 and made an appearance in the Women’s Basketball Invitational Tournament.

Blair’s first Tech team could defend and rebound. But it didn’t shoot well enough, particularly from 3-point range, and it didn’t have enough guard depth to withstand ACC play. With much of the roster returning, Blair was able to be selective in the transfer portal, bringing in players including Maryland transfer Kyndal Walker and UAB transfer Sofia Muñoz to address those specific weaknesses.

“You go through the ACC the first year and you realize what elite guards you have to have to compete in this conference,” Blair said.

Returning senior starter La’Nya Foster said the second year of preseason practices under Blair have elevated the team’s capabilities. Foster said she can’t count how many times Blair has told the players, “You can do hard things.”

“We can do hard things, every day,” Foster said.

Opting for unfamiliar situations is how Blair navigated her coaching career.

She left SMU for Colgate, where she strengthened her East Coast recruiting connections and learned to work for an athletic program with high academic standards.

Her coaching experience continued to broaden at Texas-Arlington, North Texas and VCU.

Then came Maryland, where Blair spent seven years as an assistant and saw what it took to compete on the national stage before taking over at Georgia Tech.

“I’m one of those that I don’t like getting complacent,” Blair said.

“When you pack up and move across the country you learn how to bet on yourself.”

Now, Blair is trying to turn everything she learned along the way into results at Tech.

The nonconference schedule includes plenty of teams that reached the NCAA Tournament last season, including West Virginia, TCU, Georgia, Alabama and Princeton.