Radakovich: No question Gregory will succeed
Georgia Tech athletic director Dan Radakovich said there’s “no question” that new men’s basketball coach Brian Gregory will succeed.
“Brian Gregory is not only an outstanding basketball coach, but he is a tireless worker and recruiter who cares deeply about his players,”
Radakovich said in a statement. “There is no question that he will succeed as basketball coach at Georgia Tech, and he will win by doing things the right way.”
Tech released a statement at 3:42 p.m. to confirm the hiring, which has dominated the Atlanta news throughout the day. A press conference is scheduled at 5 p.m.
Gregory said leaving Dayton for The Flats was a tough decision.
“It’s the toughest decision I’ve ever made in my life,” he told the Dayton Daily News. “It’s been eight great years. I love this place. People have been great to us. I can’t express how much I appreciate all the support and all the great times we had.
“We’ve built up a lot of relationships. As my wife (Yvette) said, it’s not a job or an occupation. It’s our life. It’s been our basketball life for eight years, and it’s tough to say good-bye to that.”
Gregory’s contract terms haven’t been announced. His pay package was at Dayton was near $1 million annually. Paul Hewitt, Tech’s former coach, made approximately $1.3 million annually. He’s also due $7.2 million per the buyout terms of the contract. That total will be paid out monthly over the next five years.
Gregory, 44 and a native of Mount Prospect, Ill., had coached the Flyers since 2003, amassing a record of 172-94 overall and 70-58 in the Atlantic 10 conference. He led the Flyers to the NCAA tournament twice, once during his inaugural season in 2003-04 and again in 2008-09. Dayton won the NIT championship in 2010.
The Flyers have had three winning conference records, including marks of 12-4 (2004) and 11-5 (2009). They went 22-14, 7-9 this year, losing in the first round of the NIT. They have won at least 20 games each of the last four seasons. Before taking over in Dayton, Gregory served as an assistant coach to Tom Izzo at Michigan State from 1999-2003.
“I know what this guy can do,” Izzo told Wes Durham on 790AM this morning. “He can have discipline yet still be a player’s coach. The hours he is going to work, that’s the only area I can say for sure that he’s No. 1. No one can outwork him. At the end of the day that’s the most important thing. Do you work your way through the good times, the bad times, the in-between times? ”
Tech has been looking for a coach since Radakovich let go of Hewitt more than two weeks ago. Hewitt led the Jackets to a 190-162 record in 11 seasons. Tech did reach the 2004 national championship game as part of five NCAA tournament appearances. However, Tech didn’t win the ACC’s regular-season or tournament titles under Hewitt.
Eventually, attendance at Alexander Memorial Coliseum began to decline. Paid attendance dropped to a few more than 6,000 this season, its lowest figure in more than a decade. However, that many rarely attended games. Tech will likely play its home games at Philips Arena and Gwinnett Arena next season while the $45 million McCamish Pavilion is constructed. It will replace AMC.
Multiple websites reported on Friday that Tech had offered the job to Gregory. However, the school issued a statement later in the day saying that the search was still ongoing.
Tech was supposed to talk to Richmond’s Chris Mooney on Sunday, but he signed a 10-year contract extension to stay with the Spiders.
Gregory was one of five candidates interviewed. The others were Tulsa’s Doug Wojcik, Missouri State’s Cuonzo Martin (who accepted the job at Tennessee on Sunday) and former alums Mark Price and Craig Neal, who is an assistant at New Mexico.
Gregory doesn’t have any previous ties to the ACC or the South. His coaching experience has been exclusively in the Midwest, starting as an assistant at Michigan State in 1990. He then moved to Toledo in 1996, Northwestern in 1997, and Michigan State again in 1999.
He played at Navy before transferring to Oakland.
In 15 years, he has coached 20 players who have made it to the NBA. He has a reputation for winning big games, going 12-5 against teams from the big-six basketball conferences in the last four years. They were also 7-11 against ranked teams during Gregory’s time as coach, including a win against Georgia Tech in 2009.
The team has done well in the classroom as well. Its Academic Progress Rate, a measurement used by the NCAA to ensure that students are moving toward graduation at an acceptable pace, has never fallen below 974 since the 2004-05 season. The NCAA considers 925 to be the minimum score before penalties are considered. He’s a perfect 23-for-23 on seniors graduating.
“The academic part of the school really fits the type of school I want to be associated with,” he said. “That’s really important. At Georgia Tech, you can recruit the highest quality player without compromising the important character components necessary for success. They have great tradition there. I’m excited about re-establishing that tradition and re-energizing the program — and getting the former players back, like we did here, and becoming engaged in the community, like we did here.”
