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How Georgia Tech landed Damon Stoudamire as head coach

ATLANTA- Georgia Tech athletic director J Batt worked quickly after deciding to make a change in leadership with the men's basketball program hiring Boston Celtics assistant coach and former NBA star Damon Stoudamire. In less than five days, the Jackets went from Josh Pastner's season-ending to the official press conference announcing Stoudamire's hiring flanked by school president Ángel Cabrera.

Batt made it clear why the Jackets wanted to move on from Pastner in his opening statement.

"Josh is a high-quality individual that dedicated incredible amounts of effort into our program but this was about a standard of excellence for Georgia Tech. We expect to challenge for ACC Championships, and compete in NCAA tournaments. All while leaning into the incredible athletic history and academic pedigree of this great institution," Batt said. "Last Thursday evening met with Coach Pastner to talk about potential opportunities for improvement in the program. Friday morning I made the decision with President Cabrera's support that we needed to make a change for the long-term health of the program. I informed Coach Pastner of that change on Friday and began our search for a new head coach began immediately."

The Jackets made just one NCAA Tournament in seven years under Pastner and Batt who spearheaded Alabama's men's basketball hiring Nate Oats from Buffalo expects more. That turnaround led the Tide to two outright SEC Championships in 2021 and 2023 and the first #1 seed in the NCAA Tournament this year in the program's history.

"As you all know arrived in October and just like all of our programs to begin evaluating our men's basketball program, used every opportunity to observe and learn the practices traveled, watched, and went to games, as you all know, and like every athletic director builds a list for the drawer. You build a high-quality list for the drawer and you put in the drawer as something you may or may not need to use," Batt said. "For the search, I wanted to find someone with head coaching experience, significant experience in college basketball, someone who is respected and connected on all levels of basketball, someone who can recruit elite talent to Georgia Tech, someone who would be a great role model and relationship builder, and someone who would be a great fit in Atlanta. We wanted someone who embraces not only our basketball tradition but also our academic pedigree and finally, we wanted a winner, a competitor who shares our vision for what Georgia Tech basketball can be."

Batt interviewed multiple candidates over the weekend including meeting with Stoudamire while he was in town during a road trip with the Boston Celtics where he was the lead assistant for Joe Mazzulla.

Cabrera, Stoudamire and Batt pose during the press conference
Cabrera, Stoudamire and Batt pose during the press conference (Kelly Quinlan/JOL)

Stoudamire said the commitment to win from Batt and Cabrera is what sold him on taking the Tech job after leaving the coaching ranks for the NBA from Pacific in the West Coast Conference in part due to the limitations of that program. He saw something very different when looking at Georgia Tech.

"It was about the commitment," he said of why he made the decision to jump back into college basketball. "It is a shared vision in order to get the program pointed in the right direction and in our meetings I felt like I got that. When I had my prior college job at Pacific you were starting from the ground up, you don't really have a budget and you are just doing the best you can. When you have an opportunity like this, it is something to me that is totally different. We have a shared collective vision of what we see moving forward and I heard that in all of our conversations and that made me more than comfortable."

With NIL changing the landscape, Stoudamire said his experience in the NBA will help him build the program as well.

"Things definitely have changed," Stoudamire said of NIL in college sports. "I was on my way out when this started to come into play, but you could see it coming it was just a matter of time. I think it is kind of taboo in collegiate sports, but in the world that I come from it is kind of like playing with a salary cap."

Several former Yellow Jacket basketball players came out to support the new basketball coach including James Forrest, Dennis Scott, Mario West, and Roger Kaiser.

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