Darlington School is ushering in a new era for girls basketball, bringing in a new head coach with some championship playing experience in the Atlanta area.
Cairo Booker was on two state-title winning teams when she played at Wesleyan School. After that, she went on to play college basketball in South Carolina before returning to her alma mater in 2022 to begin her coaching career. After spending the 2025-26 season as Wesleyan’s interim head coach for girls basketball, she decided to make the jump over to Rome and take over the Darlington Lady Tigers.
“I grew up playing against Darlington,” said Booker to a gathering of her new players, their parents and other Darlington coaches including boys head coach Nathan West Thursday at the Huffman Athletic Center. It seems she couldn’t get away from Darlington influences, for she played at Wofford College from 2016-2020, and she had a roommate, former Lady Tiger Anna Claire Atha.
“We met each other while we were in high school,” said Booker. “We both knew we were going to Wofford. It ended up being a really sweet relationship. She is 100% bought into this place, and I was able to learn so much through her. This sounds like a place I can see myself.”
Booker played 108 games in four seasons for Wofford with 90 starts. Her top season was as a sophomore in 2017-18 when she averaged 11.1 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per game and 3.5 assists. She set a career-best in assists as a junior with 112, and both as a sophomore and a senior she had 61 steals. Booker fell 18 points shy of 1,000 for her career and four steals shy of 200.
In 2020, Booker began a two-year stint as a graduate assistant at Wingate University in North Carolina. She earned an M.A. in sports management from Wingate and a B.A in business economics from Wofford.
“For me, I love basketball,” said Booker. “I love the competitive aspect of it. I was actually better at track, but for me I just got something from basketball that you can’t get from any other sport. The competitiveness. The camaraderie. The toughness. Bringing that all together. It taught me everything about life.”
Booker’s objective, then, as a basketball coach is to bring out these intangibles from her players. She already saw a work ethic earlier Thursday when arriving at Huffman and the Van Es Arena, seeing players on the floor and learning they were her future charges.
“That excites me,” she said. “Girls I don’t have to convince to get in the gym. They want to do it. You already have the will to get better. That sets you so much further ahead. I want you to know how big of a deal that is. I plan to continue that throughout the summer.”
Booker’s summer plans include team camps and play dates out of town and strength and conditioning workouts. She said she is a proponent of the weight room and will be intentional about utilizing that to develop skills.
“I am huge on the basics,” said Booker. “We will be able to get to the fun stuff when it’s time. I want our month of June to be where we are locking in and focusing on footwork, honing in on our shots. Outside of that, we are going to have a good time.
“I’m excited. I think there’s so much potential.
“I look forward to the opportunity to work with coach Booker,” said West. “Her energy and passion for pouring into students’ lives is unmatched. Coach Booker will be a key asset not only to our girls’ basketball program, but to all girls’ athletics and the entire Darlington Community.”
This article was originally published by Matthew Brown in the Rome News-Tribune on May 19, 2026.
Photo by Matthew Brown