– Doug Roberson, AJC
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576 comments Add your comment
Dayton Resident
March 28th, 2011
10:23 am
Aardvark, BG wanted the shooting guard to be a point guard (which he and his dad hated) and the sf wanted to play more instead of the senior that was in his spot. Blame splits between the two.
theriddler
March 28th, 2011
10:23 am
DRAD goes 0 for 2 on hires.
voice of reason
March 28th, 2011
10:24 am
Try some perspective: What do Bobby Cremins, Paul Johnson, and Mark Fox have in common? That’s right each had their hiring at their school blasted as a horrible choice. Unless you are at the top tier money-wise, you are going to have to take a gamble and wait and see how it turns out. If you could have chosen between Gregory and what Hewitt appeared to be when he was hired you probably would have taken Hewitt. How did that choice work for you?
Warp Drive 1
March 28th, 2011
10:28 am
1. Glad a move was made on Paul Hewitt – wish him the best.
2. Looking forward to seeing what our new coach can bring to the table!
The way I look at it – Coach Gregory made Dayton an over achieving – competitive program.
PW0327
March 28th, 2011
10:28 am
I am a Tech fan and have lived in Dayton for the last few years. Tech fans can expect undisciplined teams not able to make free throws, inbound balls efficiently or run a disciplined set play. And when the heat is on? Fugedaboutit, his teams rush bad unmakeable shots and panic like school children in the playground..
sk
March 28th, 2011
10:29 am
Gregory had 3 winning seasons in the A-10 and 7 winning seasons out of 8 overall (5 twenty win seasons). Paul Hewitt at Georgia Tech had one winning season in 11 (if you use conference record). Bobby Cremins had 6 winning conference seasons in 19.
There are folks here that want their alums to have gotten the nod coachingwise – which is a lovely sentiment. However, this program – which has some things going for it, has been starved for consistency the last 15-20 years. I mean there has been consistency (only a couple of coaches over that time frame), but actually very few years that we have been a true force in the ACC.
The question I have is can this guy make Georgia Tech basically the Wisconsin of the ACC – where Tech will be hard to play always, REALLY hard to play in ATL, and capable of being not just occasionally a conference title contender, but being a contender for a bye in the ACC tournament year after year. Pining for the days of Bobby misses the point a bit – at this point, GT should be aiming higher than that.
Rudy Flyer
March 28th, 2011
10:30 am
Gregory is a solid, quality hire at a time that the program desperately needs one. The fair-weather fans who are upset about not hiring the “flavor of the month” don’t know what they’re talking about.
pcb mike
March 28th, 2011
10:30 am
Wait and see, guys. My initial reaction is not so good. But we got a coach out of a smaller school than this named Bobby Cremins and that worked out pretty well.
Jackets 2011
March 28th, 2011
10:31 am
If the negative people stay home (assuming for the moment they’ve ever been season tickets holders), it will clearly be addition by substraction.
We are going to be good next year.
Wait and see.
Czan
March 28th, 2011
10:31 am
Solid, not flashy hire. He was able to get some players into Dayton, which usually did well in the A10.
HOWEVER, none of the reporting on Dayton so far has mentioned some major issues with the team this year with 2 players transferring out (perhaps more). Would like some more indepth info on this.
Wonder who gets the NC State job….
bigstack19
March 28th, 2011
10:32 am
Really? Hope I am wrong like I was when the Falcons hired Mike Smith but this seems like a giant swing and a miss.
UGA = Yawn
March 28th, 2011
10:32 am
OMG GT fans shut up already!!! Geesh. This is what suffereing for the last 4 years under Hewitt has done to you. Be optimisitc. As soon as they fired Hewitt I was again optimisitc. Change is DEFINITELY good for us and I for one and behind him 100%. We can’t do any worse than we have the last 4 years. You people are sad.
Jim Harrick
March 28th, 2011
10:33 am
Let’s hope he doesn’t call a timeout when our guy hoists a winning shot in the conference tournament.
Flyer Fan
March 28th, 2011
10:33 am
Whew!!! You guys got an excellent human being in BG, but frankly, his welcome as a coach in Dayton was worn out. In case you didn’t know, Dayton has a 1st rate Men’s BB fan base, average attendance 12K+ in a 13K capacity arena.
Very good recruiter, terrible offensive scheme. Watching his halfcourt offense was like fingernails on a chalkboard to anyone who loves basketball. We became Michigan St. junior…ugly, predictable games…very easy to defend. Hopefully he can get better athletes that can MAKE his scheme work for you guys…heaven knows he won’t change much to match his personnel. Good Luck GT!
