Sources: Ga. Tech finalizing hire of Stoudamire

Boston Celtics assistant Damon Stoudamire is finalizing a five-year deal to become Georgia Tech‘s next head coach, sources said. The school’s Board of Trustees is planning to approve the hire Monday, according to sources.

Stoudamire has informed the Celtics that he plans to take the job and make the move back to college. He brings a blend of college and NBA coaching experience along with a strong playing pedigree, the mix of which Tech officials are hopeful can resuscitate the relevance of a program that’s faded in Atlanta in recent years.

Stoudamire proved a solid head coach at Pacific, which included a 23-10 season in 2019-20 that yielded him the West Coast Conference coach of the year. He went 32-19 his final two years and 71-77 overall at Pacific, leaving the job to join Ime Udoka on the Celtics staff prior to last season.

Stoudamire has also worked in college at Rice, Memphis (twice) and Arizona as an assistant coach, giving him more than a decade overall of college coaching experience.

Stoudamire replaces Josh Pastner, who went to just one NCAA tournament in his seven seasons at Georgia Tech. Pastner went 109-114, with the lone NCAA appearance coming after winning the ACC tournament in 2021.

Georgia Tech hasn’t reached the NCAA tournament in consecutive seasons since 2004 and 2005, a sign of the lack of sustained success. Stoudamire’s challenge will be to re-energize Atlanta and the area’s rich recruiting scene to make Georgia Tech a destination again.

Stoudamire emerged as a valued member of the Celtics staff in the wake of Udoka’s departure prior to this season. He’s been a key assistant for first-year coach Joe Mazzulla, as the Celtics have played to the second-best record in the Eastern Conference (47-21) and the team’s staff earned the right to work at the NBA All-Star game. Mazzulla’s performance earned the removal of his interim tag prior to the All-Star break this season.

Selected with the No. 7 overall pick in the 1995 draft, Stoudamire was named Rookie of the Year and played 13 seasons in the NBA. He averaged 13.4 points per game across stints with the Raptors, Trail Blazers, Grizzlies and Spurs.

Stoudamire will be the second high-profile hire for first-year athletic director J Batt since he came on in October. Batt promoted Brent Key to head football coach from his interim spot and sources told ESPN that the school hopes to follow the blueprint for success at Tech that Batt saw Nate Oats execute at Alabama in building the Tide into the NCAA tournament’s top overall seed this year.

Batt’s background is in fundraising, and there’s expected to be a strong NIL push to help fortify and bolster Tech’s roster to support Stoudamire.