Georgia State should take Dip; KSU needs (the other) Matta
Dip Metress: He's a basketball master who has done great work in Augusta. (AP photo)
It must be noted that Georgia Tech isn’t the only school in the metro area in need of a basketball coach. It’s only one of three. Georgia State fired Rod Barnes. Kennesaw State fired Tony Ingle. Which makes Atlanta the hoops vacancy capital of the world.
Toward that end, I offer two more bits of advice. (I’ve already done my bit to help Dan Radakovich at Tech.) Here’s who GSU and KSU should target:
Georgia State shouldn’t look beyond the state border. Dip Metress — his given name is Darren, and his last name is pronounced “ME-tress” — is 170-51 over seven seasons at Augusta State and has taken the Jaguars to the NCAA Division II tournament five seasons running. Three of those seasons yielded a run to the Elite Eight, and last night Augusta State fell just short, losing to Anderson 75-73 in overtime in the Southeast Regional final.
We know Metress can coach because he developed the big man Garret Siler into a player worthy of NBA consideration. (Undrafted in 2009, Siler is now on the Phoenix Suns’ roster.) We know that Metress can fill holes because he lost five starters off last season’s 29-4 team and went 30-4 this time. And nobody wins 77 percent of his games in Division II without knowing his business.
Georgia State tried the bigger-name route with Barnes, who’d worked at Ole Miss, and it failed. This time the Panthers should go smaller: Hiring Dip mightn’t make a initial splash — sorry, couldn’t resist — but he’d win here.
Kennesaw State is still making the rough slog upward in classification and even a guy as skilled as Ingle, who won the NCAA Division II title with the Owls in 2004, couldn’t make the Owls a D-I winner. KSU’s coaching search is complicated by another matter: It doesn’t have an athletic director.
Interim AD Scott Whitlock, citing academic issues above all, made the decision to fire Ingle. Ideally KSU would like to have a full-time athletic director in place to hire the new coach, but that could take a while.
No matter. The man to hire is a local guy. He’s Greg Matta, who served two stints under Ingle at KSU — Matta was part of the 2004 championship staff — and is back working at North Cobb Christian High. The Eagles went 28-3, losing to Whitefield Academy in the quarterfinals of the GHSA Class A state tournament. Previously Matta had led NCCHS to consecutive GISA state championships — Dustin Ware, who plays for Georgia, was a starter on those teams — and even a national title in 2008.
Oh, and if Matta’s name sounds familiar, there’s a reason: His younger brother Thad coaches Ohio State, the nation’s No. 1 team.
A disclaimer: I’m not sure Metress or Matta would be interested in GSU/KSU. Neither job, as has just been proven, is a walk in the park. But they’d be the two men I’d call.
Update: Lo and behold, Georgia State apparently has. Colleague Doug Roberson reports that the Panthers have contacted Dip Metress.
By Mark Bradley
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67 comments Add your comment
William Satterwhite
March 16th, 2011
1:40 pm
The point about Hewitt at Ga St though is that he’s not just another school’s “sloppy seconds”, his strong local ties and name recognition cannot be understated for a school in Ga St’s position. Again, if Ga St wants someone who can build their program and put them solidly on the map in the CAA, there might not be a better opportunity than to jump on Hewitt right now when he’s available and could likely be had very cheaply- for all his warts, Hewitt will get another job somewhere and at a lower level than the ACC he will likely be very successful. Again, a hotshot young assistant who has any success at Ga St will bolt at the first big offer to come his way, Hewitt at this stage in his career might just stick around for the long haul. Barnes certainly may have been just “sloppy seconds” but Hewitt being available right now is a much more unique case.
TruthSeeker
March 16th, 2011
1:45 pm
JSS, Dip really does love ASU, it’s just going to be hard to keep him because the school is so limited in what they can pay. I think Dip right now makes about $70,000 a year. His salary comes mostly from student activity fees. That’s just the nature of Division II.
ASU needs to look at making the jump back up to Division I. We have a great fanbase, decent facilities and a pretty fertile recruiting area. It would be great if we could make that move and have Dip be the one to take us there.
JSS
March 16th, 2011
2:02 pm
There are enough vested business leaders in that town to get you guys the $50,000-$60,000 a year to make that man comfortable… I know D-II economics all too well. His wife is from Lincolnton, they have the roots. I not a big fan of another program moving to D-1. I just think he is fantastic for the future of basketball in this State there. We only have Columbus State, GCSU, and ASU doing it with any success among our public State institutions… Clayton is always a strange case… If those schools go away, then we are back to the bad old days of the Community colleges and the metros… Those were horrid…
JSS
March 16th, 2011
2:12 pm
@ William…
Sorry, Hewitt is not GA State’s ” first.” He’s “sloppy seconds.” His townie ties and all the things you list as attributes just are not to that level right now. This isn’t Pitino re-emerging at Louisville after failing with the Celtics…
Directions
March 16th, 2011
2:26 pm
@ Cantondawg: Ingle wasn’t fired just for losing, his academic record of with student-athletics was pathetic in accordance of NCAA standards.
