When Andy Landers took the job as the Georgia women’s basketball coach, he had a vision for the program. First, though, the Lady Bulldogs needed a major change in culture.
Before Landers was hired, a graduate assistant in 1969 formed a women’s basketball team sponsored by the physical education department because there was not a university-sanctioned team. After the passage of Title IX, Georgia fielded a women’s basketball team for six seasons and employed four head coaches, who compiled a 37-85 record. Only one season ended with a winning record, at 11-9.
Landers followed with 36 seasons and a record of 862-299 – and never a season with a losing record.
The sea change was more radical than all that.
When Landers was hired as the coach for the 1979-80 season, the program was in turmoil. There was unrest the season before, during which players and members of the staff boycotted a game. Landers said the UGA athletic department wanted to turn around the image of women’s basketball at Georgia.
When Landers came on as head coach, he inherited a team from his standpoint that would not be able to bring the success he wanted. He cut every player, except one, from the previous season’s team, and the Lady Bulldogs were 16-12 his first season.
Landers’ vision was a two-step process that started with recruiting players who would help him build the best program in Georgia. When the program reached that point, it would allow him to move to the next step, competing for a national championship.
Success came quickly. In his second season at UGA, the Lady Bulldogs won the National Women’s Invitational Tournament championship. From there, his teams repeatedly made appearances in the NCAA tournament, including five Final Four appearances.
“The NWIT championship where it meant the most, I felt like it validated our place at our own institution,” Landers said.
Recruiting in women’s basketball was in its infancy, as other programs around the state held tryouts and would select their players from the women who attended. Landers’ first recruiting call was to Lowndes High School.
“The coach at Lowndes County High School, Charles Cooper, went silent on the phone when I told him who I was, and I asked him, ‘Coach Cooper are you there?’” Landers said. “And he said ‘Yeah. This is the first time anybody from the University of Georgia has ever called.”
He also set his sights on players beyond Georgia. His second recruiting class had players from Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Mississippi and Georgia. There were not many programs recruiting outside of their state, but Landers knew if he wanted to succeed, he had to expand his search. It wasn’t long before other programs caught on.
Landers had six scholarships he could award to players his first season and 10 in his second. As the program continued to grow, Landers awarded as many scholarships each season as he was allowed.
Georgia joined the NCAA in the 1981-82 season, the first season the NCAA included women’s basketball under its authority. Landers was not part of the decision, he said, but that the decision came from athletic director Vince Dooley and women’s athletic director Liz Murphy. Landers said he remembered Murphy having reservations about leaving the AIAW for the NCAA. However, the decision was made to join the NCAA, and the first season Landers led the team to the first round of the NCAA tournament.
The success in women’s basketball continued through Landers’ tenure as head coach and developed a legacy not only for Landers, but for the program as a whole.
“When we went out and very quickly established ourselves as a program that could win championships, the mood at Georgia, the commitment at Georgia immediately elevated,” Landers said. “It became something where it changed the opinion of what women’s sports could be in the minds of some at the University of Georgia into being a positive thing. That this could represent the University of Georgia in a very positive light.”
About the Author
