:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/72069135/1245844338.0.jpg "Georgia Tech coaching news: Yellow Jackets targeting Damon Stoudamire as new head coach")
Georgia Tech is set to hire Damon Stoudamire as its next head men's basketball coach, per Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports. The move comes just three days after the program parted ways with former head coach Josh Pastner. Stoudamire had been serving as an assistant coach for the Boston Celtics since 2021.
Stoudamire is best known for his career in the NBA where as the very first draft pick in the history of the Toronto Raptors franchise, he won the 1995-96 NBA Rookie of the Year. He later returned to his hometown of Portland and played an important role as the starting point guard of the great Portland Trail Blazers teams of the early 2000's.
He jumped into coaching following the conclusion of his playing career, holding various assistant roles before landing the head coaching job at Pacific in 2016. Stoudamire's results were middling at the West Coast Conference program as he posted a 71-77 record through five season. Following the pandemic-stunted 2020-21 campaign, he left Pacific to join Ime Udoka's coaching staff with the Celtics.
Stoudamire will now try to jumpstart an ACC program in Georgia Tech that has flatlined since the Paul Hewitt-era of the 2000's.