Women's Basketball Camp
Head Coach Rae Rippetoe Blair

Rae Rippetoe Blair
Head Coach

A three-time Southland Conference Coach of the Year, Rae Rippetoe-Blair enters her 11th season at UTSA. During her 10 seasons at the helm, Rippetoe-Blair has established herself as one of the brightest minds in the Southland Conference. The Ardmore, Okla., native has guided the Roadrunners to a pair of NCAA appearances (2008 and 2009), back-to-back Southland Conference Tournament Championships (2008 and 2009), two Southland Regular Season Titles (2003 and 2009) and consecutive 20-win seasons (2008 and 2009), including a school-record 24 wins in 2009. She also received the 2009 Texas Association Basketball of Coaches (TABC) Coach of the Year plaque.

Since her hiring in 2000, she has transformed the Roadrunners into one of the top programs in the Southland. Rippetoe-Blair has led UTSA to 10 consecutive Southland Tournament appearances, including four trips to the conference finals (2003, ’06, ’08 and ’09). During the 2004-05 season, she became the winningest basketball coach in UTSA history. She currently owns 176 wins, is the only women’s coach with more than 150 career victories at UTSA and her .589 winning percentage is second-best in school annals. The Roadrunners have posted the most Southland wins (121) and the second-best winning percentage (.703) in the league since 2001. Her 121 league victories is tops among active conference coaches and ranks second all-time in the circuit.

Rippetoe-Blair has mentored several outstanding student-athletes during her time at UTSA, including 2008-09 All-America candidate, Southland Conference Player of the Year and the league’s Defensive Player of the Year Monica Gibbs, who is currently playing overseas (Amicale Steesel). She has coached four Southland Newcomer of the Year winners (Nikki Hendrix/2002, Dewella Holiday/2003, Vivian Ewalefo/2006 and Onika Anderson/2008), two Freshmen of the Year recipients (Richelle Parks/2005 and Monica Gibbs/2006), 22 All-Southland selections, including seven first-teamers, two Student-Athletes of the Year (Nicole Dunson/2005 and Ryba Pawlaczyk/2009), three Southland All-Academic selections and a pair of ESPN The Magazine/CoSIDA Academic All-District honorees.

Rippetoe-Blair has a record of 176-123 at UTSA, with an overall mark of 283-167 in 16 full seasons as a head coach. The Roadrunners have averaged 17.6 wins per season during her tenure.

A run for a third consecutive conference championship and a trip back to the NCAA’s was going to be a challenge for Rippetoe-Blair. The departure of three starters (Onika Anderson, Monica Gibbs and Ryba Pawlaczyk) that contributed more than 70 percent of the offense and returning one starter (junior Amber Gregg) saw UTSA in the mist of a rebuilding year. However, the Roadrunners produced a 16-14 overall record and a third-place showing in the West Division standings with a 10-6 mark. The Roadrunners made their way to a 10th consecutive postseason appearance as a No. 4 seed and faced fifth-seeded UT Arlington. The Mavericks ended any hopes of a three-peat for the Runners with a 68-63 win in the opening-round of the Southland Tournament. Despite an up and down 2009-10 season, Rippetoe-Blair saw the resurgence of sophomore Whitney York, who missed most of the 2008-09 year due to injury, and the emergence of freshman Judy Jones and junior transfer Ashleigh Franklin. York and Jones enjoyed successful campaigns and their efforts did not go unnoticed as they were tabbed second-team All-Southland, while Franklin collected third-team all-league honors. The Roadrunners ended the year atop three defensive categories — scoring defense/61.8 points per game, lowest field goal percentage/37.2 percent and 3-point field goal percentage/28.8 percent.

After beginning the 2008-09 season 2-6, UTSA ended the year strong with the Southland Conference Regular Season and Tournament Championships and punched its second ticket to the NCAA Tournament. The Roadrunners also set a school-record with 24 wins and posted a 14-2 conference mark, tying UT Arlington for first-place in the league, while Rippetoe-Blair picked up Southland Coach of the Year honors for the third time. She was also recognized as the 2009 TABC Coach of the Year. Meanwhile, three Roadrunners collected all-conference honors led by Monica Gibbs, who was named Southland Player of the Year and the circuit’s Defensive Player of the Year. The Runners entered the league’s tournament as the No. 2 seed and began defense of their postseason championship with a 71-52 win against No. 7 seed McNeese State in the quarterfinals. UTSA then escaped with a 58-47 win versus sixth-seeded Northwestern State in the semifinals before knocking off top seed UT Arlington, 74-63, in the finals to earn the automatic berth to the NCAA Tournament. The Roadrunners saw their season come to an end with an 87-82 overtime loss against second-seeded Baylor in first-round action in Lubbock. It was the first time in tournament history that a No. 15 seed took a second-seeded team into overtime.

