June 23, 2011

Arlington, Texas - UT Arlington head women's basketball coach Samantha Morrow announced that Karen Blair has joined her staff as an assistant coach.

Blair comes to UT Arlington from Colgate University where she spent two seasons as an assistant coach.

"Karen played and coached at SMU so she knows the area talent," said head coach Samantha Morrow. "After SMU she went to Colgate so again she has local ties but also knows some talent nationally. She has experience and will be a great fit at UTA."

Prior to Colgate, the newly named assistant coach spent 10 seasons on the staff at Southern Methodist University where she was an assistant under head coach Rhonda Rompola.

Blair is a graduate of Southern Methodist University where she earned a degree in both Marketing and Organizational Business Behavior Policy. She was also a three-year starting point guard for the Mustangs basketball team and captain of the squad for the 1997-1999 seasons.

During her playing career with the Mustangs, Blair helped lead the team to three NCAA Tournament appearances and captured the Western Athletic Conference Championship during the 1998-99 season.

Blair began her coaching career in 1999 at her alma mater, SMU, to serve as an assistant. During her coaching tenure with the Mustangs the squad made two WNIT appearances and earned two NCAA bids, advancing to the second round of the NCAA Tournament during the 1999-00 season. The Mustangs also won two regular season conference championships as well as the Conference USA Tournament championship during the 2007-08 season.

Blair's duties while at Southern Methodist included working with the perimeter players, opponent scouting, national recruiting, camps, compliance liaison, coordinating alumni and community events and serving as the Academic Coordinator.

At Colgate, Blair's main duties included working as the guard coach and offensive coordinator as well as the recruiting coordinator.