I've been piecing things together all weekend while I was in Nashville covering the SEC Tournament ironically with J Batt's last basketball hire Nate Oats.
WHY WAS PASTNER FIRED?
So as I said from the jump months ago it was not an easy call to fire Josh or keep him. He was squarely in the middle, but from talking to all of my sources what really did him in was the lack of fan interest and the death spiral with attendance and butts in seats. Had he made more of a run that maybe GT could've sold in Greensboro he had a chance of surviving, but he was really on thin ice and my sources say J Batt was pretty sure about what he wanted to do during the 9-game skid when things went so far sideways.
The decision was not easy as Batt and his staff knew that Pastner didn't have the tools to compete in the ACC from the previous regime, but it was a business decision and a clear indication of how Batt will run GT with a financial/business mind rather than just the old GT way.
I've talked to Josh, he is the eternal optimist so this blindsided him, but he will be okay and he needs to sit out a year and get healthy. The last two years really drained him.
ON TO THE SEARCH
Out of the box, there were three candidates I was told GT was serious about, Pat Kelsey (CoC), Bob Richey (Furman), and Amir Abdul-Rahim (KSU). All three are in the NCAA Tournament. I was told by another source that was a desire also to explore minority candidates as well beyond just Abdul-Rahim and Batt also started reaching out to additional names and had interesting people call and inquire about the job.
One source told me that Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse made the call to Batt suggestion Damon Stoudamire. Whether that is where it started, I have no idea.
I've been hearing for many years Stoudamire would be a good candidate for this job if it came open from another source (non-GT) who is the person that tipped me off this was escalating quickly.
Batt and Stoudamire met during the Celtics' weekend road game in Atlanta and he quickly emerged as the frontrunner for the job.
Stoudamire nearly became the head coach of the Celtics following the whole debacle with their head coach Ime Udoka who was replaced by Joe Mazzulla instead and Stoudamire stayed on.
Ironically Josh Pastner gave Stoudamire his first break in coaching by hiring his fellow Arizona alum on his staff at Memphis. Stoudamire stayed with Pastner before leaving for an assistant spot with Sean MIller at Arizona and then he came back to Memphis and was with Josh until he left to become the head coach at the University of the Pacific replacing Ron Verlin who had replaced Bob Thomason who retired after 25 years there. Verlin finished in the bottom three his first two years and was fired after going 1-7, the team went 8-20 that year overall before Stoudamire took over.
After a slow buildup, the Tigers started to win and finished 3rd and 5th in his final two seasons in a league dominated by Gonzaga and BYU.
Stoudamire is considered an up-and-coming coach and he has actually worked a lot harder to work his way up the ranks than others. He played for Lute Olson, Brendan Malone, Mike Dunleavy, Maurice Cheeks, Mike Fratello, and Gregg Popovich to name a few as a player, and then worked under Pastner, Sean Miller, Henry Bibby, and Udoka as an assistant coach.
He was the runner-up for the Arizona job along with Pastner when they hired Tommy Lloyd so he has had consideration for major jobs before.
I'll be interested to see what type of staff he puts together. Abdul-Rahim had put together a potential staff to sell Batt on including Cincinnati and former GT assistant Chad Dollar. I would not be shocked to see Dollar end up back in Atlanta.
Recruiting Atlanta will be a key piece of this.
Batt and his staff along with the boosters running the NIL program plan to provide Stoudamire with a competitive funding package that is more in line with what the teams GT competes against have. That has been something in the works for quite some time as well.
WHY WAS PASTNER FIRED?
So as I said from the jump months ago it was not an easy call to fire Josh or keep him. He was squarely in the middle, but from talking to all of my sources what really did him in was the lack of fan interest and the death spiral with attendance and butts in seats. Had he made more of a run that maybe GT could've sold in Greensboro he had a chance of surviving, but he was really on thin ice and my sources say J Batt was pretty sure about what he wanted to do during the 9-game skid when things went so far sideways.
The decision was not easy as Batt and his staff knew that Pastner didn't have the tools to compete in the ACC from the previous regime, but it was a business decision and a clear indication of how Batt will run GT with a financial/business mind rather than just the old GT way.
I've talked to Josh, he is the eternal optimist so this blindsided him, but he will be okay and he needs to sit out a year and get healthy. The last two years really drained him.
ON TO THE SEARCH
Out of the box, there were three candidates I was told GT was serious about, Pat Kelsey (CoC), Bob Richey (Furman), and Amir Abdul-Rahim (KSU). All three are in the NCAA Tournament. I was told by another source that was a desire also to explore minority candidates as well beyond just Abdul-Rahim and Batt also started reaching out to additional names and had interesting people call and inquire about the job.
One source told me that Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse made the call to Batt suggestion Damon Stoudamire. Whether that is where it started, I have no idea.
I've been hearing for many years Stoudamire would be a good candidate for this job if it came open from another source (non-GT) who is the person that tipped me off this was escalating quickly.
Batt and Stoudamire met during the Celtics' weekend road game in Atlanta and he quickly emerged as the frontrunner for the job.
Stoudamire nearly became the head coach of the Celtics following the whole debacle with their head coach Ime Udoka who was replaced by Joe Mazzulla instead and Stoudamire stayed on.
Ironically Josh Pastner gave Stoudamire his first break in coaching by hiring his fellow Arizona alum on his staff at Memphis. Stoudamire stayed with Pastner before leaving for an assistant spot with Sean MIller at Arizona and then he came back to Memphis and was with Josh until he left to become the head coach at the University of the Pacific replacing Ron Verlin who had replaced Bob Thomason who retired after 25 years there. Verlin finished in the bottom three his first two years and was fired after going 1-7, the team went 8-20 that year overall before Stoudamire took over.
After a slow buildup, the Tigers started to win and finished 3rd and 5th in his final two seasons in a league dominated by Gonzaga and BYU.
Stoudamire is considered an up-and-coming coach and he has actually worked a lot harder to work his way up the ranks than others. He played for Lute Olson, Brendan Malone, Mike Dunleavy, Maurice Cheeks, Mike Fratello, and Gregg Popovich to name a few as a player, and then worked under Pastner, Sean Miller, Henry Bibby, and Udoka as an assistant coach.
He was the runner-up for the Arizona job along with Pastner when they hired Tommy Lloyd so he has had consideration for major jobs before.
I'll be interested to see what type of staff he puts together. Abdul-Rahim had put together a potential staff to sell Batt on including Cincinnati and former GT assistant Chad Dollar. I would not be shocked to see Dollar end up back in Atlanta.
Recruiting Atlanta will be a key piece of this.
Batt and his staff along with the boosters running the NIL program plan to provide Stoudamire with a competitive funding package that is more in line with what the teams GT competes against have. That has been something in the works for quite some time as well.
