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Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball: Nell Fortner Named Coach of the Year Finalist

By Bronston Tankersley

DURHAM, NC - JANUARY 26: Head coach Nell Fortner of Georgia Tech directs her team during a game between Georgia Tech and Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 26, 2020 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images)
DURHAM, NC - JANUARY 26: Head coach Nell Fortner of Georgia Tech directs her team during a game between Georgia Tech and Duke at Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 26, 2020 in Durham, North Carolina. (Photo by Andy Mead/ISI Photos/Getty Images) /
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The Georgia Tech Women’s Basketball head coach, Nell Fortner, is one of five named as a semifinalist for the Naismith Women’s Coach of the Year Award.

In her first season as the Georgia Tech Women’s basketball coach, Nell Fortner has been named as a Naismith Coach of the Year semifinalist.

Under Fortner, Georgia Tech went 10-8 in ACC play, and 19-10 overall. Just a year ago, the Yellow Jackets were in a tricky situation with the releasing of former head coach MaChelle Joseph. The atmosphere has compeltely changed since then and the Yellow Jackets are now on track to see the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2013.

Fortner is 325-199 overall as a head coach where she’s had former stints at Auburn, Purdue, the national Olympic USA Women’s Basketball Team, and at the Indiana Fever, a WNBA team. From 2012 to 2019 Fortner was an ESPN sports analyst before taking the Head coaching job at Tech. Now, she has a chance to win a Coach of the Year award for the second time in her career.

At Auburn in 2009, Fortner was a SEC Champion and SEC Coach of the Year and she won 4 gold medals and 1 bronze medal as the USA Women’s Basketball team. So, being recognized for national awards isn’t anything new to Fortner.

Fortner is among 4 other candidates who can potentially win the award. Adia Barnes (Arizona), Lisa Fortier (Gonzaga), Kelly Graves (Oregon), and Joe McKeown (Northwestern) are the other guys who have also rightfully been nominated as a finalist for the award. Fortner boasts a strong case for the award, so it’ll be interesting to see who ends up with the crown.

Fortner leads the Yellow Jackets into the second round of the ACC Tournament on March 5th as the 7th seed where they will play the winner of the Notre Dame vs Pittsburgh game. Moving into the qaurterfinals would put the Yellow Jackets in a prime position to score a post season bid in the NCAA Tournament.