William Satterwhite
March 16th, 2011
3:14 pm
JSS- We’ll probably just have to agree to disagree on this one, I just don’t see Hewitt directly to Ga St as a typical retread like Barnes or even Lefty Driesel for that matter. I’m not saying it should be a slam dunk or anything, just an option to be strongly considered- if there’s a candidate out there who proves to be a legitimately better option then so be it. You’re exactly right though, this isn’t Pitino re-emerging at Louisville or Calipari at Memphis- Georgia St isn’t close to ever being on either of those schools levels. Georgia St right now probably isn’t even on the same level Cleveland St was when they hired Gary Waters or San Diego St when they hired Steve Fisher for that matter so they need to exploit whatever unique opportunities come up to the fullest extent.
GStateBen
March 16th, 2011
3:27 pm
Hewitt is not a candidate. And Metress isn’t either. Neither will be hired by Georgia State.
ASU_jag
March 16th, 2011
3:59 pm
GStateBen – Then that is Georgia State’s loss. The guy can flat out coach.
I hope ASU does go D1. We have the student population and metro area to do. The university continues to grow and become more “traditional” every year. I believe ASU could make a basketball name for themselves such as College of Charleston has done.
Hammer22
March 16th, 2011
4:33 pm
I would love to have Hewitt, but he’s gonna be expensive. Plus, he still is owed 7 million. He has no incentive to come to GSU.
The Dogfather
March 16th, 2011
4:37 pm
Dip just turned down GSU being reported in Augusta. Who in their right mind would want to take a job in Atlanta?
oscar the grouch
March 16th, 2011
5:05 pm
@ cantondawg: 1st, Ingle wasn’t fired for having “a” losing season. He’s had a few. 2nd, because of all the scholarships being taken away from players after their first or second years and giving them to someone else, his program wasn’t showing the academic progress it needed to keep those scholarships. 3rd, he’s had a few that were dismissed from school due to academic problems. He might as well go back into high school, that’s where good b.s. can keep you in a job. For all his one liners and quaint sayings, he should’ve done a better job of coaching instead of talking.
Dip would look @ KSU if it came to that. Might not take it, but it is a lot more attractive than GSU. Saying that, KSU needs to go after someone that wants the job and will build a program. They can win the A-Sun and that get’s you in the dance.
GSU BBALL FAN
March 17th, 2011
11:15 am
So whom are the coaching candidates at the moment? There’s no reason we shouldn’t be at the top of the CAA every year.
are you serious?
March 17th, 2011
1:52 pm
Matta was only a volunteer assistant at KSU during the time they went to the Championship. He doesnt have any head coaching College experience and came back as the top assistent at KSU- and didnt do any good recruiting for the little time he was there. He chose to go back to High school basketball where he was sucessfull. We are talking about D-I Basketball. Really? His brothers name cant help him coach the team!
Debo
March 17th, 2011
7:58 pm
Tyrone Johnson at Whitfield Acedemy in CobbCounty is one of the best recruiters in Cobb. He knows how to bring in the top players. Whitfield’s tuition is just as much as KSU.
Itsmeagain
March 18th, 2011
12:25 am
So if not Metress, who?
The General
March 18th, 2011
6:05 pm
Ga State should hire Bobby Knight—he would take the job for $1.5-$2 mil and would turn it around quick.
bballcoach2231
March 18th, 2011
7:00 pm
Debo and Are You Serious? good points and have to agree i posted why not add Tyrone Johnson. He’s a proven winner and has the bball smarts. Sure he doesnt have any college experience but hey why not?
At “Why Not” lets look at apples to apples with Matta’s High School Head Coaching Career versus Tyrone Johnsons Head Coaching Career. And to make it even more apples to apples, at the GHSA Class A only (GISA is like the NAIA so its just a joke.) Like Are you serious said, Matta was only a volunteer assistant and NO head coaching in college so looking at High School careers only. Yes winning a naitonal championship at the GISA is nice and all but thats ONLY against other PRIVATE SCHOOLS. He has not proved what so ever he can win at the bigger level in GHSA and hasnt shaped his decent skilled players into a real contender. Real coaches who who came from the college ranks i would think would be able to make their players at least final four bound or state runner ups. Especially with having the Matta last name. So with Tyrone Johnson you are getting a proven winner who has over 20+ wins EVERY season (especially when you are going up against pros: Dwight Howard, Jarvis Creightenton, Randolph Morris). Cant say thats not impressive and has gone to the state tournament every year. Proven smart coach that i believe can recruit, i mean how else do you think the players came to whitefield lol.