Report: Georgia Tech Fires Head Coach Damon Stoudamire

After three seasons as the Georgia Tech head coach, Damon Stoudamire has been fired according to ESPN's Pete Thamel. The Yellow Jackets wrapped up their season with a loss to Clemson on Saturday, their 12th straight defeat, and now they will enter an offseason where they will be looking for a head coach. Stoudamire will leave Georgia Tech with a 42-55 record after three seasons.

Sources: Georgia Tech is dismissing coach Damon Stoudamire, who went 42-55 in three seasons, per me and @jeffborzello. Tech (11-20, 2-16) ended on a 12-game losing streak. Tech officials are steadfast they remain committed to resourcing the program at a competitive level. pic.twitter.com/zwhH9Rjd4h
— Pete Thamel (@PeteThamel) March 8, 2026

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

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.

What does Georgia Tech do now?

Georgia Tech is once again looking for a new 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).

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.

Who could replace him?

Georgia Tech is going to have to up its resources if they want to land one of the top coaches on the market this offseason. Some of the top names on the market are going to include Josh Schertz at Saint Louis, Jerrod Calhoun (Utah State), Casey Alexander (Belmont), Travis Steele (Miami OH), Eric Olen (New Mexico) and Bryan Hodgson (USF), among others.

A new era is going to begin at Georgia Tech and it is up to Ryan Alpert to try and finally turn this program with the right coaching hire.