For her team’s game Wednesday night at Auburn, Georgia Tech coach Nell Fortner drove herself Tuesday rather than take the team bus. There was a personal matter to tend to – an appointment with her hairdresser.
Fortner found her stylist when she was coach at Auburn from 2004-12. She liked her so much that, even after Fortner resigned near the end of her eighth season coaching the Tigers and moved to Santa Rosa Beach, Fla., she still drove the 3 ½ hours to get her hair done. The commitment has remained since she returned to coaching at Tech in 2019.
“I will travel to my hairdresser, for sure,” Fortner said.
Fortner will reveal her updated coiffure Wednesday evening at Neville Arena when the Yellow Jackets finish a home-and-home with the Tigers. Auburn defeated the Jackets 59-51 last season at McCamish Pavilion. While Fortner has made several visits to Auburn since her resignation, for purposes tonsorial, social and professional (as a broadcaster for ESPN), this will be the first time as a visiting coach.
“I’m looking forward to it,” Fortner said. “I think it’s going to be a really good game, a competitive game. It’ll be different sitting on the other bench, but it’s a nice place to play. The arena’s good, and the program’s good, so it’s in good hands.”
Fortner was part of the scheduling of the home-and-home with her former employer, which is 2-0 this season and picked to finish 13th in the SEC.
“I loved my time at Auburn,” she said. “Auburn was a good place.”
Tech has started the season with home wins over Georgia State (60-42) and Kennesaw State (65-39). They might be considered merely wins over overmatched mid-major opponents, but the Jackets’ play on defense caught Fortner a little by surprise. After losing three starters – most notably two-time ACC Defensive Player of the Year Lorela Cubaj – Fortner was ready for the team to shift in style. Where Cubaj was the backbone of a team that led the ACC in scoring defense and ranked second in defensive field-goal percentage, Fortner expected a team that could win with more speed and offensive firepower.
But, as of Tuesday, Tech ranked sixth in Division I in defensive field-goal percentage (25.9%) and sixth in scoring defense (40.5 points per game). They were 272nd (36%) and tied for 244th (62.5 points per game) in the corresponding offensive categories. Fortner said she did not expect this level of defensive play.
“I’m really pleased with our defense, no question,” she said. “(Associate head coach/defensive coordinator) Tasha Butts has done a really good job of really hammering that home and working hard on it, and it’s so incredibly important early in the season because your offense is just a little slower to come along.”
While Tech’s defensive numbers could be attributed to the level of competition, it bears mention that many of the Jackets’ peers also were facing teams from lower-tiered leagues and aren’t having the same success. Also, as a convenient comparison, both Kennesaw State and Georgia State have played other power-conference opponents (Ole Miss and Florida State, respectively) and fared far better on offense against those teams than they did against the Jackets. Georgia State shot 23.6% from the field against Tech but 42.6% against the Seminoles.
“You’ve got to keep getting better at defending multiple actions,” Fortner said. “We’re not quite there yet, but we’re trying to get there. I think (Wednesday) will be a really big test for us.”
Fortner has used the same starting five for both games – guards Cameron Swartz, Bianca Jackson and Tonie Morgan, forward Kayla Blackshear and center Nerea Hermosa. Only Hermosa played last season for Tech when it made its second NCAA Tournament in a row. Swartz and Jackson transferred in the offseason and Blackshear between semesters last year, and Morgan is a freshman.
While Tech outperformed Ole Miss and FSU on defense against Kennesaw State and Georgia State, those teams also shot better than the Jackets did.
“You’re talking about a lot of players that are playing together for the first time and just understanding and learning each other, trying to play a little faster,” Fortner said. “We’ll keep working on it and seeing how we can progress in that area. It’s just going to take us some time.”
Wednesday brings another opportunity. Before then, Fortner did not have any tours planned for her team. The Jackets are staying in a hotel near downtown Auburn, “so they can walk, if they want, to Toomer’s Corner, and I might tell them some of the history of Toomer’s Corner, something like that. Kids are just wanting to get ready for the game.”
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