Report: Georgia makes final decision on Tom Crean

Following a report that head coach Tom Crean was “likely” to be fired by Georgia, the university appears to have made that decision Thursday, according to a report from Seth Emerson, who said that Crean is now officially “out” as head basketball coach.

In the time between the first and second reports, Georgia played one game — a first-round SEC Tournament game against Vanderbilt — and Crean’s Bulldogs were blown out by a 86-51 final. Georgia shot 29.8 percent from the field (14-for-47) in Crean’s last game, while making just 11.8 percent of its three-point shot attempts (2-for-17).

Formerly the head coach at Indiana and Marquette, Crean had the worst win percentage of his career while in Athens — despite recruiting and developing a first-overall NBA Draft selection in Anthony Edwards. Crean went 47-74 in four years at Georgia, amassing a .388 win percentage, along with a 15-57 record in SEC play. Georgia finished no better than 10th in the SEC in Crean’s four-year tenure, and the Bulldogs never made it to the NCAA Tournament. Georgia finished the 2021-22 regular season with a 6-25 record (1-17 in conference play), not including an additional SEC loss in the SEC Tournament, placing the Bulldogs 14th in the SEC.

Georgia’s 6-26 record, including the postseason loss, is good for the third-worst winning percentage in program history (.188). Crean’s win percentage only beat two Georgia teams from the 1950’s.

Hired ahead of the 2018-19 season to replace Mark Fox, Crean’s Georgia tenure went poorly, but he still has a winning record in his 22 seasons as a head coach. Crean has 403-305 record in his career (.569 win percentage), including a .551 win percentage in nine seasons at Indiana and a .664 win percentage in nine seasons at Marquette.

Crean coached at Marquette from 1999-2008 and made the NCAA Tournament in five of his nine seasons at the helm. In 2002-03, with some help from eventual Hall of Fame guard Dwayne Wade, Marquette made it all the way to the NCAA Tournament’s Final Four. Then, in nine seasons at the helm of Indiana, Crean made the NCAA Tournament four times and won the regular-season Big Ten title twice.

Crean was named the Big Ten Coach of the Year in 2015-16, just one season before he was fired by the Indiana Hoosiers. He’s coached three Consensus All-Americans in his career, but none came at Georgia: Victor Oladipo (2013, Indiana), Cody Zeller (2013, Indiana) and Wade (2003, Marquette).

A graduate of Central Michigan, Crean has served as an assistant coach at several schools in addition to his three head-coaching jobs, including Michigan State (1995-99), Pittsburgh (1994-95), Western Kentucky (1990-94), Michigan State (1989=90) and Alma (1987-89).