Breaking: Josh Brewer out as Georgia women’s golf coach as search for replacement….

After 12 seasons leading Georgia’s women’s golf program, Josh Brewer is out as the Bulldogs’ head coach. The announcement was made Thursday by Georgia’s director of athletics, Josh Brooks.

“I sincerely thank Josh Brewer for his 12 years leading our women’s golf team,” Brooks said in a statement. “We feel it is in the best interest of our program to move in a different direction. We wish Josh all the best and appreciate the time he has spent here at the University of Georgia.”

During his tenure, Brewer guided Georgia to 10 NCAA regional appearances and four trips to the NCAA Championship. In 2022, the Bulldogs advanced to match play at the NCAA Championship for the first time. Of Georgia’s 16 tournament wins under Brewer, three were NCAA regional titles.

Earlier this week, the Bulldogs failed to qualify for nationals, finishing sixth at the NCAA Auburn Regional.

Georgia said a search for Brewer’s replacement will begin immediately.

On Friday, 20 years after an unpleasant ending to her Georgia women’s basketball career, Kara Braxton-Jackson will put a big, satisfying bow on her University of Georgia experience when she graduates.

“It has always been a goal of mine to come back and finish school, and finish what I started,” Braxton-Jackson said Wednesday. “It’s a very exciting time for me right now.”

There were tremendous highs to Braxton-Jackson’s three years with the Lady Bulldogs — and tremendous lows. She was enigmatic and electric, she was challenging and charming, and when she was on the floor and engaged, she was a 6-foot-6 standout who could run and move like few players her size. She averaged 15.4 points and 7.3 rebounds a game over her three seasons.

Braxton-Jackson earned every bit of her SEC Freshman of the Year and first-team All-SEC honors after the 2001-02 season, when she led Georgia in scoring (16.3 points per game), rebounding (6.8), blocks (2.0) and steals (1.8). She also, unfortunately, earned her dismissal from the team in February 2004, having run afoul of then-coach Andy Landers’ team rules too many times as a sophomore and junior.

“I loved the kid,” Landers said Wednesday, and he’s never been more proud of her than he is this week.

“I think it says a lot about Kara to understand and appreciate the importance of her education and her degree — for herself but also as a parent,” he said, adding, “It makes me feel good to know that she’s come back and finished what she started.”

Admittedly young and immature during her Georgia days, Braxton-Jackson had to grow up quickly, for multiple reasons. She went on to a long professional career that included winning two WNBA titles and starting one All-Star game while playing with the Detroit Shock, all after giving birth to her first child, Jelani, who is now a tight end at Ohio State. (His father is former Georgia and NFL linebacker Odell Thurman.)

The seventh overall pick by the Detroit Shock in the 2005 WNBA draft, Braxton-Jackson spent five seasons with the Shock — at times playing alongside former Lady Bulldog greats Sherill Baker, Tasha Humphrey and Deanna Nolan — before playing for several other teams over her 10-year WNBA career. She was an East All-Star starter in 2007, and in 297 career games, with 120 starts, she averaged 7.6 points and 4.7 rebounds a game.

Braxton-Jackson also played abroad for many years, retiring from basketball in 2019. She won a pair of Polish league championships and in 2010 was the Chinese league MVP while leading her team to a championship.

After retiring, she spent several years working for Nike in Oregon, before deciding to move back to the Atlanta area. Along with Jelani, Braxton-Jackson and her husband, Jarvis, have a 4-year-old son, Jream (sounds like Dream). When Jelani enrolled at Ohio State, Braxton-Jackson re-enrolled at UGA.

“When he landed at Ohio State, I just said, it’s my turn,” she said. “I got him out the door, got him where he needed to be, so let me go ahead and finish what I wanted to finish. I enrolled at the same time Jelani enrolled, and here I am.”

She had been in touch with Landers and members of the UGA athletic department over the years, particularly Senior Associate Athletic Director Glada Horvat, who is in charge of academics and eligibility and often works closely with former student-athletes who want to come back to finish school. Braxton-Jackson and Landers both gave Horvat a ton of credit for turning Braxton-Jackson’s initial interest in returning to school into a reality.

“Make no mistake, Glada was the driving force and the go-to person that helped Kara navigate school 20 years later,” Landers said.

With Horvat’s help, a plan and a path toward graduation was created. Braxton-Jackson and her family live in the Atlanta area, and she would make the drive to campus on Tuesdays and Thursdays for long days of classes.

In January 2023, about 19 years after her last class, Braxton-Jackson was back in school. She arrived with pens and notebooks in hand, while everyone around her had their laptops and tablets out.

“That was an eye-opener,” she said with a laugh. “It was like, OK, things are very different from 20 years ago.”

In time, Braxton-Jackson settled in, hit her stride, and is now, indeed, finishing what she started. She’s not certain what’s next for her professionally, maybe something on the player-development side of sports. She’s experienced a bit of everything in basketball and has a lot of wisdom to pass along.

“I think that I come with a different perspective, and I’ve been there and I’ve done it. Nothing I’m telling you is fake,” she said. “It’s raw and it’s real and it’s me.”