University of Georgia Athletics
Quick Chat: Katie Abrahamson-Henderson
July 18, 2022 | Women's Basketball, The Frierson Files
By John Frierson
Staff Writer
The last time Katie Abrahamson-Henderson lived in Athens, back in the mid-1980s, the food options in town were nothing compared to the high-quality and sometimes high-end cuisine found in abundance in 2022.
The food is just one of the many things different this time around for Abrahamson-Henderson, who prefers "Coach ABE" and who on March 26 became the Georgia women's basketball head coach. Coach ABE played her first two collegiate seasons for the Lady Bulldogs, learning under Hall of Famer Andy Landers and playing alongside two Hall of Famers in Teresa Edwards and Katrina McClain.
Coach ABE went home to Iowa for her final two years of college before jumping into a coaching career that has been successful at every stop. She came back to Athens after five years at UCF in Orlando, where her teams went 131-49 and this March they produced the program's highest ever NCAA tournament seed, No. 7, and UCF's first NCAA tourney victory.
Now, after more than 35 years away, Coach ABE is back. She's getting to know her new team, which includes several returning players and numerous transfers, including several from UCF. Georgia will also have several freshmen this season, including Savannah Henderson, daughter of Coach ABE and her husband, Michael, a former Harlem Globetrotter who now is a Division I women's basketball official. And no, he's not allowed to work Georgia games.
During a recent Quick Chat, Coach ABE talked about being back in Athens, playing alongside two stars and Olympians in Edwards and McClain, recruiting and coaching her daughter, and much more. Here's some of what she had to say:
Frierson: Athens is a very different place from when you last lived here, in the 1980s, so what is it like being back in town?
Coach ABE: You assume I've been here — we've been recruiting. April, May, June was kind of a down time, and now July, it's like back-and-forth, back-and-forth.
What I notice them most is the restaurants, there are a lot of good restaurants here. I was 18, I don't remember half the stuff back then, but now, the restaurants, there are a lot of really cool not-chain restaurants. We love that — we found some really good Italian places, we found some Thai places, we found some really cool soul food places. There are a lot of really cool places to eat.
Frierson: Is there one that's become your favorite?
Coach ABE: No, because I'll get in trouble [laughs]. They're all good; everyone's good.
We're kind of boujee, our coaches, and we like to eat at boujee places — boujee meaning sophisticated, like nice, very good restaurants. Obviously, some of them are a little bit more expensive, but (assistant coach) Nykesha Sales, she's the foodie and she always finds the really good places to eat and dine. She always finds the best places to eat.
Frierson: When you think back to your days as a Georgia player, is there one moment that stands out above the rest?
Coach ABE: There are two things. The first thing is, Teresa Edwards — well, there's two things with Teresa Edwards. When I came in as a freshman I was a hotshot, I thought I was really good. I played the 4 and 5 in high school, clearly, and Andy Landers wanted me to play the 3. I was running in transition and she's coming down, she comes to the foul like, jump-stopping, looks over there and throws it to me. And it bounces off my hands.
She was like, "Yo, freshman, you better catch my passes." And I'm like, "OK." After that, I came down and I think I missed it again, and she gave me a look. The next time, she started throwing it at my face. I'm like, "I'm catching it!" And she's like, "You better catch it."
The second thing is, Andy made me play denial defense against the whole team, because I guess my defense stunk when I was a freshman. I could deny and get backdoor and deny and get backdoor, and here comes Teresa Edwards, and I can't get her, I can't do it, and she's scoring. Andy's like, "You can't guard her?" In my head, and I should have never said it, I'm like, "It's Teresa Edwards! She's the best player in the world, of course I can't guard her."
And then I remember Katrina McClain running the wing and catching it. I could throw that thing anywhere, and she'd catch it. Her hands, her agility and the way she'd catch the ball and finish, I loved it.
Frierson: Being a really good coach in 2022, is that different from being a really good coach when you were playing for Andy? It just seems like there are so many more parts to the job now beyond coaching the players on the court.
Coach ABE: Media, that's a little bit more. I think now with the (transfer) portal, it's shifted us all. For me and my staff, we have never had a lot of people transfer. The way we run our program is, family first, academics second and then basketball. They love us and they love my staff. Now, with the portal, in terms of recruiting younger players, if we don't get a freshman, someone we want in those classes, we just go into the portal — and that's a whole different thing.
It's different; it's good, it helped us out this year big time, getting some high-level kids. It really helped us, and I can't imagine coming in here and there was no portal. I think that really is the difference in college athletics right now.
Frierson: When you sign your daughter, do you have to give some thought to how you're going to coach her? Or do you intentionally not think about it because you can't treat her any different from the other players?
Coach ABE: Well, I'm different, because I'm a different person on and off the court. Honestly, when Savannah decided to come UCF (before following her mom to Georgia), we went through the whole recruiting process. This was COVID time, so we did a home visit, and I went in the other room and my husband and her were in another room, and my coaches were at their houses, and we did a (virtual) home visit presentation.
She met with some of the administrators at UCF on that and she actually called me in one day and said she wanted to commit. I was like, "Oh, my God!" because she had a bunch of people recruiting her. She made a decision because of all the right reasons, and I was supportive, I was the mom at that time. I was like, "I want you to be happy. I don't want you to play for me because you feel pressure to play for me." My whole staff has been with me for years and that's her family, too.
Frierson: What do you do to get away from basketball and give your mind a break?
Coach ABE: I work out, I spend time with my kids — we'll go to movies, we'll go shopping. I spend time with my husband — we'll go to dinner, we were playing golf a lot where I was and now I've got to figure out where the golf stuff is. I think my clubs are back in Orlando. We do just typical, normal hangout stuff.
The big thing for me is to work out. I came in today and I was exhausted, so I was like, I've got to go work out. It helps me, mentally.
(This Q&A was lightly edited for length and clarity.)
Assistant Sports Communications Director John Frierson is the staff writer for the UGA Athletic Association and curator of the ITA Men's Tennis Hall of Fame. You can find his work at: Frierson Files. He's also on Twitter: @FriersonFiles and @ITAHallofFame.
