Archive for March, 2011

Michigan State’s Tom Izzo has developed quite a coaching tree in his time at East Lansing.

One of his former assistants, Brian Gregory, took another step in his career when he agreed to become Georgia Tech’s basketball coach today.

Gregory coached with Izzo on two separate occasions, first as co-assistants under Jud Heathcote from 1990-95, before Izzo was promoted to head coach.

Gregory left a year later before returning to assist Izzo from 1999-2003. He parlayed that success into his first head coaching job at Dayton, where he’s coached the past eight years.

Izzo spoke with Wes Durham on 790AM on Monday and then with the AJC later in the day. Here is a paraphrased transcript of those interviews.

Q: Are you proud to see one of your assistants move up the ladder? You and coach Heathcote can take credit for his development.

A: I’ll take credit for every win and I’ll give Jed every loss he’s had. It’s perfect.

It’s thrilling for me. I have great respect for the ACC. I have great …

Continue reading Tom Izzo on new Georgia Tech coach Brian Gregory »

Brian Gregory agreed to become the men’s basketball coach at Georgia Tech today.

But what kind of coach is he?

He inherited a talented team from Oliver Purnell and led Dayton to a 24-9 record and appearance in the 2004 NCAA tournament.

Gregory and the Flyers went through a three-year tournament-less dry spell while he rebuilt the roster. However, they still went 51-40.

During the past four seasons, with a roster composed entirely of players he recruited, Gregory led the Flyers to a 97-45 mark, including a 12-5 record against teams from basketball’s six power conferences: the ACC, Big East, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-10 and SEC.

Here’s a game-by-game breakdown of that record:

2010-11

Nov. 27………Cincinnati……………L, 68-34

It was the Flyers’ worst loss since 1995

Dec. 22………Seton Hall…………..W, 69-65

Flyers held Pirates to 25 points in second half

Nov. 20………Mississippi…………W, 78-71, OT

Flyers rallied from 12 down eight minutes left

2009-10

April 1……….North Carolina………W, 79-68

NIT championship …

Continue reading Gregory had Flyers flyin’ »

The Dayton Daily News beat writer Doug Harris just talked to departing Dayton coach Brian Gregory, who is taking the Georgia Tech job and will be at a news conference on the Tech campus around 5 p.m. today.

Gregory won’t be having a final Dayton news conference. He was scheduled to meet the ACC school’s president later today and then have the media session after that in the Edge Center.

“I’m excited, but it’s a bittersweet deal,” Gregory said. “It’s the toughest decision I’ve ever made in my life. 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 [Yvett]  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.

“But the academic part of the school really fits the type of school I want to be …

Continue reading Gregory: ‘I’m excited, but it’s bittersweet’ »

Continue reading Video: Brian Gregory to Georgia Tech »

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 …

Continue reading Radakovich: No question Gregory will succeed »

Scratch Chris Mooney off the list of possible candidates to be Georgia Tech’s next basketball coach.

Tech and Mooney met on Sunday, but later in the day he signed a 10-year contract extension with Richmond. He told his team about the contract at a 6 p.m. meeting. Mooney, who led Richmond to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA tournament, is now tied to the Spiders until 2020-21.

It’s unknown if Mooney was Tech’s top choice because athletic director Dan Radakovich has declined to comment in order to try and protect the integrity of process. There was a report on Friday that the job had been offered to Dayton’s Brian Gregory. Tech associate athletic director Wayne Hogan issued a statement later in the day that said the search is ongoing. Tech has also interviewed Tulsa coach Doug Wojcik and former alums Craig Neal, who is an assistant coach at New Mexico, and Mark Price. Another candidate that Tech had an interest in, Missouri State’s Cuonzo Martin, accepted the job at Tennessee on …

Continue reading Mooney signs 10-year deal with Richmond »

Georgia Tech says it is still looking for its basketball coach.

Associate Athletic Director Wayne Hogan issued this statement Friday night, denying a report earlier in the day by the website sportsbybrooks that said Tech had offered the job to Dayton’s Brian Gregory:

The search for the next men’s basketball coach at Georgia Tech has
not concluded and is still ongoing, contrary to a number of published
internet reports on Friday. As is our policy, we do not comment on
ongoing searches. However, due to these erroneous reports we felt
compelled to clarify the status of the search process.

The website cited a source within Tech’s athletics department. Hogan’s statement is the first public communication Tech has had about the search in more than a week, other than a note that appeared on Thursday in Dan Radakovich’s blog, “The Good Word.”

Radakovich said that he hoped to have a coach hired by the Final Four, which begins April 2 in Houston. Tech’s former coach, Paul Hewitt, was …

Continue reading Tech: Basketball search still going »

Though he said earlier this week that he hadn’t been contacted by Georgia Tech, a few outlets are reporting that Doug Wojcik interviewed for the Yellow Jackets men’s basketball job on Thursday.

Georgia Tech is declining to comment on the search.

Wojcik is 87-54 at Tulsa, turning them from a nine-win team into a 19-win team this season. In six seasons, he has yet to lead the Golden Hurricanes to the NCAA tournament. They have twice appeared in the NIT, reaching the second round in 2009. They won the CBI tournament in 2008.

An official in Tulsa’s athletics department said earlier this week that they don’t comment on the job status of their coaches, unless there’s a change.

Wojcik, 46, played point guard at Navy with David Robinson. Before taking the Tulsa job, he was an assistant coach at Notre Dame, North Carolina and Michigan State.

He is 58-39 in Conference USA play at Tulsa. Because it is a private school, Tulsa hasn’t made Wojcik’s salary public.

– Doug …

Continue reading Wojcik interviewed for Tech job »

Chris Mooney.

Aside from just ensuring google puts this blog toward the top of searches for Richmond’s basketball coach, he’s also the topic du jour in college basketball.

Most of you have made no secret of your desire that he should be Georgia Tech’s No. 1 target as its next basketball coach.

Well most of you also know that the Yellow Jackets aren’t the only ones searching for a basketball coach.

Tennessee’s reps have reached out to Mooney’s reps, according to volquest.com (need a subscription to read it). Mooney’s agent isn’t returning calls, which may be because his client has a game tonight in the NCAA tournament.

Tech, of course, isn’t talking about its search, other than for athletic director Dan Radakovich to post a few thoughts in his blog on ramblinwreck.com.

It’s within reason that Tennessee has more money to spend on its next basketball coach than does Tech.

Do you think Tech has any chance of landing Mooney? He seems comfortable at schools with tough academic …

Continue reading “Mooney, mooney, mooney, mooney….Mooooooonneeey” »

We looked at Georgia Tech’s offense heading into Monday’s spring training.

Today, we look at the defense.

The Yellow Jackets had some defensive issues last season. To the untrained eye (my eye), it seemed that they had to overcommit to have success against either the run or the pass. Subsequently, they would leave themselves open to the other.

Some of that can be chalked up to players competing in a new system. For some of them, it was their third in four years. Some of it can be chalked up to the defense being somewhat complicated, as most defenses are when they are new.

The team also would find its groove on defense, the offense would score, and then the defense would give up a game-winning drive. I have no idea the reason for that.

Nevertheless, the team had just 17 sacks, allowed almost 170 rushing yards a game and 200 yards passing a game. Opposing QBs hit 60.5 percent of their passes and backs averaged 4.5 yards per carry.

However, the team started to play better after …

Continue reading Thoughts about the defense heading into Tech’s spring »