To the women's basketball team: thanks

Oh, by the way, one last thing to Gary Blair, his players, his assistants, and all the support personnel. Thanks. Thanks for giving us a season that we'll never forget.

We're all proud to say that the women's national basketball champions live here. What an accomplishment.

I knew when Blair was hired he would build a good program. He was a proven winner. But a national championship? I didn't think so. Sure, it was possible, anything is possible in this great country. We see it time after time. But what we witnessed just doesn't happen.

You don't take over a program that's dead last in the Big 12 and eight seasons later win a national title in a season where you beat six programs that have won national championships led by Baylor, Stanford and Notre Dame, which were A&M's last three victories.

That's part of what makes this championship so special. It just didn't seem possible. When Blair was hired, Connecticut was in the midst of winning three of four national titles. That came on the heels of Purdue ending a three-year reign by Tennessee, a program that kicked the words right out of Blair's mouth when he was in Arkansas. In the Big 12, Baylor was getting ready to soar behind coach Kim Mulkey who seemed wise to turn down A&M when she was an assistant at Louisiana Tech. Mulkey had some epic battles with Oklahoma and Sherri Coale as they battled for league supremacy. And Blair was going to make A&M rise above all of that?

He did it one player, one fan, one victory at a time.

Before current point guard Sydney Colson, it was A'Quonesia Franklin. Before junior wing Tyra White, it was Takia Starks. Before junior forward Adaora Elonu, it was Morenike Aturnase.

The list goes on and on. Blair has constantly upgraded the talent, but one thing has remained constant. He gets the most out of his players or, as he says, "We coach 'em up."

But his players have been willing to pay the price. Lenka ZImova, a junior college transfer helps win a big game at Texas Tech in 2007. She's already forgotten by most, but not Blair.

That's why you always see his former players at games. He's still thanking the girls from Dallas South Oak Cliff HIgh School that helped him win three state titles to get his career going. He still has friends from eight seasons at Stephen F. Austin and 10 at Arkansas.

They are Blair's players for life. He treats fans the same way. They are part of the success story. Blair wants to surround himself with winners, but if you enter his circle -- be prepared to work. That goes for players, fans, trainers, assistants, and even the media who cover him.

Blair thanked the media for covering him at the Dallas Regional, then invited them across the street for a refreshment.

It's hard not to root for a guy like that.

"Congratulations, coach," I told him the other day. "Now, that doesn't mean I won't rip you next year."

Blair laughed, and said no problem, because he's one of the few coaches who understands the role of the media.

He knows how special it was for me professionally to document the team's accomplishments. He's a journalist's dream. So are his players who have character higher than their playing ability. So their season-ending story wrote itself.

Yet when the team slipped up against Duke and Baylor three times, the stories, like the outcome weren't flattering. Blair had built his third program to the brink of greatness, but would he get over the hump? He seemed confident it was only a matter of when, not if.

Yet Blair had to know if Baylor won the regional championship, the stories wouldn't have been kind. He might have been surprised to be placed in Baylor's region, but it never showed. He and his team embraced the challenge and made a beeline to Dallas where they cut down the nets, then headed to Indianapolis where he allowed thousands of people to mentally climb that ladder with him and cut down the nets for a final time.

I just have one word for the Bryan-College Station's most talkative man and his team: Thanks.

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A&M women's basketball had a dry spell before Blair arrived, but there's a lot of former players and coaches who have to be beaming.

How about Kay Don, the first coach who was 24-9 in 1974-75. I'm old enough to remember her, classy lady. Or Wander Bender who followed her. She and her husband also coached at Snook.

Lynn Hickey was here for a decade, having a solid program, which wasn't easy when Texas and Texas Tech were dominant. Hickey was 23-8 in her last season, reaching the school's first Sweet 16. She was another asset to the program.

They all can share in this, along with their players. Blair wouldn't have it any other way.

Robert Cessna's e-mail address is robert.cessna@theeagle.com.