Vanessa Blair begins her fourth season as Head Coach of the Bethune-Cookman University women's basketball team, bringing success as both a player and coach to the Lady Wildcat program.

In her second season at B-CU in 2009-10, Blair was named Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference Coach of the Year after leading B-CU to a 15-14 mark (including a 9-7 league record and 8-1 at home) that represented both the Lady Wildcats' first winning campaign in eight seasons and highest win total since 1998. The turnaround was little surprise. In her stop at Mount St. Mary's before B-CU, Blair earned Northeast Conference (NEC) Coach of the Year in her debut season. Additionally, she earned NEC Player of the Year twice, as a post player at MSM.

"Vanessa Blair represents the total package," said B-CU Athletic Director Lynn W. Thompson at her appointment, "She is a former outstanding student-athlete, professional player and highly-experienced Division I coach from a private, church-related university. We expect her to flourish in leading our program with these great qualities."

With over a decade of playing and coaching in the Northeast Conference (NEC), Blair emerged as one of the most notable figures in NEC women's basketball history. Blair led Mount St. Mary's to a 21-7 record and NEC regular season championship in her inaugural season in 1997-98, and the subsequent Coach of the Year honor made her the first and still the only person named both Player of the Year and Coach of the Year.

The awards continued later that year as she was one of three Mountaineers to make the six-member NEC Team of the Decade and eventually Player of the Decade. In 2003, Mount St. Mary's honored her again by inducting her into the Mount's Sports Hall of Fame. Blair was also named to the Mount St. Mary's women's basketball "30th Anniversary Team" on Feb. 19, 2005.

In her 9 years as a head coach in the NEC, Blair moved up the record charts much like she did as a player. She ranks eighth for career conference regular season wins by a head coach; the third most by any active head coach in the league (87), and a .596 overall conference winning percentage.

In a 77-59 win against Morgan State on Dec. 30, 2005, she picked up her 100th career victory. Blair has coached numerous players to conference recognition, most recently two Lady Wildcats named All-MEAC second team, one on the All-Tournament Team, and another on the MEAC All-Rookie team. Additional she coached two NEC Players of the Year, two Defensive Players Of The Year, a Rookie of the Year, four All-NEC first-team selections and three All-NEC second-team selections. She played with or coached 17 of the program's 21 1,000-point scorers.

Blair's vast knowledge of the game and determination to develop programs that excel both on the court and in the classroom is seen in awards both athletically and academically for her teams at both institutions. Recently she has had several Lady Wildcats named to the MEAC All-Academic Commissioner's Team each year, and in the 2001-02 season, the Mount women's basketball team was named one of the top-25 schools for academic excellence by the Women's Basketball Coaches Association, earning 16th place for Division I schools. As a player, Blair set the school's game, season and career records in blocked shots. She ranks sixth all-time in scoring and third in rebounds and holds the record for free throws attempted in a season. She currently is the only Mountaineer to hold triple digit career marks in five different categories. She was named NEC Player of the Year in 1991 and 1992.

After college, Blair played two years of professional basketball in Sweden. Blair played on the Pro Basketball Club, a first division team based in the city of Orebro, before a knee injury cut her career short. She returned home to the United States, where she assisted her father at Largo (Md.) High School and coached at the AAU youth level. Blair returned to her alma mater as an assistant in 1996.

Blair's knowledge of the game has carried over to the broadcast field. She serves as the color analyst alongside Mike Johnson on radio coverage of the Bethune-Cookman University men's team, making her one of the few collegiate coaches to hold both duties during the course of the regular season.