The 2007-08 season was a year to remember for the Roadrunners, as they won their first-ever Southland Conference Tournament and made their first trip to the NCAA Tournament. UTSA won 23 games, which marked the first 20-win season since 1983-84. Overall, the Runners ended the season with a 23-10 mark and a 12-4 league record, which was good enough for second place in the conference standings. UTSA began tournament play as the third seed and made quick work of its first-round opponent Northwestern State, 80-56. The Roadrunners then got past UT Arlington in the semifinals, 77-67, and rounded out the tournament with a 65-56 win over No. 4 seed Lamar in the championship game. The Roadrunners’ season came to an end as No. 2-seed Texas A&M defeated them in first-round action of the NCAA Tournament in Baton Rouge, La.

In 2006-07, the Roadrunners finished 14-16 overall and 9-7 in Southland play. Rippetoe-Blair collected her 100th UTSA career victory on Nov. 24 with a 77-67 win against Eastern Washington. UTSA finished its conference season in a three-way tie for fourth place and earned the No. 5 seed at the 2007 Southland Tournament. The Roadrunners pulled an upset win against Southeastern Louisiana in the first round before falling to top-seeded UT Arlington in the semifinals.

During the 2005-06 season, Rippetoe-Blair and the Roadrunners enjoyed a successful year with an 18-12 mark and a trip back to the Southland Tournament finals. The Runners finished third in the league with an 11-5 record and she recorded her 200th career win on Feb. 2 at Nicholls.

In her fifth season, Rippetoe-Blair mentored the Roadrunners to a 16-12 record along with 10 wins in Southland play in 2003-04. UTSA boasted the league’s top defense, holding opponents to just 57.8 points per game.

Rippetoe-Blair’s fourth season saw UTSA coming off its first-ever Southland Conference Championship, but would come up short in the postseason as Northwestern State handed the Runners a 82-71 loss in the semifinals. The Roadrunners registered a 15-14 record and a 10-6 mark in league play.

In her third season, Rippetoe-Blair led UTSA to the program’s first regular season Southland Championship with a 17-3 league ledger and an overall mark of 18-11 in 2002-03. Rippetoe-Blair was honored as the Southland Conference Coach of the Year. The honor was richly deserved after turning around a team that began the season 0-8, and upon entering Southland play, won 17 of 19 games, including a 13-game winning streak, 17 conference wins and 11 home court wins, all school records.

In 2000-01, Rippetoe-Blair received Southland Coach of the Year honors following a 13-7 league campaign and into the postseason.

Rippetoe-Blair’s teams have been ranked among the best defensive teams in the country. UTSA was ranked in the top six nationally in scoring defense in 2002-03 and was second in the nation in her first two seasons (2000-01 and 2001-02).

While the immediate impact Blair had on the UTSA’s program might be a surprise, the success should not be. A proven winner as a head coach at NAIA Phillips University and as an assistant at Oklahoma State, she has enjoyed continued success.

Rippetoe-Blair turned around a Phillips program with a 104-51 mark during her five seasons in Enid, Okla. She was named the Sooner Athletic Conference’s 1989-90 Coach of the Year after a 29-7 record.

Prior to UTSA, Rippetoe-Blair was an assistant coach at her alma mater, Oklahoma State, for eight seasons. As a player, she left her mark to this day on the Cowgirls program, ranking in the top 20 in five categories.

As an assistant coach, she helped build Oklahoma State as one of the top programs in the Big Eight Conference and made valuable contacts among high school coaches. Her pipeline to Oklahoma has brought former Texas Tech recruit Nikki Hendrix, and former standouts Lacy Mingee and Katie Sandefur to San Antonio. Rippetoe-Blair continued to bring excellent recruits from the state of Oklahoma with the 2008-09 All-America candidate and Southland’s Player of the Year and league’s Defensive Player to the Year Monica Gibbs from Stillwater, Okla.

Rippetoe-Blair started her coaching career in 1985 as an assistant coach at Southern Nazarene in Bethany, Okla. She was at SNU for two seasons before moving to Phillips. After two rebuilding seasons at Phillips, Rippetoe-Blair coached three straight 20-win teams. Phillips went 29-7 in 1989-90, as Rippetoe-Blair earned conference coach of the year honors. In 1990-91, Phillips was 23-8 and 20-9 in her final season before returning to Oklahoma State.

As an Ardmore (Okla.) High School athlete, she ran on the 1980 state champion mile relay team, played on the 1980 Oklahoma-Texas All-Star team and was an all-state pick in track and basketball. She was the team’s MVP in softball and was named the outstanding female Athlete of the Year for Ardmore High.

She and her husband, Craig, reside in Boerne, Texas.