The Nell Fortner era for Georgia Tech Women's Basketball officially came to an end on Monday as the veteran coach announced her retirement following six years at the helm for the Yellow Jackets and more than 40 years in the coaching business altogether at the high school, college, professional and international level.
For the full press release from Georgia Tech Athletics on Fortner's decision as well as background info on her long and successful career, follow this link.
Fortner met with the media on Tuesday afternoon to discuss the decision, what went into it, what is next for her and more. Here's what she had to say:
Fortner's opening statement...
"Thanks to everybody that's here today, really appreciate y'all coming out. It's nice seeing a lot of familiar faces on this day. Look, I guess some people would say this is bittersweet. I mean, it's the end of a college coaching career for me, but not the end of doing something, because I've got a lot of energy left. I don't know what that looks like for me, but I know it won't be a college basketball coach. Being here at Georgia Tech has been a phenomenal experience. You know, what's really interesting is six years ago, almost to the day, close to it, I became the coach at Georgia Tech on a flight coming here from Tampa, Florida from the Final Four. And the Final Four is back in Tampa, Florida this year, so kind of has come full circle. But it's been a great experience here, Georgia Tech is a phenomenal place, and I appreciate so much the support that women's basketball was given from the administration that hired me here to the administration that is here now. J Batt, thank you so much for taking a job and embracing women's basketball. Really appreciate that. And President Cabrera...Look, I'm not sure there's been a more supportive president that I've ever worked with in a university setting than Angel Cabrera, and I thank him very, very much and his wife, Beth. But as we've navigated through the last six years, y 'all realize how much change has happened in the last six years? When I took this job in 2019, it was pretty much normal college athletics as it goes. And in a year's time, COVID hit. And then we were pretty much saddled with that for about two years, which was really hard to navigate, but we did. And then not only that happened, but in the middle of that came the transfer portal and NIL. So it's really some difficult times in the last six years, but we navigated it and we did it through tremendous people working. And I've been blessed with great staff...great staff. And most of them are here right here today. And I can't thank them enough for everything they've done in the past six years, three years, however long they've been here. Ashlee Villarreal has been here all six years. Rachel's not here. Our trainer's been with us all six years. Really appreciate that. Then I have some three years on here. So thank you all very much for everything you've done and all your ...
