Georgia Tech moved quickly to find its new men’s basketball head coach.
According to multiple reports, the Yellow Jackets are closing in on the hire of Damon Stoudamire as their new head coach.
Stoudemire, currently a The Boston Celtics assistant had a 15-year career as an NBA point guard before making the jump to the coaching world. He served as director of player development at Rice and then as an assistant coach in the NBA Memphis Grizzlies before going back to the college level. He had two stints in Memphis and a three-year stint in Arizona, his alma mater before taking the head-coaching job at Pacific.
,FREE BRACKET COMPETITIONS FOR BOTH TOURNAMENTS , printable men , Women,
Stoudemire coached Pacific for five seasons, posting a 71–77 record, including a 23–10 mark in 2020, which earned him the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year award. Following the 2021 season, Stoudemire left Pacific to join the Celtics’ staff. Now he’s reportedly back in the college ranks as a head coach in a major conference.
USA Today first reported the expected hire.
Georgia Tech has reached the NCAA tournament once since 2010.
Stoudamire is set to replace Josh Pastner, who was fired Friday, a day after the Yellow Jackets fell to Pitt in the second round of the ACC tournament. Pastner coached the Yellow Jackets for seven seasons with an overall record of 109–113, a mark of 51–77 in ACC play.
Georgia Tech reached the NCAA Tournament once during Pastner’s tenure. That tournament berth came after GT won the ACC tournament in 2021.
This season, the Yellow Jackets finished 15–18 and 6–14 in conference games.
Georgia Tech’s trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2021 was its first since 2010. The Yellow Jackets were a mainstay in the NCAA tournament in the 1980s and early 1990s under Bobby Cremins, but have failed to maintain any level of success in subsequent years.
Georgia Tech is known to have one of the toughest jobs in the ACC. The school has high academic standards but the Atlanta area is brimming with talent. The school — namely recently hired athletic director Jay Batt — is hoping Stoudamire can tap into local resources and build out the Yellow Jackets’ hoops program.
