Georgia Tech has hired former Memphis coach Josh Pastner to replace the fired Brian Gregory, the school announced Friday.
The 38-year-old Pastner took over at Memphis after John Calipari left seven years ago and has taken the Tigers to the NCAA tournament four times. However, Memphis has not played in the postseason the past two years.
Memphis announced last month that it would stick with Pastner, who would have been owed $10.6 million had he been fired. University president David Rudd and athletic director Tom Bowen said in a statement that the school would “make the necessary investments and changes” so it could “compete at the highest level.”
Pastner had a 167-73 record at Memphis, but the Tigers have gone 37-29 over the past two seasons. They went 19-15 last season and lost 72-58 toConnecticut in the American Athletic Conference championship game.
Pastner averaged more than 24 wins over his first six seasons. His 148 victories at that point made him the ninth-winningest coach in Division I history for his first six seasons. He joined Calipari as the only Memphis coaches to win 18 or more games each of his first six seasons.
He also coached the Tigers to the NCAA tournament in four straight years (2011-14), something only Dana Kirk (1982-85) and Calipari (2006-09) managed at Memphis.
Memphis hasn’t been to the tournament since. The Tigers’ average home attendance dropped from more than 16,000 during the 2013-14 season — the last one in which Memphis went to the NCAA tournament — to 11,812 this season.
Pastner already has recruiting contacts in Atlanta. Two of his heralded recruits at Memphis — 2015-16 senior Shaq Goodwin and Jelan Kendrick — were signed from Atlanta, though Kendrick was dismissed from the team by Pastner before playing at Ole Miss and UNLV.
Gregory, meanwhile, was fired March 25 by Georgia Tech. The 49-year-old replaced Paul Hewitt in 2011 and did not take the Yellow Jackets to the NCAA tournament during his tenure. He was 76-86 overall and 27-61 in ACC play.
Georgia Tech finished 21-15 (8-10 ACC) last season. The team made the postseason for the first time in Gregory’s five seasons, winning two games in the National Invitation Tournament before losing in the quarterfinals.
Athletic director Mike Bobinski said the team’s failure to make the NCAA tournament factored into his decision to dismiss Gregory.
“It’s hard to deny that would have given us a different thought,” Bobinski said in a news conference.
Georgia Tech will owe Gregory more than $1.3 million for the final two years of his contract. Hewitt, who took a $7.2 million buyout after he was fired in 2011, is still owed $2.7 million from the school over the next three years.
With Pastner leaving Memphis, ESPN 100 guard Charlie Moore decommitted from the Tigers.
Moore will reopen his recruitment, his high school coach told ESPN.com.
Moore, a 5-foot-11 point guard from Morgan Park High School (Illinois), is ranked No. 68 in the ESPN 100. He committed to Memphis over California and VCU back in November, with Pastner and the Tigers making a strong push in the final days to get his signature.
Moore is a big-time playmaker at the guard position, averaging 15.8 points and 4.5 assists on the Nike EYBL circuit last spring and summer. He also won Mr. Basketball for the state of Illinois as a senior.
