FERNANDINA BEACH, Florida — Karen Blair doesn’t want to necessarily call the past few weeks tough, as it pertains to assembling a roster from virtually the ground up.
“For me, recruiting is the lifeblood of every program. It’s what I love to do. And I think I brought in a staff that’s very much the same way,” she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Monday between sessions at the ACC’s annual spring meetings. “Being where we’re located, in Atlanta, recruiting is going to be the lifeblood of our program.
“I think that’s kind of the fun part. We’re putting all the pieces together and then you just kind of figure it out. Now, let’s all of us get to know each other, and it’s our job as coaches now to put the system in place and put the puzzle together.”
Blair, hired by Georgia Tech on April 6 to coach its women’s basketball program, has hit the ground running over the past month. She has nine new players on her roster and four new assistant coaches preparing to set out on the journey that will be the 2025-26 season.
Tech brought in Blair to replace Nell Fortner, who announced her retirement in March. Fortner’s 2024-25 team won its first 15 games, ascended into the top 15 of the national rankings and earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, where it lost in the first round to Richmond in Los Angeles.
Hardly a soul is left from that team. Guard Dani Carnegie transferred to Georgia. Guard Kara Dunn left for Southern California. Guard Tonie Morgan departed for Kentucky. Guard Chazadi Wright now plays for Iowa. Guard Rusne Augustinaite transferred to Clemson.
Credit: Georgia Tech
Credit: Georgia Tech
The mass exodus left Blair with three players who wore the white and gold last season. The former Maryland assistant also retained assistant coach Caleb Currier.
“I think there’s a lot of versatility,” Blair said of the shape of her team. “I think for us we were trying to find a lot of speed and athleticism because we wanna play that up-tempo system. Being able to give us a lot of versatility, being able to guard multiple positions, maybe play multiple positions.”
A former point guard at SMU, Blair had spent the previous seven years at Maryland, where she was a part of three Big Ten championship teams and six NCAA Tournament teams. The 2023 Terrapins squad advanced to the quarterfinals.
She said her aim is to take Tech to similar heights and for the Yellow Jackets to become a team that makes the postseason every year. So she brought in assistant coaches who have deep experience as part of winning programs: Marsha Frese from Loyola-Chicago, Chris Meadows from Boston College, Morgan Williams from Radford and Ben Kantor from Connecticut.
“When you get an opportunity like this, you want to be able to surround yourself with people that are like-minded, which for me, that’s what it’s about,” Blair said. “It’s about working hard. I want coaches and players that want to be here and kind of have that gritty mindset that we’re gonna do whatever it takes to win.”
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