Georgia Tech Now Has A Decision To Make With Damon Stoudamire

Georgia Tech has been the worst team in the ACC this season and they made the wrong kind of school history today. With the season ending loss to Clemson, the Yellow Jackets ended the season with 12 consecutive losses, the longest losing streak in program history. There has been a lot of pressure on head coach Damon Stoudamire over the past couple of months, but the time has come for AD Ryan Alpert to make a decision about the future of the program

What happens now?

It seems as if things have been trending towards Stoudamire not returning for a fourth season at Georgia Tech.

ESPN's College Basketball insider Jeff Borzello had him on hot seat watch, and with the Yellow Jackets potentially considering another option. Here is what Borzello said in his article:

“Industry sources are beginning to believe Tech is trending toward opening. The athletic director who hired Stoudamire is no longer at the school, the Yellow Jackets are currently in last place in the ACC -- despite having a roster with a respectable level of talent -- and Damon Stoudamire is just 42-52 in three seasons. He would reportedly be owed less than $3 million if the program moved on at the end of the season."

Earlier this week, CBS Sports' Matt Norlander echoed similar sentiments about Stoudamire likely being out as the coach at Georgia Tech:

"The noise surrounding this one has risen a lot in the past month, as the Yellow Jackets have dropped to the basement of the 18-team ACC. Damon Stoudamire is only in his third season, but the athletic director now (Ryan Alpert) is not the AD who hired Stoudamire in 2023. I think this one opens. GT has been outside of the KenPom top 100 in all three of Stoudamire's seasons. It's a lower-end ACC job in a really good location. How much can it compete in NIL in 2026? A resourceful hire is vital just to get Tech a shot at playing into the top half of the conference."

Stoudamire would leave Georgia Tech with a 42-54 record after three seasons if he is let go. The Yellow Jackets have not come close to sniffing the NCAA Tournament during his time as the head coach.

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).

When he was hired, Stoudamire was a well respected NBA assistant with the Boston Celtics and had previous coaching experience.

Following the conclusion of his NBA playing career in 2008, Stoudamire immediately embarked on his coaching career, beginning as director of player development at Rice in 2008-09. He then went on to serve as an assistant coach with the Memphis Grizzlies for two seasons (2009-11), before getting back into the college game with stints as an assistant at Memphis (2011-13), his alma mater Arizona (2013-15) and again at Memphis (2015-16).

After helping lead Memphis and Arizona to four conference championships (two Conference USA titles at Memphis, two Pac-12 crowns at Arizona) and four NCAA Tournament berths (including back-to-back Elite Eight appearances at Arizona) in six seasons, Stoudamire was hired as the head coach at Pacific in 2016. He inherited a program coming off an 8-20 campaign and quickly built it into a WCC contender, highlighted by the 23-10 campaign in 2019-20. The Tigers’ 11-5 conference record that season remains their most-ever wins in WCC play. Combined with a 9-9 record in league play in 2017-18, Stoudamire led Pacific to its only two .500-or-better conference records since the Tigers joined the WCC in 2013-14.

After posting a 9-9 overall record during the Covid-shortened 2020-21 season, Stoudamire returned to the NBA as an assistant coach for the Celtics. In his first season in Boston, he helped lead the Celtics to the 2022 NBA Finals.