Georgia Tech has announced that the school has come to terms on a 5 year deal with former Troy head coach Scott Cross to take over their Men’s Basketball program.
After failing to secure a tournament berth for the 3rd consecutive season, Damon Stoudamire was let go by the school earlier this month. Following Troy’s opening round loss to Nebraska on Thursday, the Yellow Jackets acted quickly to secure Cross’ services following back to back March Madness appearances and Sun Belt championships for the Alabama based school.
“Coach Cross is a proven winner with 350 career victories and seven conference championships on his resume,” Georgia Tech athletic director Ryan Alpert said in a prepared statement.
“His combination of experience, success and development of student-athletes, both on and off the court, makes him the perfect person to carry on the proud tradition of Georgia Tech men’s basketball.”
After appearing in the National Championship game back in 2004, Georgia Tech has yet to advance past the second round of the NCAA tournament in their subsequent appearances. In fact, the team has only made 4 appearances in annual event since their 2nd place finish 22 years ago.
Overall, the school has sent 41 players to the NBA including the likes of Chris Bosh, Kenny Anderson, and Stephon Marbury amongst others. However, the school has struggled to attract top talent to Atlanta in recent years, something they had hoped would change under former NBA player Damon Stoudamire’s leadership in the new NIL era of collegiate sports.
Instead, they’ll pivot to Cross who has a proven track record of adding impact players, on a shoestring budget after stints with the University of Texas-Arlington, and Troy. With a career record of 350-260 (.574), Cross will look to use the allure of a major city like Atlanta, and healthier NIL war chest to revamp a Yellow Jackets program that’s desperate to return to relevancy on the hardwood.
Photo: University of Texas at Arlington Photograph Collection. This file is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license.