Octavia Blue (born April 18, 1976) is an American former

women's basketball Women's basketball is the team sport of basketball played by women. It began being played in 1892, one year after men's basketball, at Smith College in Massachusetts. It spread across the United States, in large part via women's college compet ...

player with the

Los Angeles Sparks The Los Angeles Sparks (LA Sparks) are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Sparks compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The team was foun ...

and

Houston Comets The Houston Comets were a Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) team based in Houston. Formed in 1997, the team was one of the original eight WNBA teams and won the first four championships of the league's existence. They are one of two ...

of the

Women's National Basketball Association The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) is an American professional basketball league. It is composed of twelve teams, all based in the United States. The league was founded on April 22, 1996, as the women's counterpart to the Natio ...

(WNBA). She played during the 1998, 2003 and 2004 seasons. She is currently the head coach for the

Kennesaw State Owls women's basketball The Kennesaw State Owls women's basketball team represents Kennesaw State University in the sport of College basketball. They are a mid-major team in the NCAA Division I, and compete in the ASUN Conference. The Owls host their opponents at the K ...

team.

Coaching career

Blues first foray into coaching was as an assistant coach at St. John's in 2008. she was responsible, among other things for development of post players, and St. John's Dashena Stevens earned the award as the Big East rookie of the year in 2008–09. She remained there for one season before taking a position as an assistant at

Georgia Tech The Georgia Institute of Technology, commonly referred to as Georgia Tech or, in the state of Georgia, as Tech or The Institute, is a public research university and institute of technology in Atlanta, Georgia. Established in 1885, it is part of ...

. After three years at Georgia Tech

Katie Meier Katie Meier (born December 19, 1967) is head coach of the women's basketball team at the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida. She is a 1990 graduate of Duke University, where she played college basketball. As of 2022, Meier has the mo ...

, called and offered her a position as an assistant coach at Miami. Working primarily with the post players, Blue has coached eight players to 10 total All-ACC recognition in her eight seasons at Miami, including six first-team accolades and two All-ACC Defensive Team honors. Over the last two seasons, the Miami alum worked closely with 2020 graduate Beatrice Mompremier, who earned AP and WBCA All-America recognition in back-to-back seasons. Mompremier was a finalist for the Lisa Leslie Center of the Year Award in both 2019 and 2020 and was tabbed ACC Preseason Player of the Year ahead of the 2019-20 campaign. During Blue's nine -year stint at Miami, five players have signed WNBA contracts, including Mompremier, who was selected 20th overall in the 2020 WNBA Draft by the Los Angeles Sparks. In total, 14 Hurricanes who have benefited from Blue's tutelage have gone on to play professionally. She received a promotion to associate head coach in the fall of 2020. In April 2021, she was named the head coach of Kennesaw State.

Playing career

During her collegiate career, she played for Miami amassing 1,724 points on the court during 1994–98. Afterward, she went on to play professional basketball and was selected 15th by the Los Angeles Sparks in the 1998 WNBA Draft, becoming Miami's 1st WNBA draft pick.

References

1976 births Living people American women's basketball coaches American women's basketball players Basketball coaches from Florida Basketball players from Florida Forwards (basketball) Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets women's basketball coaches Houston Comets players Los Angeles Sparks draft picks Los Angeles Sparks players Miami Hurricanes women's basketball players Kennesaw State Owls women's basketball coaches {{US-women-basketball-bio-stub