Georgia Tech hired Maryland associate head coach Karen Blair as its women’s basketball coach, Tech announced Sunday morning.
Blair, the seventh coach in Tech women’s basketball history, helped lead Maryland to three Big Ten championships in her seven seasons with the Terrapins. She takes over the Yellow Jackets after Nell Fortner retired March 31 after six seasons.
Following two seasons as an assistant coach and recruiting coordinator for the Terrapins, Blair served as associate head coach at Maryland for the past five seasons. In her seven seasons at Maryland, the Terps not only claimed three Big Ten titles (regular season in 2018-19 and regular season plus tournament in 2019-20 and 2020-21), but also qualified for the NCAA Tournament berths every season the tournament was held.
“We’re proud and excited to name Karen Blair the seventh head coach in Georgia Tech women’s basketball history,” Tech athletic director J. Batt said in a statement released by the institute. “We set out to find a coach that has an established record of success at the highest level — both on the court and on the recruiting trail — and coach Blair certainly fits that bill. She has added to her list of achievements at every stop of her coaching career, including the last seven seasons at Maryland, where she helped lead the program to three Big Ten championships, annual NCAA Tournament berths, and played a big role in consistently landing some of the nation’s top-ranked recruiting classes. Coach Blair is the right person to build on Georgia Tech women’s basketball’s legacy of success. Please join me in welcoming her to The Flats.”
Blair helped Maryland land four top-20 recruiting classes, including the No. 3-ranked class in 2019, No. 9 in 2021 and No. 11 in 2023. In March 2020, Blair was named the Division I assistant coach of the year by the Women’s Basketball Coaches Association.
Before her seven seasons at Maryland, Blair was associate head coach at Virginia Commonwealth for three seasons (2015-18). She helped lead the Rams to 23 wins (the third most in program history at the time) and a WNIT berth in 2015-16.
Blair’s coaching experience includes stints as an assistant coach at North Texas (2013-15), Texas-Arlington (2011-13), Colgate (2009-11) and her alma mater, SMU (1999-2009). Her experience also includes serving as recruiting coordinator during her two seasons at Colgate and interim head coach for the final eight games of the 2013 season at UTA.
During her 10 years on the staff at SMU, Blair helped lead the Mustangs to a pair of Conference USA regular-season championships, two NCAA Tournaments and two WNITs.
One of the most decorated players in SMU women’s basketball history, Blair was a three-year starting point guard as a member of the Mustangs (1995-99). She led SMU to three NCAA Tournament berths (1996, 1998 and 1999), was a two-year team captain and earned second-team all-Western Athletic Conference honors in 1998.
A Richland, Michigan, native, Blair was an all-state selection for the Richland Gull Lake basketball team and won a championship with the soccer team. She graduated from SMU with a bachelor’s degree in business in 1999.
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