Honestly not sure what to expect. He brings an NBA Pedigree as both player and coach (recently as assistant for the Boston Celtics.) Reportedly got a 5 year deal
He was selected with the 7th overall pick by the Toronto Raptors in the 1995 NBA draft and won the 1995–96 NBA Rookie of the Year Award. He was a national champion at the University of Arizona, and professionally for the Toronto Raptors, Portland Trail Blazers, Memphis Grizzlies and San Antonio Spurs. As a coach he made seven stops before this. He spent time at Pacific (71-77) as a head coach as well as being an assistant at Rice, Memphis (twice) and Arizona at the collegiate level. He also coached for Memphis and Boston in the NBA.
Going to be interesting next year to see how these coaching changes play out at Notre Dame, Syracuse and Georgia Tech.
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Also hearing Giltner is strong finalist for Wofford job.. Opportunity for MY to get a defensive minded assistant.
I have prognostications that several of our assistants could be in the running for head coaching jobs. might be more than one new assistant on the bench next year.
I suppose a good problem to have unless its MJ
Yep, he is one. I have this nightmare that he ends up at Richmond or Mason and makes our life worse on the recruitment front. Also though, having former assistants picking up head coaching experience makes for some viable options post CMY.
I've always thought GT is a sleeper in basketball. ACC school smack in the middle of Atlanta. The right guy could win big IMO.
Too bad they continue to hire the wrong guy.
Good for Mighty Mouse.
As long as he doesn't beat us, I wish him success.
Seems like a gamble for Georgia Tech. They haven't been good since the early 2000s. I would be weary of hiring an NBA assistant after the Patrick Ewing experience at Georgetown. ACC basketball is starting to trend in the wrong direction and it starts with the coaching hires. The hires at Syracuse and Georgia Tech are not strengthening the conference.
They won the ACC in 2021 (in a very similar fashion to our 2022 title), but I get it; it's been inconsistent at best for them.
Meh, it's working well for Mike Woodson, no? Every situation is different IMO. Interesting piece on former NBA players who are coaching in college now.
I don't know if you can bucket Syracuse and GT together... Syracuse and Duke are replacing THE GUY who built their program. Promoting a former player from within feels a bit... incestuous? small time? lazy? Jim-Weaver-esk? It just feels like something that shouldn't be done in modern day college athletics.
I think GT hiring a (relatively) young black man with NBA experience is high floor/high ceiling hire. If he can effectively execute the Geoff Collins plan (which, I think was a great plan, just poorly executed), I see no reason why GT can't recruit well in basketball and be good.
Syracuse has had his replacement on staff for what 6 years? They haven't dominated the ACC, but they also haven't been cellar dwellers.
Time will tell but If I were a Georgia Tech fan I would much rather have hired Pat Kelsey.
Yeah if they could have got Kelsey in ATL that makes way more sense.
The difference between Ewing (and other NBA guys) and Stoudamire is Stoudamire has been a HC in college before. He did fairly well at Pacific. It's a bit of gamble but its not some others where he's a complete unknown. I like the hire for GT. But their issues go beyond whoever they get as coach. Their athletic department and school have been at odds for awhile about where to allocate funds with academics winning out up until recently. Also doesn't help that class requirements for students limited what athletes they can take. But I get the sense with the new AD they've brought in that they are looking to be more competitive in sports again.
Thing is for basketball you can compete with less money. You don't need 5 All Americans to make the sweet 16.