Tech grants permission: St. John’s can speak with Hewitt
Paul Hewitt: Is he headed back to New York, New York? (AJC photo by Johnny Crawford)
Georgia Tech athletics director Dan Radakovich has given St. John’s permission to speak with Paul Hewitt about its coaching vacancy. The request from Red Storm athletics director Chris Monasch was received at 11:45 a.m. Tuesday, according to Wayne Hogan, Tech’s associate AD for communications.
St. John’s fired coach Norm Roberts last week. It had targeted Hewitt, who grew up in Queens, after Hewitt led Tech to the 2004 Final Four. He chose instead to sign the now-famous perpetual rollover contract and stay at Tech.
Reports in the New York media have identified Hewitt as one of the names atop the Red Storm’s list.
Tell us what you think about the site
Customer Care »
Vacation stops, manage subscriptions and more
AJC Services
Sections
Other Editions
Visitor Agreement | Privacy Statement
© 2013 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
194 comments Add your comment
RussthePaintedMascot
March 23rd, 2010
3:41 pm
Of course it’s all business with DRad, always has been. THat’s why I transferred to Tech, they won’t spend the money to buy a$$ paint…so I’m safe.
Tech 1990 National Champs
March 23rd, 2010
3:43 pm
Let’s go hire Mark Fox. He was impressive taking uga to the cellar of the SEC east, and he almost had Stegman filled up when Kentucky came to town.
FullMetalJacket
March 23rd, 2010
3:44 pm
Poor Russ, you can’t help it. Like most UGA people you’re the victim of inbreeding and a$$-painting. A diet of Auburn players, UGA cheerleaders, and daily dates with Sonny’s leg can’t have been very pleasant for you. You might head over to Starkville, where, if you can stand the damm cowbells you can be assured they’ll never paint your a$$.
Not Disappointed
March 23rd, 2010
3:48 pm
Interesting! Coach Hewitt should be somewhere we he can produce and be happy with the problem. I hope he makes the right decision. Ramblin Wreck!
FullMetalJacket
March 23rd, 2010
3:49 pm
All the Hewitt-lovers can breathe a sigh of relief now that their man has employment options. He’s already POTUS and he won’t become a saint for a few more years, so landing on his feet in NYC is a real boon. Frankly, those of you who worshipped Hewitt over the program won’t be much missed.
CoachJRB
March 23rd, 2010
3:49 pm
From Wikipedia RE Mark Price experience:
Mark Price began his coaching career during the 1998-99 basketball season as a community coach under head coach and friend Joe Marelle at Duluth High School for the varsity boys team. After Marelle discovered he had non-Hodgkins lymphoma, Price became a primary factor in the team’s return trip to the final four of the class 5A GHSA state tournament. It was the first time Duluth High School returned to this point in the state tournament in 16 years. Price then went on to be an assistant coach to Bobby Cremins at Georgia Tech during the 1999-2000 season.[9]
After Cremins retired from coaching at Georgia Tech, Price then went on the following year to be the head coach at Whitefield Academy in Atlanta for the 2000-01 season leading the team to a 27-5 record and the final eight teams of the state Class A tournament, a 20 win improvement over the prior season and 27 win improvement two seasons before Price arrived.[10] NBA player Josh Smith also played at Whitefield Academy the same season Price was coach.[11] [12]
In 2003, Price was a consultant for the NBA’s Denver Nuggets before moving on to become a NBA television analyst and color commentator for both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Atlanta Hawks.
In March 2006, Price was named the inaugural head coach of the Australian NBL’s South Dragons, a new franchise for the 2006–07 season, for a short period of time before the position was taken over by player Shane Heal, in a controversial decision made by majority owner Mark Cowan. Heal was fired the following year after the Dragons finished last in the NBL for the 2007-08 season.[13]
Price was the shooting consultant for the Memphis Grizzlies for the 2007-08 season and named the shooting coach for the Atlanta Hawks at the beginning of the 2008-2009 season.[14] Price helped to improve the Hawks offensive output in their first return to the Eastern Conference Semi-Finals in nearly 10 years during the 2009 NBA Playoffs.[15] Price also trains other NBA players in partnership with the Suwanee Sports Academy, one of the largest basketball training facilities in the United States, during the basketball offseason in Atlanta specializing in shooting and point guard skills.
Price was a key factor in developing the overall teaching philosophy for On Court Player Development [16] – a basketball skill development and character building program – in 2006 held at the Suwanee Sports Academy. The academy is also home to the Mark Price Shooting Lab.[17]
FullMetalJacket
March 23rd, 2010
3:50 pm
Those of you who supported Hewitt but love the Jackets are always welcome, once he is safely on the plane.
