Georgia Tech hiring Celtics assistant Damon Stoudamire as head coach

Georgia Tech hired Boston Celtics assistant Damon Stoudamire as the program’s next head coach, the program announced Monday. Here’s what you need to know:

Stoudamire joined the Celtics in 2021 after five seasons as head coach at Pacific.
He will replace Josh Pastner, who was fired last week after Georgia Tech finished the season 15-18 overall and 6-15 in conference play.

Please welcome the 15th head coach in Georgia Tech men’s basketball history, Damon Stoudamire‼️ https://t.co/a8zXZhuWOJ pic.twitter.com/FGdwWMKAwU

— Georgia Tech Men’s Basketball (@GTMBB) March 13, 2023

Backstory

Stoudamire, 49, could return to the collegiate coaching ranks for the first time since his five-year stint with West Coast Conference member Pacific. He compiled a 71-77 overall record with the Tigers, who failed to reach an NCAA Tournament during his tenure. The former NBA guard who played 13 seasons for the Raptors, Trail Blazers, Grizzlies and Spurs also previously served as an assistant with Memphis and Arizona.

Pastner had been with Georgia Tech for seven seasons before his firing last Friday. He finished his tenure 109-114 with one NCAA Tournament berth (in the 2020-21 season).

What they are saying

“I am humbled and honored to be the head coach at Georgia Tech,” Stoudamire said in a statement. “It is an incredible honor to be entrusted with leading such a tradition-rich program. I am excited to get to work with the goal of consistently having our team compete at the championship level that we all know we can and should compete at. I’m proud to represent Georgia Tech and can’t wait to walk out of the tunnel and onto the floor at the Thrillerdome in front of our fans. Go Jackets!”

Georgia Tech director of athletics J Batt said the program is “thrilled” to hire Stoudamire as coach.

“Coach Stoudamire’s success and credibility as a player and coach at both the collegiate and professional levels make him a great fit to lead our program,” he said. “He will serve as an outstanding mentor on and off the court and will attract talented student-athletes to The Flats. We could not be happier to welcome Coach Stoudamire to the Georgia Tech family.”

The Athletic’s instant analysis:

Why Stoudamire?

There’s some irony here in that newish Georgia Tech athletic director J Batt fired Pastner to hire one of Pastner’s former assistants at Memphis. But whereas Pastner was a solid coach, developed some players and was loved by those in the program, the major mark against him was recruiting.

The Jackets haven’t recruited well in basketball since the early years of the Paul Hewitt regime. Batt, who hired Nate Oates at Alabama, moved quickly after firing Pastner on Friday, so he apparently believes Stoudamire can make inroads in the talented recruiting base in the state of Georgia at the high school and AAU levels. It’s equally important that he has an impact with transfers, assuming Tech can beef up its NIL pool.

Stoudamire went 23-10 and 9-9, respectively, in his final two seasons at Pacific after a 39-58 start, but the ACC is a step up from the WCC and he’ll have to prove he can recruit and coach at this level. This is an important hire for Batt because it’s generally easier to build a contending basketball program faster than football, and Tech has reached the NCAA tournament just once in the last 13 years. This comes less than four months after Batt hired Brent Key as football coach. — Schultz

What this means for the Celtics

This is the third coach from the front of the Celtics bench to depart since the end of last season, after Ime Udoka was let go and associate head coach Will Hardy was poached by Utah. Stoudamire was one of Joe Mazzulla’s top assistants, as he was under Udoka, and was the substitute coach when Mazzulla had to miss two games due to an eye injury in December. Mazzulla sits between Stoudamire and assistant Ben Sullivan during games so they can advise in real time, and then also brings assistant Tony Dobbins into coaching huddles at the beginning of timeouts.

Stoudamire is a crucial part of the culture Boston has built up over the past few seasons and played a big role in earning player buy-in. The Celtics have plateaued after their hot start, ranking just eighth in net rating since the beginning of 2023. It remains to be seen whether they can turn it up another gear come playoff time, but Stoudamire would have been a big part of revving that engine. Aaron Miles and DJ MacLeay are the other remaining assistant coaches, so one of those two are likely to move up to the front of the bench with Dobbins and Sullivan the top assistants remaining. — Weiss

Required reading

(Photo: Paul Rutherford / USA Today)