Georgia Tech fires basketball coach Damon Stoudamire after three seasons

Georgia Tech is firing head coach Damon Stoudamire, sources tell On3. The former first-round pick in the NBA draft failed to reach the NCAA tournament or finish with a winning record in his three seasons with the Yellow Jackets.

After showing signs of progress a year ago with a 17-17 record and 10 wins in ACC play, Georgia Tech regressed this season. Stoudamire’s program finished with an 11-20 mark and just two wins in the ACC.

Stoudamire arrived at Georgia Tech after three seasons as an assistant with the Boston Celtics. He left his head coaching job at Pacific in July 2021 to take the Celtics job. Stoudamire was a solid head coach at Pacific, including a 23-10 season in 2019-20 that earned him the West Coast Conference Coach of the Year award. He went 32-19 in his final two years and 71-77 overall at Pacific.

He held previous assistant jobs at Rice, Memphis and Arizona. He was hired to replace Josh Pastner, who led Georgia Tech to just one NCAA tournament appearance in seven seasons. Georgia Tech hasn’t reached the NCAA tournament in consecutive seasons since 2004 and 2005.

The Stoudamire hire was made by former athletic director J Batt, who left last June for Michigan State. The move to fire Stoudamire is the first major coaching change for new athletic director Ryan Alpert.

Selected with the No. 7 overall pick in the 1995 draft, Stoudamire was named Rookie of the Year and played 13 seasons in the NBA. He averaged 13.4 points across stints with the Raptors, Trail Blazers, Grizzlies and Spurs.