Jackets 2011
March 28th, 2011
10:33 am
We were not going to win any biding war.
Drad made a good choice with the situation left him by Braine.
Kaistruction
March 28th, 2011
10:33 am
Was this rushed? What about the mid-major coaches that are in the Final Four, Shaka Smart and Brad Stevens? Did Tech put out feelers for those guys? At first appearance it seems like a guy was hired that’s not gonna be able to recruit based on his past experiences or his name. Please prove me wrong.
Steve
March 28th, 2011
10:35 am
And exactly what is it about the GT job that would attract a big name coach? DRAD knew he couldn’t get Izzo, so at least he got one of his proteges.
groundfog
March 28th, 2011
10:35 am
If my budget will allow season tix, I will buy them but I will attend games and support this after a 2 year hiatus. A new era begins..
Mark Fox - don't call timeout
March 28th, 2011
10:35 am
“Michigan State Jr.”
My number one choice was Izzo (although knowing he was untouchable for GT). This is a surprise, but if BG can bring some of that savy and fundamentals to GT – hey, we might even have an inbound play that works next season.
Jackets 2011
March 28th, 2011
10:35 am
Speaking of Smith and TD, they will never win it all.
The Pack will crush them again next year because their AD is better.
BYRDDAWG
March 28th, 2011
10:36 am
What a bunch of bashers!!!!!! Mark Fox wasn’t the coach alot of us wanted but he’s done pretty good so far….The new guy cant be as bad as phewitt! You guys need to get behind your team & coach or we’ll own the state in hoops too!!!!! just sayin…..
groundfog
March 28th, 2011
10:36 am
Wes Durham just said in 8 years, every Senior graduated..wow!I’ll settle for guys just sticking around 3 years after the one and dones
Jackets 2011
March 28th, 2011
10:36 am
Thanks groudfog.
Welcome back. (Kotter?)
Mark Fox - don't call timeout
March 28th, 2011
10:37 am
One and done
Geori
March 28th, 2011
10:37 am
FIRE DRAD NOW!
Chas T
March 28th, 2011
10:38 am
One reason, Tech will “NOT” get a top coach “AJC”
Mr Royal
March 28th, 2011
10:38 am
HUH?
A Univ. of Dayton Fan
March 28th, 2011
10:38 am
Best day ever! Congratulations and condolences to GT!
Red Journalism
March 28th, 2011
10:39 am
Hey Chas T.,
You got that right, they bash the home team, then wonder why no one shows up.
groundfog
March 28th, 2011
10:39 am
Jackets..didn’t go to Tech (could have lol) but from Atlanta and i’ve always tried to support Tech Basketball. Have some great memories attending the Thrillerdome.I think this guy is going to get it done.A consistent winner
techsc
March 28th, 2011
10:40 am
I am willing to give him a chance. You wanted CPH gone. He’s gone. Now support the one that is there.
Jim Harrick
March 28th, 2011
10:40 am
“”"Best day ever! Congratulations and condolences to GT!”"”
I’m sure ever Dayton fan felt this way after beating UNC to take the NIT last year.
DRad Fan 2
March 28th, 2011
10:43 am
Geori – You are an idiot.
GT man 01
March 28th, 2011
10:43 am
Interesting decision……
Statistical Tendencies: Brian Gregory is, in many ways, the anti-Mike Anderson. His roots are in the North, not the South … his teams play super-slow … his teams aren’t much in the ball-handling department, but they rebound like crazy … in a “my short, blonde girlfriend broke up with me, so I’m going after a tall brunette” sort of way, spurned fans wishing to forget all about Anderson will find a lot to like about Gregory.
One question here: if Gregory is a good recruiter, should we be seeing better ratings than this? In two of the last three seasons, Dayton has ranked 252nd or worse in Off. eFG%, taken a ton of 3’s, allowed a ton of 3-point attempts, and turned the ball over quite a bit. With this sort of profile, I envision Gregory’s teams as athletic and strong but not amazingly disciplined.
GTBob
March 28th, 2011
10:43 am
Exactly techsc, some of the reactions from GT fans are a little disheartening at this point. Who could we have gotten that would have been so much better? We got a solid coach and we should be behind him 100% until he gives us a reason not to. If we are already on the guy before he even starts the job then we are a crappy fan base.
gte
March 28th, 2011
10:48 am
maybe you demonized loser fat hogs, Jackets2011 and Full Metal, may want to go over to ESPN blog and talk your C##p on it. There isn’t any positive comments on it at all and the Dayton people are having a field day. So when you two are finished pointing your fat fingers at the Price/Neal supporters you can start on the Dayton people although a good deal of their comments are true and make sense. But I am sure you two morons will come up with something to take control of that blog too.
