The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Focus shifts from coach’s status to Vols
Maten likely to return from injury.
NASHVILLE, TENN. — Georgia Athletics Director Greg McGarity addressed the men’s basketball team Tuesday, offering reassurances after news broke regarding the questionable job status of head coach Mark Fox.
The message, according to junior forward Yante Maten: Your coach isn’t going anywhere.
“He made it (clear) that he was not about to leave us, this year or next year,” Maten said. “He’s going to be here.”
The meeting occurred in Athens, before the team left for the SEC Tournament.
“Mr. McGarity just reassured us with what we felt we already knew,” senior guard J.J. Frazier said. “It wasn’t really a big deal to us.”
After an internet report late Monday night claimed Georgia was doing “due diligence” on possible replacements for Fox, McGarity released a statement Tuesday morning not only denied it, but said: “We look forward to Mark leading our program next year.”
Fox, who said he was aware of McGarity’s statement before it came out, was asked Wednesday for his reaction to those events.
“I never felt any lack of support from him or our administration. They’ve been terrific the entire time,” Fox said. “So I never was caught up in that whole thing because I always felt terrific support from them.”
Fox is wrapping up his eighth season at Georgia, where his record is 144-116 with two NCAA Tournament appearances. But with the Bulldogs considered on the wrong side of the NCAA bubble right now, it has led to grumbles from fans and speculation and then Monday night’s report, just a few days before Georgia plays in the SEC Tournament.
“I’m not angry at anybody,” Fox said. “I try to let you guys do your jobs and let you have access and let you have opinions. We’re not going to agree with everything people say. People are going to make some errors. That’s just part of it. But we did address it with our players because we felt it was important to do that. And Greg met with our players because we felt it was important for him to do so.”
Fox also sounded confident that the wording of McGarity’s statement — “We look forward to Mark leading our program next year” — was definitive enough.
“In my opinion, yeah,” Fox said, smiling. “You’ve got to ask him, but yeah.”
McGarity has said several times he would let the statement speak for itself. The statement went further than McGarity typically goes during a season, when he prefers to not comment on any coach’s status.
In any case, with Fox’s job apparently no longer an issue, Georgia (18-13) plays Tennessee (16-15) today at 1 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena.
“With our team, it’s stay off the roller coaster and focus on the next game, which for the most part they’ve been able to do,” Fox said. “This group certainly has been through a lot of adversity, a lot of curveballs. And hopefully we can continue to manage it.”
The day’s other upbeat news regarded Maten’s availability today. Fox was less optimistic the day before, but after Maten took part in a workout Wednesday, the coach changed his tune.
“Barring any setback overnight, we hope to have him play,” Fox said. “Obviously we don’t need a setback overnight, any swelling or anything like that. But he’s continued to make progress, and it’s good to see him out there.”
Maten, who has missed the past four games with a sprained knee, said the pain was now “minuscule” and “discomfort” more than anything. He said he didn’t know how many minutes he could play.
“I just know that like when I was healthy, I’m going to do my best to help my team, any way possible,” Maten said.
A junior forward, Maten has missed the past four games after spraining his knee 95 seconds into the team’s loss to Kentucky. Georgia went 3-1 without him, but was routed in the regular-season finale at Arkansas.