Now former Memphis head coach Josh Pastner’s name first got floated for the Georgia Tech head coaching vacancy on Thursday evening. By Friday morning, the program had announced Pastner as their new head coach.
Josh Pastner recruited 15 Top 100 kids in 7 years at Memphis — and 10 of them were ranked in the Top 50. Also make some mistakes.
— Jeff Goodman (@GoodmanESPN) April 8, 2016
Memo to Josh Pastner and new staff at GTech…. Each member go buy a tent and camp out at Norcross, Westlake, Pebblebrook, and Greenforest.
— Corey Evans (@coreyevans_10) April 8, 2016
When you fire Brian Gregory to hire Josh Pastner. pic.twitter.com/u8KKKa22nt
— Mark Ennis (@MarkEnnis) April 8, 2016
Pastner was selected to replace John Calipari in 2009 when Calipari left the school for Kentucky, going 167-73 with the Tigers and continuing the high level of recruiting that had taken place under his former boss. However, once Memphis moved into the American Athletic Conference, they could never regain the momentum had during their time in Conference USA.
Georgia Tech’s central location in Atlanta should provide a huge boost for Pastner, known as a tireless recruiter, as he’ll have tons of local talent to draw from. The question will always be whether or not he can develop them and turn recruiting stars into wins in March.
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