NOT
Jackets 2011
March 28th, 2011
10:50 am
If you read the posts on live blogs of either Tech or Georgia, the homeboys of both (no one at the game would get so negative so fast) start crying with the first interception or fumble.
That’s about the way it is today.
Thanks to all our real fans for being positive.
And thanks also to many of the Dawg fans on here today who had given a decent account of themselves.
A lot more than I can say about some “Tech” people.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 28th, 2011
10:52 am
It’s funny that the majority of those posting here this morning have names that I have never even seen on these blogs before. Obviously, they are just a bunch of jerks who only logged in to pick on Tech with no facts behind anything they write. I find it interesting too that one of the most intelligent posts was written by BYRDDAWG, a Georgia fan who is quite obviously a cut above most of the redneck trash who pull for the mutts but who, in all likelihood have never even attended, perhaps never even watched on TV, a mutt basketball game. As far as any actual Tech posters on here who are trashing the man, or at the very least doubting the man, good grief; give him a chance. You don’t know beans about him. He may succeed at Tech; he may fall flat on his face, but it sure couldn’t be worse than Hewitt’s last 4 years. There’s no guarantee that a single coach who has been talked about in the past 2 weeks could succeed at Tech or anywhere other than where he is now. The whole hiring-a-new-coach thing is a crap shoot. You pays your money, and you takes your chances. I am no longer able to make the long drives, so I can’t start buying season tickets again, but there is no reason now not to fill up the place (wherever it may be next year) every time Tech plays.
Old Gold Britches
March 28th, 2011
10:53 am
Welcome Coach Gregory to the Flats!
Sounds a little bit like the Coach Chizik response around here.
Headley Lamar
March 28th, 2011
10:55 am
Matt Skole went 5-for-5 with two home runs and eight RBIs to lead Georgia Tech to a 15-6 win over Georgia, sending cries of “What’s the good word” echoing through Foley Field late Tuesday night.
Isnt Skole the scholar athlete who got a DUI and could have killed someone on the road a little while back ? Fine young men at Tech.
Jackets 2011
March 28th, 2011
10:55 am
@gte
You guys would have bashed Cremins too.
What kind of fans trash the new guy before he coaches a game?
Gregory might could say some things about Dayton.
Please inform me of when they had ever had anything.
One year out of ten.
Price did us a disservice.
He didn’t have the resume and knew it.
All his buddies saying good things don’t care about Tech.
Name me one of those buddies who has bought a ticket since they left.
Col C
March 28th, 2011
10:55 am
The downward spiral that is GT athletics continues.
Headley Lamar
March 28th, 2011
10:57 am
http://www.ajc.com/news/atlanta/tech-baseball-player-skole-856270.html
Can you imagine if that was a UGA football player? Skole could have killed someone but because he is white and goes to Tech its no biggie. Let a black football player from UGA get a parking ticket and he is a thug.
Interesting double standard isnt it?
Jed
March 28th, 2011
10:57 am
Isnt Skole the scholar athlete who got a DUI and could have killed someone on the road a little while back ? Fine young men at Tech.
Headley aka drama queen. Put your skirt on and go do something productive. Maybe he was trying to get a threesome going on with your ex AD.
Ramblin Man
March 28th, 2011
11:00 am
Wow the hate on here is crazy. This may not be the coach we fans were all hoping for, but lets wait and see what he can do. I am waiting to see who the assistants will be and if this immediately effects recruiting.
Jackets 2011
March 28th, 2011
11:00 am
In spite of some fan ridiculing the Chizik hire, they went on to win the NC.
I wonder who that fan would have hired instead.
Probably some ex-player without the credentials.
Supersize that order, mutt
March 28th, 2011
11:00 am
Headley Lamar, nobody here is defending Skole; what he did was illegal, stupid, and extremely risky. But, assuming you are a mutt, which I think is a safe assumption, then you’re just the pot calling the kettle black. Clean up your own house before you come trashing others.
Stan
March 28th, 2011
11:00 am
I was convinced by others to have a wait and see attitude towards Blewitt. Now our program is in the toilet. Not sure the new hire has toilet bowl cleaner grit. I hope so.
DRad to Miami sounds great!!
Go GT baseball!! Most exciting program at the moment (I know post season swoon is looming).
Jackets 2011
March 28th, 2011
11:01 am
@Jed
Funny
Old Gold
March 28th, 2011
11:02 am
gt has put the buZZZZZZZZZZZ back into basketball
Wake me up after spring semester is over. ZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzz