Georgia Tech head coach and women’s basketball coaching legend Nell Fortner announced her retirement from coaching on Monday.
Highlights of Fortner’s legendary coaching career include:
- 272 wins in 15 seasons as a college head coach – one season at Purdue (1996-97), eight at Auburn (2004-12) and six at Georgia Tech (2019-25);
- three Coach of the Year awards in three different Power Four conferences – Big Ten (1997), Southeastern Conference (2009) and Atlantic Coast Conference (2021);
- being named 1997 National Coach of the Year by Basketball Times;
- three seasons at the helm of the United State women’s national team (1998-2000), which she led to a 101-14 record and gold medals at the 1998 FIBA World Championships and 2000 Summer Olympics;
- serving as the first head coach and general manager of the WNBA’s Indiana Fever from 1999-2003.
“After a lot of deep thought and contemplation following the conclusion of our season, I have decided to retire from coaching,” Fortner said. “This was not an easy decision, nor one that I made lightly, especially after returning to the NCAA Tournament this season and having so many special players and coaches coming back next season. Georgia Tech is a gold mine, as an institution and an athletics department, and is well-positioned to compete for ACC and national championships in women’s basketball. That makes it very hard to step away. But for me, after spending much of the last 30-plus years on the sideline, I just feel that it’s time.
“I’d like to thank all of the players, coaches, staff, administration and fans that have made the last six years at Georgia Tech so special. It’s the people that make this place so great, and I will miss everyone very much. However, I am excited for the new head coach that will have the incredible opportunity to lead this program into the next era of collegiate athletics. I am positive that they will have great success and I will always be there to support this program and the wonderful people associated with it.”
In six seasons at Georgia Tech, Fortner led the Yellow Jackets to a 110-75 (.595) record and postseason berths four times in five opportunities (the Jackets were also in line for a postseason appearance in 2019-20 before the NCAA Tournament was canceled due to Covid-19). The Jackets’ success under Fortner included three NCAA Tournaments (2021, 2022 and 2025) and 20-win seasons in 2019-20 (20-11), 2021-22 (21-11) and 2024-25 (22-11). During the Covid-shortened 2020-21 season, Fortner led the Jackets to a 17-9 overall record, a third-place finish in the ACC and only the second Sweet 16 in program history.
She was named ACC Coach of the Year in 2020-21, which gave her the honor in three different major conferences, as she was previously named Coach of the Year in the Big Ten (1996-97- Purdue) and the Southeastern Conference (2008-09 – Auburn).
Also under Fortner’s direction, Georgia Tech put together some of the program’s all-time best recruiting classes, including the 2024 class, which was ranked No. 12 nationally by ESPN.
Fortner closes her legendary coaching career with a 272-192 (.586) record in 15 seasons as a college head coach and a remarkable 415-262 (.613) record as a head coach at the collegiate, professional and international levels.
She began her coaching career as head coach at Killeen (Texas) H.S. from 1983-86, followed by stints as an assistant coach at Stephen F. Austin (graduate assistant – 1986-87; assistant coach – 1987-90), Louisiana Tech (1990-95) and the U.S. national team (1995-96). She helped lead Louisiana Tech to national championship game in 1994 and the U.S. national team to an Olympic gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.
“Nell Fortner will be greatly missed by the entire Georgia Tech community,” Georgia Tech director of athletics J Batt said. “She’s not only been an incredible leader of our women’s basketball program, but she’s been a great sounding board for me. I can’t thank her enough for her friendship and for all that she’s done for Georgia Tech, our women’s basketball program and the student-athletes that she has coached during her six years on The Flats.
“The future of Georgia Tech women’s basketball is very bright. We will immediately begin a national search to identify the best new leader to build on the success that Coach Fortner achieved here at Tech.”
LaSondra Barrett will serve as Georgia Tech’s interim head coach while the Institute conducts a national search for the seventh head coach in program history.
https://ramblinwreck.com/fortner-announces-retirement/
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