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Georgia Tech finalizing deal to make Damon Stoudamire their next head coach

Alex Weberby:Alex Weber•03/13/23
damon stoudamire
(Photo by Matt Stone/MediaNews Group/Boston Herald via Getty Images)

After seven seasons and just one NCAA Tournament appearance at the helm of the Georgia Tech basketball program, head coach Josh Pastner was let go as the Yellow Jackets finished below .500 for the second straight season. According to Pete Thamel and Adrian Wojnarowski, Georgia Tech has already found their next coach: current Boston Celtics assistant Damon Stoudamire.

Here was Woj’s initial report:

“ESPN reporting with @PeteThamel: Boston Celtics assistant Damon Stoudamire is finalizing a deal to become Georgia Tech’s head coach. Stoudamire has informed the Celtics that he’s accepting job and making the leap to the ACC.”

Thamel added that the deal is expected to be five years.

After the recent success of other former NBA guards like Jerry Stackhouse (who just had his best season yet at Vanderbilt) and Penny Hardaway (just earned his highest seed yet at Memphis after winning the AAC Tournament), GT went the same route as those schools and is poised to ink Stoudamire to coach the Jackets.

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If nothing else, Stoudamire brings excitement. And unlike Stackhouse or Hardaway, there’s real coaching experience to boot — more importantly, head coaching experience at the college level. Some may not know but Stoudamire actually coached Pacific University in the WCC just a few years ago and had that program in a much better spot when he left than when he took over.

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In five years at the helm for Pacific, he turned them into a winning program and even nabbed WCC Coach of the Year honors in 2020 and was also given the Ben Jobe Award — which annually honors the top minority coach in Division 1 ball. High honors for a guy at a school as small as Pacific.

With a successful five-year stint of college coaching under his belt along with some NBA experience as an assistant for one of the league’s top teams, Stoudamire is a coaching hire whose panache is exceeded by his pedigree. This is no starry shot on the dart board if GT makes the move. It’s just a good hire.