Bleav In Georgia Tech: Damon Stoudamire is out as the head coach of Georgia Tech

Damon Stoudamire is no longer the head coach at Georgia Tech.

Stoudamire was let go this morning and now the Yellow Jackets are going to be looking for a new head coach.

So what will Georgia Tech do now? How should the job be viewed? We discuss all of this on the latest episode of Bleav in Georgia Tech!

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What now for Georgia Tech?

Since their national championship appearance in 2004, it has been a struggle for this program over the past two decades. They have only made the NCAA Tournament four times since that dream season (2005, 2007, 2010, and 2021) and they have not made it past the second round in any of those appearances. In fact, Georgia Tech has only finished with an above .500 record in conference play twice since then (11-9 in 2019-2020 and 11-6 in 2020-2021).

This is a new era of NIL in college sports and the state of Georgia also produces some of the best high school talent in the country. If the right coach is hired, this is a program that can win and compete in the ACC. Sure, they might not be Duke in terms of talent acquisition and spending, but the problem with Georgia Tech is that they have not hired the right coach.

Stoudamire did a solid job of recruiting high school talent. They currently have the No. 31 high school class incoming, with two four star prospects, the 2025 class featured two four star prospects (Mo Sylla and Akai Fleming), and the 2024 class had Jaeden Mustaf. It could have been better, but the high school recruiting was solid under Stoudamire.

The transfer portal was not utilized properly under Stoudamire and the Yellow Jackets in terms of identifying and developing talent. Kowacie Reeves and Duncan Powell were solid adds, but Powell did not even stick around after his breakout season.

Retaining talent was also an issue. Miles Kelly became a good starter for an Auburn team that went to the Final Four last season, Duncan Powell left for Providence, Nait George left for Syracuse, and Deivon Smith became a starter St. John's last season. Stoudamire left a lot to be desired from a coaching perspective, but not being able to retain these players and find the right pieces in the transfer portal were two big reasons Stoudamire failed in Atlanta.