It's been a whirlwind for Texas A&M coach Gary Blair since he guided the Aggies to their first women's basketball national championship in April.
Interviews, speaking engagements, a coveted trip to Disney World, and finally a visit to the White House.
''It definitely has been busy,'' the coach said at the Jimmy V dinner in New York in early October. ''That's what happens when you win a national championship.''
The 65-year-old became the oldest women's basketball coach to win a title when his Aggies defeated Notre Dame 76-70 in the national championship game. One thing that he didn't really have time to do was reflect on last season.
''You feel good about your accomplishments, but soon as you sit back and reflect on it, somebody's going to kick you in the butt and pass you by,'' Blair said.
The trip to the White House was the definite highlight of the offseason. Not just because his Aggies got to meet President Barack Obama, but also because Blair was able to have his family there - including 7-year old grandson Logan.
After the president was done with the ceremony he shook hands with the children in attendance for a sports clinic - Logan was among them. As Obama was shaking Logan's hand, Blair informed the president that his grandson's teachers had requested a note if they were going to excuse him from school.
Obama obliged, signaling to an aid to bring over a piece of paper.
''This is to excuse Logan ... He was meeting with me!'' the president wrote.
Blair said that he gave a copy of the note to the school, but kept the original for the family.
''That's definitely staying with us,'' he said.
Now Blair has to figure out what he can do for an encore.
''Logan's already asking about next year,'' the coach said smiling. ''I mean he got to go to Disney World and meet the president.''
The Aggies are ranked No. 6 in the preseason poll released by The Associated Press on Saturday and will have a huge target on them as the defending national champions. Texas A&M graduated stars Danielle Adams and Sydney Colson, who are playing in the WNBA. Yet the Aggies still have Tyra White, Sydney Carter and Adaora Elanu.
''We're looking forward to defending the national championship,'' Blair said. ''You don't talk about winning another one until you defend it the way a champion should.''
The team will have an added bulls-eye in Big 12 conference play because of the school's decision to leave for the SEC after the season. The other Big 12 teams aren't happy about the Aggies' departure, making that sentiment clear at the conference's media day on Oct. 19. None of the coaches plans to play Texas A&M after this season.
The biggest opposition came from Baylor coach Kim Mulkey. The two teams met four times last season, becoming one of the top rivalries in women's basketball. The Lady Bears won the first three before falling to the Aggies in the NCAA tournament regional final in front of 11,500 fans.
Mulkey wasn't happy with the comments Texas A&M President R. Bowen Loftin made likening the Aggies' departure to a divorce.
She pulled no punches, noting she's had personal experience with the breakup of a marriage.
''My feeling is this,'' Mulkey said. ''If a man wants to divorce me and says our relationship has no value to him, and then he asks me if he can sleep with me, the answer is, `No!'''
Other coaches simply said they saw no reason to schedule the Aggies.
''We already have a series with Tennessee, so why would we want or need to schedule another SEC school,'' Texas coach Gail Goestenkors said.
Blair was disappointed by the response of his fellow coaches.
''Last year, everybody loved us. This year, now everybody says we're the villain,'' he said. ''But I'm not going to get into that because it's all about football. It has nothing to do with women's basketball, equestrian or anything else. It's about football. It's about television sets. It's about money and it's about egos.''
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Follow Doug Feinberg at http://twitter.com/dougfeinberg.
