Arlington Christian

Arlington's Director of Basketball Operations, Lady Grooms, was recently featured in an article celebrating legendary UGA Coach Andy Lander's career and continued focus on academic success. Chris Starrs writes, "A native of Atlanta, Grooms averaged 12 points and nearly four rebounds per game during Georgia's 1991 season, when the Lady Bulldogs were the SEC champions and compiled a 28-4 overall record. Grooms left Georgia to play basketball in Italy, Hungary and Turkey before joining the WNBA in 1998, where she played primarily with Sacramento for nearly a decade.With numerous commercial and residential real estate holdings and a part-time job coaching basketball at Arlington Christian School in Fairburn, Grooms said she came back to Georgia with three people in mind - her mother, her 3-year-old daughter Gabby and Landers, whom she affectionately calls "Boss." " I'm not pursuing a degree to get a job - I'm doing it for my baby and for coach Landers," said Grooms, who expects to graduate in August with a degree in recreation administration. "I played professionally for 17 years and never found the time to go back to school, but when the baby came, coach Landers challenged me to come back and finish up.""Right after Gabby was born he called me and said, 'Congratulations. When are you coming back to get your degree?' "

To read this article in its entirety click the link below

Landers' emphasis on academics brings former players back
By Chris Starrs | This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it | Story updated at 11:48 pm on 1/14/2009

Georgia women's basketball coach Andy Landers is standing at the edge of history.

If the Lady Bulldogs are able to claim victory tonight against Savannah State at Stegeman Coliseum, the veteran coach will notch his 800th win, a feat accomplished by only four other women's basketball coaches.

But as befits this straight-talking Tennessee native's persona, Landers isn't that interested in discoursing on milestone victories, although he'd be pleased to spend hours talking about all the folks who helped made it happen.

"On the food chain in all of this, I rank fourth behind the players, administration and assistant coaches," said Landers on Sunday after earning his 799th coaching win in Georgia's 69-63 Southeastern Conference triumph over South Carolina.

There's a different highlight on the horizon, however, that the 2007 Women's Basketball Hall of Fame inductee is delighted about, and that will come when two former players - Lady Hardmon Grooms (1989-1992) and Kedra Holland-Corn (1994-1997) - receive their University of Georgia diplomas later this year.

When Holland-Corn and Grooms graduate, they'll improve Landers' 96.2 percent graduation rate of four-year Lady Bulldogs to a perfect 100 percent.

"If the choice is you can win the championship but one of your kids is not going to graduate, then we don't want to win the championship," Landers said. "That has to be. Ten years from now, nobody will remember who was on that championship team, but 10 years from now that person that wasn't going to graduate is going to have a better quality of life because they did graduate. That's what's important."

'Congratulations. When are you coming back?'

A native of Atlanta, Grooms averaged 12 points and nearly four rebounds per game during Georgia's 1991 season, when the Lady Bulldogs were the SEC champions and compiled a 28-4 overall record.

Grooms left Georgia to play basketball in Italy, Hungary and Turkey before joining the WNBA in 1998, where she played primarily with Sacramento for nearly a decade.

With numerous commercial and residential real estate holdings and a part-time job coaching basketball at Arlington Christian School in Fairburn, Grooms said she came back to Georgia with three people in mind - her mother, her 3-year-old daughter Gabby and Landers, whom she affectionately calls "Boss."

"I'm not pursuing a degree to get a job - I'm doing it for my baby and for coach Landers," said Grooms, who expects to graduate in August with a degree in recreation administration. "I played professionally for 17 years and never found the time to go back to school, but when the baby came, coach Landers challenged me to come back and finish up."

"Right after Gabby was born he called me and said, 'Congratulations. When are you coming back to get your degree?' "

Said Landers: "Lady played so much basketball in so many places that there was never a good opportunity for her to come back to school. Frankly, I was excited when she told me she was expecting. I thought, 'Good. That can be the end of the playing and now we can get on with trying to finish up this school work.' "

Grooms admitted she wasn't an "A" student but added Landers did everything in his power to help her stay afloat academically.

"I can remember one time he stayed up with me while I studied all night," she said. "He'd be sitting there with his coffee and his cigar and I thought, 'He's got kids at home and he's at the dorm at 3 a.m.!' " But he helped me and he was there for a lot of other players, too."

For the last four years, Grooms has commuted from her home in Sharpsburg to Athens two days a week to complete the seven classes she lacked when she turned pro. The long drives were debilitating, but Grooms maintained her focus, encouraged constantly by Landers.

"When I came back, I felt like a foreign student," she said. "I didn't know if I could do it. While I was still playing, I didn't see a rushing need to get back to school, and Boss was always good to me as a mentor, so I knew I'd go back - it was just a matter of finding the time."

'Academics come first'

Fifty-three of the 55 Lady Bulldogs who spent four years playing under Landers have already received their diplomas. And the message most of them received from their coach is no different from the encouragement Grooms and Holland-Corn are receiving now.

"There has always been a strong emphasis on academics," said Carla (Green) Williams, who played from 1986-89 and now serves as Georgia's senior associate athletic director for student services and is Landers' boss. "Some people say it and don't back it up, but Andy would leave a player behind if they had a big exam or had to catch up on their schoolwork. It goes without saying that if you're part of the program, academics come first. It's an expectation (Landers) and the players have. He's seen so many of his players graduate - he's proud of that and so are they."

Added Adrienne Shuler (1988-1991), now an assistant coach at East Carolina: "Coming into college, you quickly realize that the academic side is just as important as being an athlete. That was evident from Day One with coach Landers and his staff. In the program, the importance of attaining education was instilled. For me, the seed of balancing athletics and academics was planted then."

The only senior on Georgia's team this season is forward Danielle Taylor, and she said she's on track to earn her degree in social work in the spring of 2010. It's likely that as long as Landers is coaching at Georgia, he'll continue to rack up the wins and he'll continue to stress academics as much as he does defense and rebounding.

"It's not as much of a pride thing as it is a happy thing," said Landers. "I'm happy for them that they got it done because I know they'll have a peace of mind about it and feel good about it."

"Boss taught me about life through basketball," Grooms said. "He always emphasized that you had to have a Plan B and that you couldn't put all your eggs in one basket. No matter what you do in life, nobody can take your college education away from you. I didn't grasp that at the time, but I sure know it now."

Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Thursday, January 15, 2009