While Pitt ruffled feathers with their hire of Kevin Stallings, they got their man rather quickly. For Georgia Tech, it seems like the process is dragging out a bit more. So, what's the latest on the Georgia Tech coaching search?
Update #2: Gary Parrish of CBS is reporting Pastner to Georgia Tech is a done deal...
Updated story: Josh Pastner has agreed to be Georgia Tech’s next coach, a source told @CBSSports. STORY: https://t.co/pwAxt7ZNHB
— Gary Parrish (@GaryParrishCBS) April 8, 2016
Update: Jeff Goodman is reporting that Pastner to Georgia Tech could go down today...
Georgia Tech is targeting Memphis’ Josh Pastner, and the deal could be done today, sources told ESPN: https://t.co/L1mSdN9yUv
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) April 8, 2016
Original Article
According the AJC, don't expect a big fish to come to the Yellow Jackets. Rumors had it that Jeff Capel (Duke) and Cuanzo Martin (Cal) were targeted by the Yellow Jackets, but neither were interested. Instead the AJC has a couple guys from the mid-major level they might consider...
Pat Kelsey, Winthrop
I’ve mentioned Pat Kelsey of Winthrop has been named as a potential candidate. The Eagles tied for the regular-season championship of the Big South this past season and led the conference in effective field-goal percentage. As noted previously, he was associate head coach at Xavier for two seasons and knows Bobinski well from their time together there. I think he could be a candidate, but I don’t believe Tech is zeroing in on him.
Matt McCall, Chattanooga
Another name to consider is Matt McCall at Chattanooga. He has only been at Chattanooga for one season, his first head-coaching job, and is but 34 years old. That said, he has a commendable background, assisting Billy Donovan for four seasons at Florida, during which time the Gators won 26 or more games three times, twice reaching the elite 8 and the Final Four once. This season, Chattanooga beat Georgia, Illinois and Dayton, won a school-record 29 games, won the Southern Conference regular-season and tournament titles. If he keeps it up, which wouldn’t be easy, he’ll be the next hot name.
The latest news has Georgia Tech going after Josh Pastner of Memphis. Pastner has been in some warm, if not hot, water with Memphis fans, so a move might not be out of the question. DukeBasketballReport.com does a nice job summing up the rising tensions around Pastner at Memphis.
Georgia Tech is coming off of a 20 win season under Brian Gregory. In one light, it shows a new coach that you're able to win there. Of course, it also shows there may be some unreasonable expectations around the program.
AD Mike Bobinski should be zeroing in on his guy soon, or at least by his projections he should.
Bobinski had projected a timeline of a seven to 14 days at the news conference March 26 when he answered questions regareding Brian Gregory’s dismissal, and Friday will be the 14th full day of the search. Other known candidates included Valparaiso coach Bryce Drew (now at Vanderbilt), Duke assistant coach Jeff Capel, Boston Celtics assistant coach Jay Larranaga, Harvard coach Tommy Amaker and Butler coach Chris Holtmann.
Stay tuned, this could get interesting.
