Georgia Tech has hired former NBA star and ex-Pacific head coach Damon Stoudamire, who has been an assistant coach with the Boston Celtics.
Stoudamire went 71-77 at Pacific with a 23-10 season coming in his fourth year. He decided to join former Celtics coach Ime Udoka with the Boston Celtics and they made the NBA Finals last year. I don’t think Udoka and Stoudamire were ever NBA teammates, but they are both from Portland growing up, with Stoudamire older.
Stoudamire will also know everything good and bad about Georgia Tech I’d imagine. He and Pastner didn’t overlap at Arizona as players, but obviously have that long connection. Most importantly, Stoudamire was Pastner’s assistant coach at Memphis from 2011-13 and in 2015-16.
People I trust like Stoudamire. He's not the typical NBA background hire because he's grinded as an assistant coach between Memphis and Arizona, and he's seen how hard it is at a place like Pacific. Sure, he probably has gazillions in the bank, but he must really like coaching. Now, that said, as I have said many times before, Georgia Tech from the top down has to figure out if it wants to win at basketball like the old days. That means figuring out NIL issues and what players can get into the school academically. We all know it shouldn't be that hard to find three Georgia kids that can really hoop per year with all the talent in that state, but they have struggled on the trail.
Stoudamire went 71-77 at Pacific with a 23-10 season coming in his fourth year. He decided to join former Celtics coach Ime Udoka with the Boston Celtics and they made the NBA Finals last year. I don’t think Udoka and Stoudamire were ever NBA teammates, but they are both from Portland growing up, with Stoudamire older.
Stoudamire will also know everything good and bad about Georgia Tech I’d imagine. He and Pastner didn’t overlap at Arizona as players, but obviously have that long connection. Most importantly, Stoudamire was Pastner’s assistant coach at Memphis from 2011-13 and in 2015-16.
People I trust like Stoudamire. He's not the typical NBA background hire because he's grinded as an assistant coach between Memphis and Arizona, and he's seen how hard it is at a place like Pacific. Sure, he probably has gazillions in the bank, but he must really like coaching. Now, that said, as I have said many times before, Georgia Tech from the top down has to figure out if it wants to win at basketball like the old days. That means figuring out NIL issues and what players can get into the school academically. We all know it shouldn't be that hard to find three Georgia kids that can really hoop per year with all the talent in that state, but they have struggled on the trail.