FullMetalJacket
March 23rd, 2010
3:55 pm
CoachJRB: Thanks for the info. I can’t say I am very impressed, however, and wonder why he pursued coaching in Australia(?!) to a Division I job. I would be willing to give him a shot at the Tech job, but only after a competitive recruiting effort by DRad with other candidates. Price’s contribution to Georgia Tech as a player is tremendous, I know his character is solid, and his rapport with the Tech faithful should be great. Running an ACC hoops program is a major leadership and administrative endeavor, however, and a horse of a completely different color.
Decatur Tech Fan
March 23rd, 2010
3:55 pm
LOL, Mark I called this YESTERDAY at 4 pm…am I good or what?. Okay, I predict he leaves and St johns pays aprrox .30 on the dollar to Ga Tech. After all, he wasnt their first choice…..Donovan @ UF was. He said thanks but no thanks. And they threw 3 million at him. Its a great day to be a Yellow Jacket.
RAMBLE ON!!!
March 23rd, 2010
3:56 pm
CoachJRB, but Price can’t teach free-throwing shooting like Hewitt can.
Gordon
March 23rd, 2010
3:56 pm
CoachJRB,
I love Mark Price as much as the next Tech fan, but you have to admit you wouldn’t even consider him if he hadn’t played at Tech. This hire is too important to give to someone who has never been a head coach at the collegiate level. There was talk of hiring Bill Curry as the AD when Braine left, and that would have been a mistake too. Love the guys (Curry and Price), but they aren’t the right hires.
NY is Paul's kind of town
March 23rd, 2010
3:57 pm
Do it Your Way, Paul, baby. Take a bite of the Big Apple and get the hell out of Atlanta.
Big Al
March 23rd, 2010
3:58 pm
This is GREAT news!!!
NY is Paul's kind of town
March 23rd, 2010
3:58 pm
Gordon: ditto that. Price ain’t right this time.
DEFCON 5
March 23rd, 2010
3:58 pm
If you believe this video……IT’LL ALL BE FREE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Listen for the: “I don’t have to worry about putting gas in my car or paying my mortgage!”
hoopslover
March 23rd, 2010
3:59 pm
Don’t be lured, coach. Our guys need you here, and us real fans appreciate you and the job you do. You are a great representative of the I, lead on!
why NOT mark price?
March 23rd, 2010
3:59 pm
first things first is to get rid of phew so we can out from underneath that albatross of a contract. the best scenerio is for st john’s to pony up a portion of the 3.5 mil buyout. what a turn around that would be eh?
personally i would look long an hard at mark price. when you compare the resume of phew 10 years ago vs the resume of mark price the only thing that phew has over mark is ’some head coaching experience’. how many years did he coach at sienna? 2-3? yet we signed an inexperienced phew as our coach. why not mark?
reasons why mark price would be a great hire…..
-he loves gt as does bobby (unlike phew)
-he played at gt (did phew even play bb ever?)
-he is a gt man
-he is a coaches son (phew stayed at the holiday inn express)
-his whole family has been involved with bb their entire lives
-he has been around the best coaching minds in the world (phew had coach raveling… lmao )
-he would come cheap and we could structure the contract to be insanely incentive laden (its a shame that phew had no incentive to win at gt)
-he is an nba all star
-he knows how to shoot field goals an free throws superbly and coaches that now.
-he wouldnt limit himself to recruiting only long tall athletic and black kids
-he would be able to recruit white blue chippers (phew couldnt recruit a white blue chipper to save his soul)
-he would be able to actually identify a good point guard prospect
-he would elevate the performance of our guard play. most would concur that the ncaa is guard driven. this is something phew could never do….. develop good guard play. this is evidenced by the pitiful numbers we have had wrt the to::ass ratio we have had for 10 years.
-he would not try to put round pegs into square holes
-he would get away from individual instruction an go more with team play.
-he has major name recognition
-his ego is no where near the size of our current coach’s ego.
-he knows more than just one offensive an one defensive strategy
-he cant be any softer than phew is now. our team’s play mimics phew to a T. unfocused, excuse laden. soft mentally. soft physically. LOW EXPECTATIONS!
-he knows what it takes to win an acc championship, to win more than one ncaa game, to play in the nba. (phew has none of that going for him)
-he would surround himself with talented assistants
-he has every bit the reputation of being a good man that phew has an than some.
-he would help our graduation rate. it cant get any worse than it is now. we are AGAIN not in compliance with the ncaa an will probably lose more scholarships.
-he is not connected to the BCA and has no hidden agenda.
-he is not apt to want to coach anywhere else but at gt.
