Jackets fire Pastner after seven seasons
ATLANTA — Josh Pastner was fired Friday as Georgia Tech’s men’s basketball coach, two seasons after he guided the Yellow Jackets to a surprising Atlantic Coast Conference tournament title.
The end of Pastner’s sevenseason tenure was seemingly sealed by a second straight losing record and few signs of progress in a program that, at times in the past few decades, has been a national championship contender.
The Jackets, 12-20 a year ago, finished 15-18 this season with Wednesday’s 89-81 loss to Pittsburgh in the second round of the ACC tournament.
“We have high expectations at Georgia Tech for all of our sports programs, and it is imperative that our storied men’s basketball program achieves a greater level of success,” athletic director J Batt said in a release announcing the coaching change. “Our men’s basketball program is important to our department and to our institution. We will not shy away from expecting to consistently compete for ACC championships, NCAA Tournament appearances and sustained success.”
Pastner, 45, didn’t come close to reaching that standard. His record with the Jackets was 109-114, including a 53-78 mark in the ACC. He formerly coached at Memphis, where he spent seven seasons as John Calipari’s replacement.
Pastner’s lone NCAA tournament trip at Tech was a one-anddone appearance. The Jackets followed up their ACC title with a loss to Loyola of Chicago in the first round in 2021.
Tech hasn’t won an NCAA tourney game since 2010, a sharp drop for a program that rose to prominence in the 1980s under Bobby Cremins — he led the program to regular March Madness appearances, including its first Final Four trip in 1990 — and reached the 2005 national championship game with Paul Hewitt as coach.
Anthony Wilkins, who has been on Tech’s staff since 2018, will serve as the interim coach while the school conducts a search for Pastner’s successor. Early speculation has centered on Kennesaw State coach Amir Abdur-Rahim, who has guided the Owls to the first NCAA Division I tournament berth in program history this year — three seasons after they won a single game during his debut campaign.
Abdur-Rahim spent one year as Tech’s director of player development for Brian Gregory, who was Pastner’s predecessor, and also worked one year at Georgia under Tom Crean.