Nell Fortner, who was coach of the year in three different conferences during her college career and also guided Team USA to an Olympic gold medal in 2000, announced her retirement Monday after six seasons with the Georgia Tech women's basketball program.
Fortner, 66, led Georgia Tech to a 110-75 record and three NCAA tournament appearances in 2021, 2022 and 2025. This season, the Yellow Jackets were 22-11 overall and 9-9 (eight) in the ACC. They lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament to Richmond.
Fortner, who played basketball and volleyball at Texas, began as a high school coach in 1983. She moved on to be a college assistant and then ran programs at Purdue, Auburn and Georgia Tech, winning coach of the year honors in the Big Ten (1997), SEC (2009) and ACC (2021). Her overall college coaching record is 272-182 in 15 seasons.
Fortner coached at every level; she was in the WNBA as the Indiana Fever's coach 2001-2003 and also served as the Fever's general manager during that period.
"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," Fortner said in a statement Monday.
"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."
Georgia Tech said assistant LaSondra Barrett will serve in an interim capacity while the school conducts a head coaching search.