-he likes mark bradley ;o)
AND…
-he never disrespected the gt program like phew did a few years back by saying things that one would expect out of the mouth of dave “low expectations” braine. simply put … we are where we are as a program because it is phew’s vision of what gt can accomplish. that is why he thought we had a great year. to phew gt is a middle of the road program that had a hard time finding a coach until he was good enough to accept our offer even though he could have gotten more money elsewhere.
paul, you are such a nice guy for gracing us with your presence for all of these years. NOT!
reasons why mark price would NOT be a great hire…..
-no head coaching experience
*******************************************
i know i know, that is a biggie. i am sure there are other fine candidates out there who do have the right kind of experience but they cant match mark price wrt all the things he brings to the table. besides why NOT give mark a shot and see what happens. i can guarantee you that he will sign a contract for next to nothing to get the opportunity.
if he is successful ala paul johnson we can upgrade the contract without mortgaging the house. if he is NOT successful we can part ways a few years from now in no worse shape than if phew had stayed. make no mistakes about it folks but next year is set to be a disaster.
we will be losing gani, favors, bell, peacock and possibly schumpert . we will probably lose sheehan. we have recruited only ONE player this year. (sound familiar?) . we will be put on probation again for academic violations an possibly lose more scholarships. 2 of our starters in the front court will be red shirt freshmen. we have no other big men. folks, we are NOT poised to have a great year next year imo.
imo even a mark price with NO head coaching experience is a huge upgrade over what we have now.
Thirty Points To Your Twenty-Four Points
March 23rd, 2010
4:00 pm
HAHAHAHAHA!!!
I smell a basketball program in turmoil!!!
Plus your football program will not be able to recruit top talent to continue their High School Football career…..
{{{{{30-24}}}}}
{{{{{73-66}}}}}
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
HOT OFF THE PRESSES!
March 23rd, 2010
4:02 pm
It’s Official! Now EVERYONE wants Hewitt to leave.
HOT OFF THE PRESSES!
March 23rd, 2010
4:03 pm
Thirty points… is that your IQ, or the IQ of your entire family?
Tony
March 23rd, 2010
4:05 pm
Mark
Do you have Larry Hartstein’s email address. I would like to send him some comments about his article on the Fly Over at the Wake Forest game and that Lower Rear Admirel that made that dumb ass grounding of the pilots.
Decatur Tech Fan
March 23rd, 2010
4:05 pm
“Excuse me Mr Radakovich, could we pretty please talk to your BB coach, pleeeez?”
“Well YOU sure can…here…use my office, Ill be down the street, Happy Hour just started…..WOO HOOO!”
“Thank you Mr Radakovich”
“Oh NO….THANK YOU!!!!!”
Ga Tech Fan
March 23rd, 2010
4:12 pm
I got an idea lets pay PJ more to coach both!!! I think Bobby Cremins would love to come home!!!!!!
Blewitt agian
March 23rd, 2010
4:13 pm
Why not look at Wojo or Collins at Duke?
JDM
March 23rd, 2010
4:14 pm
Take Bradley with you.
DEFCON 5
March 23rd, 2010
4:14 pm
If you believe this video……IT’LL ALL BE FREE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Listen for the: “I don’t have to worry about putting gas in my car or paying my mortgage!”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P36×8rTb3jI
Taco
March 23rd, 2010
4:20 pm
I agree let him go if they will have him. This is a plum job!
GT in CT
March 23rd, 2010
4:20 pm
St. Johns to interview Hewitt on Wed, according to NY Post.
Geori
March 23rd, 2010
4:25 pm
If Chan Gailey can get a head coaching job in the NFL, then Paul Hewitt deserves a job in the Big East!
Geori
March 23rd, 2010
4:25 pm
Mark Price was a crappy coach in the NBA, why would we want him?
CatsFly
March 23rd, 2010
4:27 pm
UNC and Kentucky were battling to see who got to 2k wins first. UGa and Tech and battling to see who can hire and fire the most bb coaches. The turnstile in their gyms were installed to count fans, not coaches.
heartofdarkness
March 23rd, 2010
4:29 pm
Can’t see Hewitt leaving Tech and MB’s blog behind.
Mark Bradley
March 23rd, 2010
4:30 pm
Well, there’s always the World Wide Web, heartofdarkness.
Georgia Tech gives St. John's permission to talk to Paul Hewitt | Internet Buzz
March 23rd, 2010
4:31 pm
[...] Tech grants permission: St. John's can speak with Hewitt Atlanta Journal Constitution (blog) – Mar 23rd – 13:08 [...]
CoachJRB
March 23rd, 2010
4:32 pm
Full Metal – I was just making the point that Mark Price is not just an ex-player with no coaching experience. Just my opinion, he is the exact opposite (coaching style) of Hewitt. His focus would be on fundamentals and players being here longer than 1 year. I would just like to see him get a shot. He is a Tech guy that we could all rally around. That is important, because I think the next few years are going to be tough no matter who is the coach. Starting next year, we have NO big men…..
