Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 12 No. 3 | January 2020

Harrisonburg, but she became too good. A 5-star recruit out of L.C. Bird High School, she went to Louisville as part of the Cardinals’ No. 1-ranked recruiting class in the country in 2014. Things didn’t work out in Louisville, so she decided to transfer following her freshman season, but instead of joining Brooks in Blacksburg, she went to Georgia. “I’ve been on to Coach Brooks since I was about 13 or 14 years old,” Cole said. “I let him down a couple of times in the process, but finally hooked up when it matters the most—the last go-round. Our relationship … it looks so well on the court because of our relationship off the court. Sometimes, he’ll come home from work, and I’m at his house just chillin’. I’m over there a lot. We’re texting a lot. We just have a bond. I call him my dad.” Cole admitted that she enjoyed her time at Georgia. She led the Bulldogs to the NCAA Tournament last season, and she led the SEC in both total assists (202) and assists per game (7.0). But after graduating with a degree in communications studies, she started pondering her future. Of course, every basketball player wants to play at the professional level, and Cole is no different. Yet she knew she needed a plan for when the horn sounded at the end of her basketball career. Not surprisingly, she turned to fashion. She loves making clothes whenever she returns home to Richmond, and she has invested heavily into that, purchasing equipment like a press machine, an embroidering machine, and computer software. She ultimately decided that she needed a master’s degree in a field that relates to fashion. “When I decided to get my master’s, I realized Georgia didn’t have the degree program that I wanted to take my master’s in and the fashion design classes that I wanted to take and the mentors that I wanted to I’ve been on to Coach Brooks since I was about 13 or 14 years old. I let him down a couple of times in the process, but finally hooked up when it matters the most – the last go-round. Our relationship … it looks so well on the court because of our relationship off the court. Sometimes, he’ll come home from work, and I’m at his house just chillin’. I’m over there a lot. We’re texting a lot. We just have a bond. I call him my dad. Taja Cole on playing for Tech head coach Kenny Brooks. surround myself with,” Cole said. “They just didn’t have everything that I wanted my final year. I feel like, when you get your master’s, that’s something that should be all about you. Your last year of college, it should be what are you going to do with your future and what steps are you going to take to make sure you get there.” Cole decided to transfer, and when Brooks caught wind of that, he was determined to get her. Two things worked in Tech’s favor. The university offers an undergraduate degree in fashion merchandising and design, which offered Cole the opportunity to take fashion courses while pursuing a master’s from the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Plus, Tech assistant coach Britney Anderson graduated from Virginia Tech in 2007 with a degree in apparel design and merchandise management, and she could offer Cole guidance on courses and potential mentors. Cole looked around—mostly at schools in big cities which offered opportunities in fashion. But when factoring in everything, she decided that Blacksburg gave her the best option. “Coming here was the right decision,” she said. “I guess you could say geographically, academically taking the things I want to take, and athletically, it’s going really well. I’ve got a great relationship with Coach. I’ve known him since I was 13. I think this team is a point guard’s dream. I have shooters. I have height. We’ve got people that are willing to do the little things. We’ve got great people, so for me, this is exactly what I wanted. “It was definitely tough leaving. I was a starting point guard. My teammates weren’t too happy. Of course, the coaching staff wasn’t. But there just comes a point in life when you have to do what’s best for you.” So far, the move has been perfect for Cole. She is pursuing a master’s degree in packaging systems and design, and she has established a group of mentors to help her toward her career goals. One of them is former Tech tailback Kevin Jones, who owns his own “ inside.hokiesports.com 31 Continued on page 32 women’s basketball spotlight taja cole