Just mere days after moving on from former head coach Josh Pastner, Georgia Tech has found its new basketball coach and it was an unexpected choice.
According to a report from ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski and Pete Thamel, Georgia Tech is going to be hiring current Boston Celtics assistant coach Damon Stoudemire to be its next head coach.
While Stoudamire is coming from the NBA ranks, he is no stranger to being the head coach at a college program. He was the head coach of Pacific from 2016-2021 and finished with a 71-77 record as the head coach. Some will look at that head coaching record and scoff at it, but USA Today's Dan Wolken put his record into context today on Twitter:
Wolken also added that he thinks that hiring Stoudamire could be a big shift for Tech in recruiting, which is something that Georgia Tech could not get going under Pastner.
Stoudamire is a former college player as well, playing at the University of Arizona before being drafted by the Toronto Raptors. Stoudamire played in the NBA from 1995-2008.
Athletic Director J Batt has now made new hires for both football and Men's basketball and he has to be hoping that both of these hires can get both programs back to winning at a higher level.
While Pastner did win an ACC Tournament title a few seasons ago, that was the only time that Tech made the postseason under Pastner and the Yellow Jackets program has not won an NCAA Tournament game since 2010. The winning on the court and on the recruiting trail has not been there and Stoudamire will be getting to work rebuilding the program.
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