Sunday Q&A: Former Gophers women's basketball coach Pam Borton

Two years ago, Pam Borton was fired as Gophers women's basketball coach by then-athletic director Norwood Teague. Since that time, Borton, 50, has become a consultant, an entrepreneur and a public speaker while also writing a book scheduled for release in May titled "ON Point: A Coach's Game Plan for Life, Leadership, and Performing with Grace Under Fire." The book chronicles many behind-the-scenes moments from her time at Minnesota. In advance of its release, Borton chatted with the Star Tribune's Michael Rand.

Q After spending virtually all of your adult life as a college basketball coach, what has it been like to transition to a new phase of life?

A It's actually been reinvigorating. It's been exciting, and I can't believe how siloed I was as a coach. It's like operating with blinders on a horse. Once you get out in the business world, there's a whole different world. … I felt like everything I did for the past 27 years coaching prepared me to do what I do now.

Q Your book is advertised as a "part-memoir, part-guidebook." How would you describe it?

A It's my blood, sweat and tears from coaching 27 years of college athletics. It's very narrative-driven, with stories of successes, mishaps, lesson learned from coaching and academics and from the business world. Stories that have never been told are in that book.

Q Interesting. Are people going to be surprised by any stories specific to Minnesota?

A Yes. [laughs]

Q Anything you can share now?

A Well, I don't know about surprises. There are stories from the Final Four, the night before we beat Duke — things only the team knows that are shared now. There are stories from things that were in the media the entire time I was [at Minnesota] that now the truth is coming out. For me, working for 10 years for one athletic director [Joel Maturi] and two years for another athletic director [Teague], there are lessons learned from different cultures. But yeah, I'm pretty frank in the book.

Q The second athletic director you referenced, Norwood Teague, was the one who fired you. As you think back on that, and what has happened in the athletic department since then, what comes to mind?

A I think over the course of our lifetime, we learn things from people we want to emulate and things we wouldn't do. So being on both sides of that with two completely different bosses, it made me tougher and more wise. But being out of there, I feel blessed. I feel blessed not to be there. I feel very blessed about my time but blessed to not be there.

Q You coached many of the greatest players in Gophers women's basketball history and presided over the most successful era in program history. But your teams missed the NCAA tournament your last five seasons. How do you think your accomplishments will be remembered?

A I think everyone is going to remember what they want to remember. I'll let people judge that. I hope people remember me as a great person before they even recognize me as a coach. I want my legacy to be that I treated everyone with respect and loyalty.