Georgia Tech hires Stoudamire in bid to revive program

ATLANTA — Georgia Tech moved quickly to put a new leader in charge of its struggling men’s basketball program, hiring longtime NBA guard Damon Stoudamire as the new Yellow Jackets coach on Monday.

The 49-year-old Stoudamire comes to the Atlantic Coast Conference school from the Boston Celtics, where he had been an assistant coach since 2021. The Celtics were in Atlanta this past weekend to play the Hawks.

Stoudamire’s only previous head coaching experience was at Pacific, where he compiled a 71-77 record over five seasons. He was the West Coast Conference coach of the year in 2020.

Georgia Tech didn’t take long to replace Josh Pastner, who was fired on Friday after the Yellow Jackets capped a 1518 season with a second-round loss to Pittsburgh in the ACC Tournament.

Stoudamire now heads a program that has made only one NCAA Tournament appearance in the last 13 years.

Ut-arlington set to hire Turner: Ut-arlington basketball’s short-lived coaching search has apparently ended.

The Mavericks are reportedly set to hire Kentucky assistant K.T. Turner as the program’s head coach, per Sports Illustrated’s Kevin Sweeney.

Turner brings two decades worth of experience to Arlington. He joined John Calipari’s Kentucky staff in 2022 after serving as an Oklahoma assistant the season prior.

Turner has worked as an assistant for both Texas and SMU in the past. In 2013, he was on a Wichita State staff that went 30-9 and advanced to the Final Four. He’s also spent time as an assistant at Texas A&M-CORpus Christi, Hutchinson Community College, Cowley College, Redlands Community College and Panola Community College.

He’ ll take over a UTA program that dismissed previous head coach Greg Young last month after a 9-16 start to the 2022-23 season.

Islanders prepare for First Four: Texas A&M-CORpus Christi guard Trevian Tennyson got a taste of the pomp and star treatment at last year’s First Four and wanted more.

The Islanders lost their 2022 play-in game to Texas Southern, which notched its second First Four victory in a row.

“We had meetings at the beginning of the year, and the only thing I told them was, my goal this year was to get back to March Madness,” said Tennyson, who led the Islanders with 15.7 points per game and hit 41% of his 3-pointers. “We’re here, so that’s really it.

Texas A&m-corpus Christi (23-10) has won 12 of its last 13, including the Southland Conference tournament. This time in the First Four, they face the Redhawks of Southeast Missouri State, a team that had a losing record before winning the Ohio Valley Conference tournament for the first time in 23 years.

The winner moves on as the 16th seed to face top-seeded Alabama in the first round at Birmingham on Thursday.

Mckie out at Temple: Temple coach Aaron Mckie is out after four years and no NCAA Tournament appearances and will become a special advisor to the athletic department, the school announced Monday.

Mckie, who starred at Temple under Hall of Fame coach John Chaney and played for the Philadelphia 76ers in a long NBA career, went 52-56 in four seasons, including 16-16 in 2022-23.

The Owls finished fifth in the American Athletic Conference this season with a 10-8 record and were the only AAC team to defeat No. 1 Houston in the regular season, a 56-55 road win on Jan. 22. It was one of two wins over AP Top 25 opponents. Temple also beat then-no. 16 Villanova 68-64 on Nov. 11.

Georgetown’s Women’s coach not retained: Georgetown women’s basketball coach James Howard will not have his contract renewed after four consecutive losing seasons, the school announced Monday.

Howard went 66-108, a .379 winning percentage, during six years at Georgetown, including 14-17 this season, which ended with a 30-point loss to Uconn in the Big East Conference Tournament quarterfinals on March 4.

Michigan State Women’s coach steps down: Suzy Merchant has stepped down as Michigan State's women's basketball coach, citing health concerns.

“After much consideration and consultation with my health care providers, I have come to the difficult decision that it is in my best interest,” Merchant said in a statement released by the school on Monday.

The 53-year-old Merchant had not coached the Spartans since she was in a one-car crash after a medical incident in late January.