RAMBLE ON!!!
March 23rd, 2010
4:33 pm
It’s all a cruel joke folks. He has planted his roots here, even moved his dad down.
He’s waiting for that glory day of getting fired so he can get his 7 million. It doesn’t matter how much the Alumni loathe him.
It’s all about the money.
GT in CT
March 23rd, 2010
4:35 pm
NY Post: “Radakovich described Hewitt’s contract as a unique situation, and that because of financial concerns, the university has decided it would look for candidates at the mid-major level.
Tech grants permission: St. John's can speak with Hewitt | Mark … Blog
March 23rd, 2010
4:37 pm
[...] Tech grants permission: St. John's can speak with Hewitt | Mark … Reports: St. John's to speak with former Siena coach Hewitt …ZagsBlog.com – St. John's Gets Permission to Speak With HewittCalifornian wines – the experts speak « Locally SourcedGOP 12: Jeb: My kids don't speak for meLong Island News – Dr. Keri Chiappino To Speak At Long Island …Floral designer Benny Campbell will speak at the Birmingham …Falcons linebacker Coy Wire to speak on Sunday | Atlanta FalconsEliot Spitzer To Speak on Corporate Social Responsibility at …Sarah Palin to speak in Independence News Tribune- PoliticsNST Online 'Hear my music speak' View the Contact Powered by Blog [...]
Tech Man in Dawg Country
March 23rd, 2010
5:19 pm
I am sure that Tech would waive any buyout that CPH would owe Tech. My question, and I sure CPH’s agent’s question will be, how much of the 7.1 M will Tech pay him to leave? Sort of like Nardelli at Home Depot??? Face it, if his agent was smart enough to get the rollover contract, I am sure he is smart enough to ask for a “severance package”. Do you think DRad would be willing to pay some to get CPH to leave? Otherwise, I still can’t see CPH walking away from the rollover contract. He will never get another contract that good. I think he might be willing to call DRad’s hand. Mark, what do you think?
Paul in RDU
March 23rd, 2010
5:38 pm
Guys – I love Mark Price as much as the next Tech grad but he has ZERO experience as a college HC; ZERO experience recruiting players; ZERO experience building a staff; minimal experience dealing with AAU and HS coaches
HC of an ACC b’ball program is not an entry level position and that’s what you’d be getting with Price – someone who would have to learn on the job.
We need a coach who can compete with Coach K, Ole Roy and Gary W (3 guys with NC’s, by the way) not someone just because he played PG at GT. NC State hired one of their “all time great PGs” as HC, a guy with coaching experience in the NBA, and it hasn’t gone well.
uberVU - social comments
March 23rd, 2010
7:08 pm
Social comments and analytics for this post…
This post was mentioned on Twitter by EricStirgus: St. John’s must be betterRT @MarkBradleyAJC: #Georgia Tech grants permission for #St. John’s to speak with Paul Hewitt. http://bit.ly/a1PqnF…
Benjamin
March 24th, 2010
12:58 am
Even though I’m not a Tech fan, I didn’t mind Hewitt so much; he did a serviceable job when here. Honestly, from my perspective, he was the victim of his own early success.
GT’s basketball program, outside of a couple brief periods, has never been an ACC elite program, which isn’t something to find shame in because the ACC has traditionally been the most powerful basketball conference in the land over the last 20 years or so. Even aside from UNC and Duke, Maryland’s got a national title, Wake’s got a good tradition, etc.. Minus this year, year in and out the conference is loaded. To say that Hewitt only took three Tech teams to tournaments or only had one winning conference record is a bit of a loaded statement, in my opinion, for a school that really hadn’t done much otherwise prior to his arrival. (One Final Four…)
If he goes, I wish him well. I think he’s the one who deserves better, not Tech alumni and fans….
Benjamin
March 24th, 2010
1:02 am
That’s not a shot across the bow at Tech fans, either — though I consider myself a Georgia athletics fan, generally speaking, it’s just me being honest. I even like most of the Tech guys that post here.
GT just isn’t — and, really, has never been — a basketball program that most would deem “as good as advertised.” Outside of 2004 and Lethal Weapon III, I can’t think of a team that ever really stood out as a national title contender. A solid program, yes… a standout program? Not so much…
Most Tweeted Articles by Basketball Experts
March 25th, 2010
10:08 am
[...] Post – She Got Game Too: Is the NBA Dance Bracket’s Time Up? 2 Tweets Tech grants permission: St. John's can speak with Hewitt | Mark Bradley Georgia Tech has granted a St. John's request to approach Paul Hewitt about its coaching [...]