G.G. Smith steps down
Coach went 56-98 in five seasons
G.G. Smith resigned Thursday as men’s basketball coach at Loyola Maryland, ending a five-year stretch in which the Greyhounds failed to build on their success under former coach Jimmy Patsos.
Loyola’s loss in the Patriot League tournament quarterfinals last week dropped Smith’s head coaching record at the school to 56-98 overall and 35-55 in conference play. Under Smith, the Greyhounds never had a winning season and never wonmore than eight of their18 regular-season conference games. Their eighthplace mark in the Patriot League this season continued Smith’s streak of never finishing higher than sixth.
Smith was hired in April 2013 to replace Patsos, whose coaching staff he served on for six years and who led Loyola to the 2012 NCAAtournament after winning the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championship.
“I would like to thank Loyola, its administration and our student-athletes for the opportunities given to me and my family over the last 11 years,” Smith, 41, said in a release. “While we did not achieve the results we wanted on the court, I am proud of our players’ academic andcommunityaccomplishments, andIwish Loyola and its student-athletes much success in the future.”
A Leonardtown native and former Georgia point guard, Smith began his coaching career in 1999 at Lexington Catholic High in Lexington, Ky., before taking a graduate-assistant role on the coaching staff of his father, Tubby, at Kentucky.
Loyola will begin a national search for his replacement immediately. Loyola athletic director Donna M. Woodruff said she has high expectations for the program’s next coach.
“We all want to be competing at the end of the year for the legitimate possibility of winningthe[conference] championship,” she said.